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bc On the Road: The Making of the bc original Kol Carbon Gravel Fork
bc product manager Chris visited the factory in Taiwan where our new bc original Kol Gravel fork is manufactured and took a look behind the scenes.
November 2022 - For the first time since the start of the Covid pandemic, it is now possible to travel to Taiwan again without having to stay in quarantine for a long time. I am embarking on my first ever trip to Asia with repeat Taiwan visitor and my department head Christoph as well as my colleagues Meike and Ludwig. Together we will visit our suppliers to discuss current and future projects and to see how our products are manufactured. One of these suppliers produces our new Kol gravel fork. During our visit, the first delivery was already on its way to Germany, but the production halls were busy working on the next batch.
Join us for a look behind the scenes at the production of the bc original Kol fork. Beginning from development...
...to the finished product and...
...initial tests in the real world.
Concept: What should the Kol gravel fork be able to do? Everything!
Let’s start by asking the fundamental question: why make a gravel fork at all? With the Flint and the Podsol, we fulfilled a small dream of building our first in-house frames for gravel and mountain bikes. Top ride quality, top manufacturing quality and fair prices form the cornerstones of both frames. However, finding a fork for the bc original Flint that met our requirements was not that easy. We’ll be the first to admit that perhaps it was due to our demands.
What should you be able to mount on it? Fenders, lights, pannier racks, accessories – we didn't want to settle for less. We were looking to build something with the same characteristics as our frames, focusing on ride quality, top manufacturing quality and a fair price. How much tyre clearance? A lot! Lightweight? Absolutely!
Last but not least came the issue of safety. We are in constant communication with the Zedler Institute, our partner for testing our products, concerning the durability of bicycle parts. In the halls of the testing institute, tests are not only carried out in accordance with applicable standards; in order to increase product safety, Dirk Zedler and his team also develop additional tests based on common damage stemming from real-world use. One of these tests is the steerer tube test for carbon fork steerer tubes. It was clear to us that without a green light, there would be no chance of us wanting to sell this product. We have gotten stuck in the mud too often due to material failure.
After putting together a list of our requirements and after making revisions in the prototype phase, the Kol was created. It’s not only the perfect complement for the Flint, but can also be used for other gravel bikes.
bc colleague Linda likes to take an espresso maker with her on her gravel adventures! © bc GmbH
Production: Behind the scenes
In Taiwan we meet Steve, who gave us a tour of the production facility where the fork is built. We work with one of the most renowned manufacturers for carbon production in Taiwan, which one notices right at the first step in the process.
Carbon bicycle parts are usually made from prepreg panels. These are carbon sheets pre-impregnated with resin, which are cut into small pieces and then assembled like in a three-dimensional puzzle. You can either buy prepregs or make them yourself. In this case, our supplier produces them in-house. Here, the fibre strands are impregnated with resin in a machine and joined together to form a large mat. Afterwards, the cut is made from this mat. The advantage here is full control over the basic material, which gives our producer full control over his core business. With a twinkle in his eye, Steve reveals that this process also enables him to think outside the box.
Without much of a detour, we go down one floor to a large room where Steve's team processes the large mats.
Once one of these carpet-sized mats is finished, it is then dissected again into different-sized pieces. The fork is then made from these small parts. This means that the mat is placed by hand with meticulous precision, layer by layer, on the designated spot. There are numerous overlaps here: in places subject to high stress, many layers are used; in less critical places, weight can be saved with fewer layers.
A fork has just been laid. Wearing gloves, we are allowed to hold the blank in our hands. At the current stage, this blank does not yet meet our requirements - the fork produced so far is still rather unstable - so it continues into further processing.
Our supplier manufactures its prepreg blanks in-house. Here the individual fibre strands are impregnated with resin.
Here they’re joined together to form one big mat.
Subsequently, the required blanks are created from the mats and...
... in the next step folded into a fork.
The fork blank is ready.
Steve leads us further down into a hall full of large furnaces and tons of metal. There we find the next step of the production process - once the fork has been laid, it's time to bake. The blank is placed in a large metal mould, which determines the shape of the fork later on. This "mould" goes into an oven, where the individual fibres are fused by the resin under heat.
After the mould has cooled and the fork can be removed, it's time for the final steps – finish, decals and paint, then the fork goes into a box.
Periodically, however, a fork is not given a lightly-tinted clear coating after finishing according to our specifications, but rather painted white. Subsequently, these forks are not packaged, but undergo tests in a series monitoring on test benches – both internally at the production centre as well as externally. Steve takes us into his test lab where one of our forks is being shaken by a hydraulic piston. Once these and the other test forks have passed all the tests and the quality has been assured, the second batch of forks is ready for dispatch.
It's time for baking: the finished blank is "baked together" in a metal mould.
Forks from the production series are tested in the in-house test laboratory at regular intervals. Here, the fork is shaken with the help of a hydraulic piston.
Done! Real-world tests passed
The Kol has passed all real-world tests among colleagues, and has already completed the Candy B-Graveler, Grinduro and Dirty Boar events as well as a bike trip to Vienna. The product more than meets our requirements in this respect. The fork withstood the test series on the testing machines, even with flying colours. Awesome. The final cornerstone: we have now been able to get a good picture of the fork’s manufacturing quality, as our visit left us with a positive conclusion. What do you think? Have we achieved our goal of developing a fork that perfectly matches our bc original Flint? Feel free to let us know via our social media channels!
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