The wheel thing
When Brisbane fitter and turner Grant Smith welcomed a newly arrived American neighbour to Queensland 15 years ago, he didn’t realise it would lead to the invention of a very special bicycle wheel.
Grant’s Zvino wheel may revolutionise the world industry. Zvino is Greek for Eliminator and the name was adopted because the new wheel eliminates manufacturing processes necessary to make conventional bicycle wheels.
Mr Smith said the wheel was simpler, lighter and cheaper to produce than other tubeless rims.
The Zvino’s superior strength and reliability derives from the Sliding Nipple Seat system. Stainless steel nipple inserts are designed in such a way that their load is distributed over a much broader area than on a normal drilled rim, while still allowing perfect alignment.
The Zvino is the first rim that doesn’t have to be drilled and it enables the rider to change the number and arrangement of spokes to suit their preferences or make patterns.
The plastic spacers on the rim between spokes can be coloured or printed, enhancing their appeal to consumers, he said.
Mr Smith formed Velocity Bicycle Accessories 13 years ago with Tom Black, his American neighbour, who’d worked in bicycle shops in the United States before moving to Queensland.
“Tom could see the potential to manufacture accessories for bicycles here, and I could make them, so we set up the business,” Mr Smith said.
“Today we’re the only Australian manufacturer of bicycle rims – we turn out about 80 000 a year and we export 80 per cent of that production to markets all around the world.”
The company manufactures for the replacement market, which he estimates
at more than 10 million wheels a year, while about 100 million bicycles are
made each year.
“That’s a huge potential market – it’s absolutely
mind-boggling,” he said.
Velocity Bicycle Accessories operates from premises in the Brisbane suburb of Brendale and has grown to the point where 10 people, including the two owners, are engaged full time in the business.
Mr Smith has himself invented most of the manufacturing machinery and the company produces a range of products, including a variety of bicycle rims.
Last reviewed 19 January 2006