Trash to treasure
Words Luke Williamson
Until Vélos started business three and a half years ago, owners of carbon fibre bicycles were doomed to throwing away damaged frames. However, Dan Burrows, a veteran of working with carbon fibre and composite materials in the boat-building industry, spotted the niche and opened Vélos so he could rescue those damaged bicycles and stop the flow of material into landfills.
“There’s no one else doing this professionally in New Zealand. We’re combining three different trades under one roof,” says Dan. “There’s composite repair, custom painting and mechanical servicing. We’ve put all of that together into one service centre for the entire country.”
The great advantage of repairing carbon fibre frames is that, once repaired, they’re as good as they ever were, which is why Vélos offers a lifetime guarantee on their work. “You reinstate the composite back to its original structural integrity,” says Dan. “Unlike aluminium and steel products which retain a memory of the damage which can’t be removed.”
Dan was a competitive cyclist in days gone by and that passion intersected with his experience of working with composite materials to create Vélos. “When I started the business, I realised within the first week I was going to have to do the paintwork as well,” laughs Dan. “I had a bit of a background in painting from doing high-end work on superyachts, so I just taught myself the necessary skills.”
Painting and design is the creative side of the business which Dan finds very satisfying. “I do it all myself currently, but we’re looking for someone we can train to take over from me. We need someone with a delicate touch and clear thinking – you need finesse. It’s something we have to teach.”
Dan explains that his business is another offshoot of the performance composites community that has built up in Warkworth around the specialist boat-building industry. “Sail GP is the hub of that,” he says. The relationship with Sail GP is a vital ingredient in Dan’s plans for the near future.
“When I was working with Sail GP, a lot of the offcuts and waste carbon fibre would end up in the skip and go to landfill. We’ve created a pathway for the marine and aerospace industries in New Zealand to take their offcuts and turn them into premium bicycle frames.”
In the two years spent developing the Vélos line of high-performance bicycles, Dan has teamed up with Dave Higgins, who used to be Avanti’s head of engineering and design, and who also designed the current generation of New Zealand Olympic track bicycles.
The hope is to have the first model in the Vélos range of bicycles available for sale this summer. “To begin with, it will be a road bike,” says Dan. “A gravel model is in the pipeline and we’ll develop more models after that. The repair side of the business is a smaller, regional thing, whereas the manufacturing of our own bikes offers global opportunities. We’ve taken all the lessons we’ve learned from fixing other people’s bikes and put that knowledge into our own frames. I’m really excited about it.”
For cycling enthusiasts Dan is also starting up ‘The Vélos Ride’ which will depart from the Vélos service centre at 10/13 Gumfield Drive, Warkworth, every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 6.30am. Everyone welcome!