Big in the news today is that Italian cargo bike maker Veloe’s parent company Velo-ce S.R.L. just bought titanium performance bike brand Van Nicholas for an unspecified sum from the still ailing Accell Group. But even though the story seems to be angling towards Velo-ce’s “ambition to develop the Van Nicholas brand into a Premium Titanium Italian brand“, they aren’t actually planning to bring ti bike manufacturing in-house. They’ll keep to manufacturing their steel Veloe cargo bikes in a factory just west of Milan. But hope to use the Van Nicholas brand and the relationship with its foreign titanium frame supplier to expand the company into more performance- and adventure-focused markets.
But let’s first not discount the Veloe cargo brand, as they are maybe the most interesting part of this story. We have managed to miss them for the past few years. But Veloe have developed some cool-looking modular and compact mid- & long-tail cargo bikes & eBikes that are entirely made in Italy. And they deserve a closer look, too…
Veloe Multi, Multi Lungo & Multi Power compact Italian cargo bikes
The core of the Velo-ce S.R.L. company is their Veloe Multi family of modular chromoly steel cargo bikes.
The standard burly chromoly steel Multi is a 24″ wheeled midtail ebike with custom bolt-on tubular steel long rear, and big front platform racks, with a 200kg/440lb total carrying capacity.
The Multi Lungo stretches out a similar steel ebike platform, matching a 24″ front to a 20″ back wheel under a longer rear rack to carry a whole family of kids (up to 3!) around with a lower center of gravity.
Then, the Multi Power is the same as the 24″ modular midtail, but without the motor for a lighter, simpler setup where your own legs get to do all the work.
The pedal-powered Multi Power starts at just 1700€ complete. The two ebike versions – Multi & Multi Lungo – each start at 3700€ with a Shimano EP6 powertrain, or from 4500€ with the extra torquey Bosch CargoLine motor. And there is a ton of customization potential.
Chromoly steel bikes, made by robots in Italy
Each Multi is entirely made in-house by Veloe. Much of the cutting, tube prep, and welding is being done by robots in their Santo Stefano Ticino, Italy factory. Next, wheel building is also fully automated inside those cool Holland Mechanics robotic wheel machines that draw our attention every year in the weird manufacturing hall corners of Eurobike. Even, their hand assembly line is customized for cargo bikes, also automated to keep everything moving quickly and smoothly out the door.
Veloe explains that it is this high level of automation that allows them to build their steel cargo bikes efficiently in Italy, while keeping competitive pricing. It also lets them offer many different build options – like ebike motors from either Shimano or Bosch, belt or chain drive, and various internally geared hub options, to name a few. Plus, they even let each buyer pick their favorite powder-coated color from standard & custom palettes for a truly unique utilitarian bike.
Lastly, Veloe offers a whole slew of gear- & kid-hauling rack and bag accessories to tailor your #onelesscar cargo bike setup exactly to your own needs.
Now, back to Van Nicholas, where titanium bikes are a bit of a different story…
Velo-ce & Veloe taking over Van Nicholas titanium bikes
Utilitarian steel bikes are a completely different animal compared to performance titanium ones. But that’s exactly why Velo-ce S.R.L. acquired the Van Nicholas bike brand from Accell. Velo-ce bought the Dutch ti bike brand as a “strategic expansion into the premium adventure and travel bicycle segment“. Adding Van Nicholas to the family gives Velo-ce a solid foothold into a few, more performance-oriented markets, alongside their Veloe cargo bikes.
Notably, they don’t make any real mention of performance road bikes, which are just a small segment of the existing Van Nicholas portfolio. Instead, Velo-ce seems to focus on more utilitarian titanium bikes designed to be ridden long distances, seemingly more closely aligned with the ethos of their Veloe compact cargo bikes.
Velo-ce also says that they are “interested to learn about designing and developing titanium frames“, so it’s not only about carrying over existing Van Nicholas models. And so now, the acquisition allows Velo-ce to develop premium ti bikes for the “adventure cycling, long-distance touring, and travel” segments, refining the core of the Van Nicholas brand.
What’s next for Van Nicholas under the Veloe umbrella?
Velo-ce explains that they “have the ambition to develop the Van Nicholas brand into a Premium Titanium Italian brand“. But they quickly followed that up saying there are no plans to manufacture titanium bikes in-house anytime in the near future.
For now, the existing stock of Van Nicholas ti frames is being relocated to Velo-ce HQ outside of Milan. There, they’ll manage bike assembly alongside their Veloe cargo bikes to fulfill existing orders from independent bike dealer shops over the next couple of months. Velo-ce says they already have the capacity to produce up to 8000 bikes a year in their current setup, with space available to expand. And with the addition of Van Nicholas to the portfolio, they “are looking forward to develop titanium cycling to a broader audience“.
Going forward, new titanium Van Nicholas frames will still be manufactured by the same overseas ti frame builder that supplies them under Accell ownership. If memory serves, that means the titanium frames will still be manufactured in China.
Velo-ce is said to already be working with that same Van Nicholas frame supplier on what will come next for adventure-ready titanium bikes. So we’ll be curious to see what they have planned, since the most recent new Van Nicholas ti bike we saw last spring was the very racy limited edition Astraeus, not quite the functional vibe we’re picking up from Velo-ce.
