Last February, Velocity moved all of their alloy rim production back to the US, handling it all in their Jacksonville, FL, plant. Now, Rolf Prima’s doing the same thing in the other corner of the country.
“You know, we joked about ‘what if…’ enough times that we decided it was time to put our heads down and make it happen,” said Rolf Prima owner Brian Roddy. “At first it seemed impossible, but we’ve got deep experience in rim design and a lot of motivation. We’re all pretty pumped to bring more manufacturing to Eugene, OR.”
Now, they’ll be making the rims and building all the wheels in house, and we’re already lining up a factory tour for later in the year to show you just how they do it!
“We’ve always designed and developed our own custom rims but we wanted more control over the process,” said Joel Wilson, Sr. Engineer. “We’ve been known for our hand‐building of high performance wheels and now we can bring our hallmark small‐batch craftsmanship to our rims as well. As an engineer and lifelong cyclist, there is not much more satisfying than designing the parts and then being able to step out the door, get my hands dirty and actually make the rims. That’s hard to beat.”
The move gives them a little more control over the process, but will dramatically improve lead time and production schedules.
They told us production is up and running now, ramping up slowly but surely. They brought on 2-3 new employees to get things up and running, and as production volume ramps up they should be bringing on a couple more over the next 12 months.
