Investor hands wooden bicycle maker Renovo full production bicycle capability
Renovo Bikes, a manufacturer of hollow frame wooden bikes has more than doubled its production capabilities with an investment from Texas businessman Al Spinks. The cash injection will now enable Renovo to move beyond custom builds only and into to production frames.
A centerpiece of this change is a state-of-the-art five axis CNC router. The planning and installation of this complex machine took six months, but it has since dramatically increased production capabilities. Renovo is now building-to-inventory instead of building-to-order, meaning the time from ordering and shipping is reduced to just a few weeks.
Beginning as a customer that simply wanted his bike to be delivered faster, Sprinks called Renovo Bikes Owner and President Ken Wheeler to learn how he could help speed the process up. Wheeler playfully replied, “bring money.” The following week Sprinks flew to Renovo’s shop in Portland, OR to see the full operation of making wooden bikes.
“As a longtime cyclist, I’d been following Renovo for several years and was blown away by the size of their operation, their technology, and of course, the performance of their bikes,” Spinks said. “I immediately made the decision to invest upon seeing their state-of-the-art machines, tools and configurations in-process and watching their new designs come to fruition. And with this production-bike capability boost, our partnership becomes even more exciting and rewarding.”
Renovo specialises in gravel, road, mountain and urban models, with sights set now set on further exploration beyond these categories. The business offers lifetime and five-year warranties on road and mountain bike frames, respectively.