It’s no secret that carbon fiber manufacturing can be wasteful and at times disposable, so Vélos Advancements decided to create their all-new Holocene as a more sustainable aero road bike, made from recycled carbon. “Imagine owning a bike cut from the same roll of carbon that a rocket, an America’s Cup yacht, or a race car was made from.” That was the goal of composite technical Dan Burrows. Started back in 2019 as a carbon bike repair & repainting shop, Vélos set out to build a better carbon road bike. A carbon bike that is easier on the environment…
Vélos Holocene handmade recycled carbon aero road bike
According to Burrows, “having spent over 3 years closely studying and building a business around repairing everybody else’s products we have come to the understanding that we can manufacture a better quality, race bike our own way and in the process remove the manufacturing defects and common design flaws that plaque mass produced products more often than one might care to think.”
So partnering with leaders in the sailing and aerospace industry, Vélos Advancements developed a more sustainable way to build new carbon bikes. Vélos repurposes pre-consumer recycled prepreg carbon fiber taken out of the waste streams of these high-performance industries. And they turn that waste into new high-performance bikes.
“Not all prepreg we recover is usable for frame building. We selectively choose only the correct weight and modulus Toray prepregs to optimize our frames for performance, weight, and durability. Any out-of-spec carbon is then turned into other products such as bike boxes.”
A new Superbike made in New Zealand
The result is the all-new made-to-order sustainable carbon Vélos Holocene aero road bike. Engineer “Aero Dave” Higgins of Kinetic SIM designed the new monocoque carbon Holocene. He was the old head of engineering at Avanti bikes, with many of his bikes taking big World-level track victories.
Tech Details
For now details remain a bit thin on the integrated and aerodynamic, disc brake road bike.
Vélos does highlight a few key features, though. Like the fully internal cable routing developed with partner FSA and a T47 threaded bottom bracket. They also 3D-print titanium bottle cage mounts that are bonded into the carbon seat & down tubes for a super smooth flush finish. Zero compression fittings / rivnuts.
And a unique type of integrated seat mast design. Vélos says their mast system eliminates the need for a seatpost clamp, insert or wedge – typical failure points. It promises a fully adjustable saddle height. But doesn’t really explain how their sleekly integrated proprietary aero seatpost system works.
In the end, Vélos provides buyers a fully personalized custom service for an ultra limited edition bike. Geometry is generally stock in six standard sizes (50-60cm). But everything from ride quality to paint to complete bike build is custom. And they’ll likely be adding an extra size on either end as well, sometime next year.
Apparently it is ultra-lightweight, too. Vélos claims a complete frameset weight for the new road Holocene weighs only 900-950g “for a unpainted 56cm frame and fork” made of “100% reclaimed carbon fibre“.
And gravel too?
Lastly, they haven’t share any details about it yet. But the aero road Holocene apparently has a gravel sibling in the works too. Technically it doesn’t seem like you can pre-order the gravel bike now, but… The non-refundable deposit is “transferable toward other product or services” from Vélos suggesting you kind of could use this semi-crowdsourcing Holocene pre-order process to pre-order a future recycled carbon gravel bike, too.
Vélos Holocene – Pricing, options & availability
Officially the new Vélos Holocene aero road bike is open now as a pre-order only, with production estimated to begin early next year. They will only produce 100 bikes in 2024, so Vélos Advancements suggests ordering early to secure your build slot. To do so, you need to put down a non-refundable deposit of $2500 NZD (approximately $1525 or 1395€) now. And Vélos will not start making bikes until they secure 50 pre-orders. Vélos slates deliveries for “late 2024” worldwide.
Final price is still up in the air, since every bike will get its own custom build. Including a one-of-a-kind paint scheme, something Vélos has built a name for over the past 3 years. In the end, Vélos suggests that a premium baseline price of around $25,500 NZD / $14,800 / £12,000 | 14,000€. That will get you a complete bike with a top-tier Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 spec with carbon wheels. Pre-order now direct from Vélos Advancements:
