A British company is key to a new European craze
When the Wright brothers first flew, no-one believed that flying would become a commercial enterprise that opened the skies to millions of tourists a year. Nor, when the first mass produced snowboard appeared on the scene in 1966, did anyone predict that they would eventually sell in quantities approaching 5 million a year. History was a time when the term ‘adrenaline junkie’ hadn’t yet been invented. But, now the quest for a challenge to fuel adrenalin in the Summer months has led to a new craze sweeping the Alpine region of central Europe.
A tough sport called mountain boarding is gathering momentum, and demand is currently outstripping supply. For this reason, the street price for a professionally manufactured board is anything from £99 for a basic model (approx. 150€) to over £1,200 (nearly 2,000€) for one with all the advanced features.
With the price tag proving prohibitive to many wanting to take up the sport (which involves riding a board with wheels on it over somewhat rough terrain), young German entrepreneur Albert Müller has launched Flame Offroadboards. His mission: to design and manufacture a revolutionary new range of high-quality boards that retail between 450€ and 1,000€.
The 36-year-old trained industrial engineer opted to target local suppliers to hit budget, a move that would ease communication paths – a vital factor when developing a new product that will be subject to ongoing improvement and modification.
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One such supplier is Protomold, which has its German headquarters at Mosbach. Both companies are now closely involved in the development and construction of Flame’s innovative off-road boards.
The component central to the partnership between the two firms is the wheel rim, a crucial part in determining the ride of the board. “We have a unique axle design,” explained Mr Müller. “Standard skate axles are fine for straightforward runs, but at higher speeds on more rugged terrain, unsteady riding behaviour is frequently encountered. The usual solution is to deploy channel axles, which provide greater track stability and overcome these difficulties. We have taken the simplicity of the skate axle and combined it with the excellent running characteristics of the channel axle.
“Because the axle is bespoke, the dimension from bearing to bearing is 37.5mm for the Protomold-manufactured wheel rim,” he continued. “This is far from standard and there is nothing else like it on the market, so we didn’t approach the established wheel rim manufacturers as none of their tooling would match our requirements.”
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“The structure is designed so that 8'' and 9'' tyres can be fitted, which centre themselves automatically. Riders prefer 8'' tyres in freestyle and downhill racing, while 9'' tyres are deployed for pathless terrain or soft, sandy ground.”
In talks with the sales manager of Protomold, Jörg Müller, it became clear to the young entrepeneur that the innovative rapid injection moulding process favoured by Protomold would be favourable and lead to high quality results. Various materials with long and spherical glass fibres were discussed for the wheel rims. Finally, a very hard, rigid material was agreed upon and a small number were produced. However, some wheel rims broke in extreme situations, prompting Flame to delay volume manufacture.
“We subsequently chose a new glass fibre reinforced, stabilised material with greater elasticity,” explained Mr Müller. “This material is used for wheel rims on BMX bikes and new prototypes are being tested as we speak.” If everything goes smoothly, Protomold will manufacture 5,000 wheel rim halves from this material.
The co-operation between Flame Offroadboards and Protomold has been ongoing for more than six months. Once Mr Müller uploaded his first drawing to Protomold’s website, he soon received a call from Jörg Müller of Protomold who advised him to change the design of the mould ejection angles. This piece of small, but crucial, advice convinced Albert Müller of the commitment Protomold was prepared to invest in his project.
It led to the start of a vibrant and productive relationship, and Protomold has since been involved in the manufacture of board bases, some of which have been produced from plastic to help minimise weight and costs. Albert Müller says he would easily have had to put four or five times as much money on the table for conventional mould tools from another supplier, without the flexibility afforded by the Protomold process.
“In the early development phase when ideas are not quite mature is where Protomold’s services really come into their own," concluded the company boss.
