Establishment of a production line in Europe

REIN4CED is a fast-growing Belgian start-up that has developed and patented a brand-new composite material and a completely new fully automated production process offering safe, durable and lightweight bicycle frames.

In 2019, the inauguration of the plant was the steppingstone towards the market growth envisioned by REIN4CED founders. Four days before the Brussels ‘Grand Départ’ of the 2019 Tour de France, REIN4CED inaugurated its innovation-centric bicycle frame production facility in Leuven, Belgium. With this unique facility, REIN4CED entered the final straight line of its mission to bring back carbon bicycle frame production to Europe. Despite being the heart of cycling, all bicycles used in the Tour de France are produced in Asia. With the new production line, REIN4CED will supply unbreakable frames to leading cycling brands. Furthermore, EU-based companies will benefit from significant logistic advantages and increased supply chain flexibility and efficiency. This, in turn, will reduce environmental impacts associated with long-range transportations and logistics.

EIT RawMaterials Booster supports innovative products that can produce an impact in the raw materials sector

REIN4CED was supported by the EIT RawMaterials Booster 2017. The company benefited from financial and coaching support. The primary purpose of the project was to enable REIN4CED to validate the technical feasibility of their concept, start co-development of a full-frame with lead customers and to contract the investors required to fund the further path towards market introduction. This project was a definite success.

In May 2019, after further development of the start-up, REIN4CED participated in the Raw Materials Venture Forum, a part of the first edition of the RawMaterials Summit 2019 in Berlin. It was an opportunity for REIN4CED to enhance its visibility towards the EIT RawMaterials Innovation Community and connect with potential future investors.

Steel fiber reinforced composite technology developed and commercialised by REIN4CED is also of interest in other markets, including automotive and aerospace, in which partners of EIT RawMaterials are active. We are looking forward to future synergies between REIN4CED and the EIT RawMaterials network.