In February 2009, ilan Handelsman (general manager) and I, Darcy McCord (service manager) had the opportunity to visit the Devinci factory in Chicoutimi, QC, while The Tree was in production. It was an incredibly valuable experience. I have been working in the bike industry for many years now. I know a lot about bikes, frame materials, components and so on, and I even know a fair bit about the history of bicycles and bicycle manufacturing, but I had only the faintest clue of how bicycles are actually made.

When we arrived at the factory I was immediately impressed by how large and clean the facility was. All aspects of production take place in this one facility, from making custom dropouts with CNC machines, to welding and heat-treating the frames, to painting the frames (although we had The Tree frames outsourced to a powder-coating facility instead), to wheel building, to testing finished products in-house, to final assembly and boxing up the bikes for shipping. I suspected at first glance (and it was confirmed continually throughout the visit) that this is a well-organized operation.

Devinci currently manufactures about 20,000-25,000 bicycles in-house per year, making it one of the largest producers of bicycles in Canada and the largest producer of high-quality specialty bicycles in the country. Their current in-house production represents over half of all Devinci bicycles sold; the remainder are welded overseas in an effort to remain competitive. This is where The Tree comes in. All of Devinci’s hybrid bikes are welded in Asia (some of the models are still assembled at their factory in Chicoutimi, and some are assembled entirely overseas). This is the case with virtually all other Canadian brands as well. We believe, however, that there is a demand for a Canadian-made hybrid bicycle, and since Devinci still has a strong production facility here in Canada, they are well-suited for the job.

We were hosted by our customer service reps Scott and Dave. As we walked around the facility, we were introduced to the factory staff at each of the various stations. Although neither ilan nor I is particularly good at speaking French, it was clear to us that the relationships among staff, including between the office and factory staff, is always friendly. We really got the impression that this is a fun place to work.

The Tree frames were already welded and painted when we got there. I did, however, get to participate in some aspects of the assembly of our bike. I started at the wheel building machine, where the spokes are all laced by one machine, then sent through a tensioning and truing machine, which, frankly, boggles my mind. The lacing machine requires manual operation, but it nonetheless takes only about a minute (less if you’re good at it) to fasten all 36 spokes to the rim (in our shop, it takes about 10 minutes by hand). The rest is done by a computerized machine that I can only assume is powered by magic. A finished wheel rolls out the other end of the machine. The end product is pretty good, but I dare say I can do a better job by hand. It just takes about 10 times longer.

After the wheel building, we moved on to the assembly of the frames.

This was our first look at the frames, and we were very impressed. The powder coat and the decals looked great! We got to follow the very first frame down the assembly line, which consists of about 6-8 people at various stations. The headset cups are pressed in with a very cool machine, the fork column is measured and cut by hand, the handlebars are set up then installed, then the brakes, the bottom bracket and crank, then the derailleurs, then the rear wheel, then the cables are attached and adjusted, then it’s all packed up and put in a box, and it’s ready to go. All the while, the people putting it together are chatting and seeming to have a good time. I got to follow another bike down the line and assemble it myself. I wasn’t quite as fast as they are, but I managed to get it together eventually. Again, despite the language barrier, everyone was quite friendly and willing to help me along, and they were only slightly upset that I was slowing down the line.

We visited the welding stations and heat-treating stations as well. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, they were done for the day. However, Scott and Dave described the process and emphasized that great care is taken to ensure a quality product.

The frame is first tacked together, and then welded in an order that results in the least shifting of the tubes. It is then bathed and heat-treated. After this heat-treatment, the metal is soft and malleable, and it is at this point that each frame is checked for alignment and corrected by hand. It is then ‘aged’ (a second heat-treating process), then bathed in another series of vats to clean out impurities and prepare the frames for painting.

Devinci also has a research and testing facility on site. Frames are testing for stress-resistance by using machines that apply torque from side to side or up and down hundreds of thousands of times before the frame fails. They also check frames for crash resistance and monitor how they fail. This helps them design bikes that are strong in the right places.

It was clear to us that everyone was experienced at their job. This was important to us because it demonstrates that the end product is of a high quality and that it is built with pride. The visit really impressed on us that Devinci is a professional company that takes care to ensure that their staff are experienced and well-treated, and that their product is well-made. We are very excited, then, to introduce The Tree at our shop; a commuter hybrid bike that is made with pride right here in Canada.

Category: Story

Tags: assembly, bicycle, bike, Canadian, commuter, cro-mo, Devinci, factory, handwelded