Flashback: Mid-March 2023, a guest at brake manufacturer Tektro in Taiwan. It is warm and humid outside, but more pleasant in the conference room of a hotel in Taichung. A mountain bike stands on the stage at the front, covered but recognisable, and next to it a large black suitcase in which jewels, weapons and new products are safely transported. We are at an exclusive sneak preview and after a speech and applause, it's out: Tektro is now launching a complete drivetrain after its well-known top DH-R brakes: the TRP EVO groupset with gears, cassette, crankset and bottom bracket. All manufactured in our own factory in Taichung. And that's where we're heading straight after the presentation of the new groupset.
At Tektro, the robots roll through the factory halls
It will be a few months before the finished EVO groupset can be fitted to the editor's MTB for the first test. We first visit the factory in Taichung, where all the components are manufactured - including the carbon parts such as cranks and the cage. Tektro is breaking new ground with its TRP (Tektro Racing Products) brand. New CNC milling machines are being tested there, the processes for the new components have to be established and quality assurance is putting a spanner in the works. But let's start with a look at what is at the beginning of production: a strand of aluminium.
Tektro is primarily known for its brakes in the low and mid-price segment. The TRP brand has at least established itself with the very high-performance DH brake in downhill sports established. In other words: Tektro can build brakes and everything there is already streamlined and production is running smoothly. Pre-formed aluminium profiles for the brake callipers are delivered and a largely automated process starts at the main factory between rice fields and a bumpy access road. The aluminium strands are sawn and then shaped in a 6 metre high press with 650 kilos of pressure. Half a car practically falls onto the right-hand part of a brake caliper, which is perhaps 10 cm long.
It is quite loud, there is a metallic clatter and it is quite hot because the metal has to be heated to up to 400 degrees beforehand. Even large fans only move the hot air. At the end, the pressed parts fall onto a conveyor belt in quick succession, from where they move on to the next process step. But it is noticeable that nobody is carrying heavy boxes. This is done by robots, either on the machine or on rollers.
A few halls further on - a transport robot has now brought the deburred and cleaned pressed parts - a robot arm with a spray nozzle takes over the painting. In front of a waterfall against the paint vapours, it rotates between racks on which literally hundreds of brake parts are hanging. No one has to breathe in solvents here.
Tektro manufactures almost everything - except for the chain - for the new TRP EVO shifting group itself
The major goal of the Taiwanese manufacturer Tektro is to have almost all production steps in the EVO Group under its own control. Raw materials such as aluminium or lubricants are bought in. Nevertheless, according to the company, a vertical range of manufacture of up to 80 per cent is achieved. And we have experienced the brute beginnings of a TRP DH-R brake.
Tektro is a little less open with visitors when it comes to the CNC line, where there are more than 180 of these aluminium milling machines! These include prototypes in which eleven work steps are carried out successively and automatically, which would otherwise have to take place in individual machines. On the other hand, the milling of the switch cassettes was the biggest quality challenge for the EVO Group at the time of the visit and afterwards. The quality of each individual component is recorded by cameras and can be accessed worldwide via a centralised system throughout the company.
Things are quieter on the next floor up at the production site, where assembly rather than sawing and pressing takes place. There is actually quiet music playing everywhere. The concentrated silence is only occasionally disturbed by the transport robots' announcements when a person gets in the way. But while in Germany there would probably be a shrill warning tone and a warning voice saying "ATTENTION!", in typical Taiwanese fashion you only hear a friendly "Tingeling" and a computerised voice says something briefly and cautiously.
850 employees plus robots are employed at the Taichung plant
But anyone who thinks that fewer people have to do the work at the friendly electric handlers is mistaken. The assembly of the brakes, as well as thousands of circuits and other components from the factory, requires nimble, capable hands. 850 people work here. They go to the canteen, where they can eat in three shifts. They take a one-hour lunch break and a quarter-hour break every two hours. And: the power nap after lunch is practised here on, under and next to the workstation.
But wages in Taiwan are also high compared to the rest of Asia. This is why many people from Thailand and Indonesia work here. And they bring with them a curious passion for tuned scooters and mini motorbikes parked outside. Scooters are also the main means of transport in Taiwan.
The assembly line at Tektro: a lot of concentrated manual labour
As the new TRP EVO rear derailleur consists of a hell of a lot of parts, there are people here to assemble the sometimes tiny parts. The large hall in which this takes place has assembly lines with 13 or even 16 stations. There is a highly specialised person at each one. Watching some of them, you get the impression that you are looking over the shoulder of a watchmaker rather than a gear lever.
Back to our brakes from the beginning. They are also assembled here, filled with brake fluid (mineral oil) and test braked 200 times after complete assembly. If there is no pressure loss afterwards, the new components are packed. You could almost say: lovingly. Because the small thread that holds the brake hoses together in a round shape is knotted by hand! The same goes for the shift cables. The finished packages are then brought back to the warehouse by the robot transporter.
And so, in June, my TRP EVO group also made its way to Haßloch in Germany for the test.
Tektro Europe: Not Berlin, not Frankfurt - in Haßloch, Rhineland-Palatinate
The last few kilometres of the journey to Tektro's European headquarters are almost picturesque. The vineyards of the Wine Route are already towering into the sky. It's July and it's extremely oppressively hot - a bit like the presentation of the new TRP groupset in Taiwan. The headquarters are not in Frankfurt either, but in Haßloch, about 10 kilometres from Speyer - in other words, a bit rural and inconspicuous, as Tektro is known in Taiwan.
Thomas Lattke, the Managing Director and, so to speak, Tektro Europe boss, invited us to visit the headquarters, have the test components fitted and do a test lap on the trails behind Haßloch. After all, the parts that have just arrived from Taiwan are supposed to work properly and so the circle closes from the sneak preview to the series product. And there they are in the sunshine. The golden EVO brakes, the EVO gearstick...
After being greeted by Thomas Lattke, my Trek Supercalibre first goes into Matthias' hands. Matthias Eberle is the in-house bike mechanic and takes care of the assembly. My Sram wireless drivetrain has to make way for the TRP parts, which then have to face this (tough) comparison: shifting precision, feel, wear.
Tektro started in Europe as a subtenant in a bike shop
Thomas Lattke, the boss, guides me through the hall that houses the company headquarters while Matthias assembles. The main task of the 10 employees is sales, marketing and, above all, service. Orders are sent to dealers and customers from here - a large part of the building is used as a warehouse, with the wood-clad bike workshop at the end. The offices of Thomas and Armand Müller, Head of Service, are located in a flatter extension. "We're actually already reaching the limits in terms of space," says Thomas. Tektro has only been at home in the hall in question since 2020. A year earlier, in 2019, Tektro in Germany with Thomas Lattke was still more or less a one-man start-up with beer benches as offices, sublet from a bike dealer in Neustadt an der Weinstraße.
"We want to establish service hotspots throughout Europe. There should be around 17, that's what our head office in Taiwan wants. And when we see how many orders we receive every day, we have to grow," explains Managing Director Lattke. Especially when the new TRP EVO groupset goes into mass production. This is not quite the case when we visit. In July, around 50 groupsets per day are expected to roll off the production line, says Thomas. Now in September 2023, however, TRP is starting to beat the marketing drum.
Tektro wants to establish itself on the market - with the help of co-operations
In the meantime, Tektro mechanic Matthias is almost finished with my bike. After a round of shop talk about internally routed cables and the advantages of chain wax over chain oil, I receive the bike. A completely black MTB with golden components - that at least has a visual appeal.
Now Thomas and I get ready to go for an after-work ride. Just a few kilometres away is the ridge of the Palatinate Forest and the town of Deidesheim, which is famous for its wine tourism. Thomas is already here locally and guides me up into the forest. And the EVO circuit? Well, it's inconspicuous in the best sense of the word because it works accurately. The rear derailleur also swallows the five gears, which can be shifted up at the touch of a thumb.
This is the prelude to an endurance test of the TRP EVO group, which we will discuss in another article. Please make a note... ;-) First pictures are already available.
But since we're looking to the future, I ask Thomas what Tektro is planning in the near future? As we tread up narrow paths, he only gives a teaser: "The collaboration with Bosch was just the first step!" "The ABS with our brakes was an important step for the acceptance of Tektro in the upper market segment," says Thomas. "Now we want to expand this in other areas with Bosch." More information will be available next spring.
But what the head of Europe can already say: The anti-lock braking system will also be developed further. "We want to reduce the costs of such systems," explains Thomas, "and establish ABS as the standard for MTBs!" "We also want to technically hide the system unit, which you can now see on the outside of the suspension fork, inside the fork."
We want to establish ABS as the standard on MTBs. - Thomas Lattke, Managing Director at Tektro Europe
Tektro also wants to make inroads into the road/gravel sector with a strong partner in the area of shifting - Thomas confides this to us shortly before the first lightning flashes of the approaching thunderstorm. So after a wild ride, we pull into a pub in the Palatinate just before the heavy rain, finish the interview and start the conversation between two bike enthusiasts.
Marc Strucken
Editor
