Remorse: Pole cancels carbon frame project

The carbon project was 90 % complete. It was to be Pole Bicycles' big thing. The Finns worked for two years to design a carbon frame that would prove worthy of Pole Bicycles' reputation: light, stiff, robust, stylish and full of technical finesse. Pole boss Leo Kokkonen flew to China especially to bag the deal with one of the largest and most renowned manufacturers of carbon frames. Everything was actually okay, the factory looked clean and the workers were happy.

And yet Kokkonen was shocked. By the air pollution. By the rubbish. By the fact that the Chinese government allegedly recommends that manufacturers simply dump production waste into the sea. And that carbon recycling - if it is carried out at all - far too often consists of burning the resin in a more or less controlled manner and chopping up the fibre residues that remain and at best using them as filler for fibre-reinforced injection-moulded parts. Kokkonen explains his reasons on the Pole website

It is quite possible that the offer made to the small Finnish brand was simply too expensive. After all, people in China know that the "Made in China" label no longer carries the stink of cheap junk goods. Prices are rising accordingly. Switching to factories in countries that pay even less attention to ecological and social standards for cost reasons was, of course, out of the question for Pole. The logical consequence: an end to carbon. For good. Or at least until Kokkonen found a company that could produce and process the material in a way that conserved resources and the environment.

However, the decision to move away from the carbon frame so suddenly has also brought sceptics onto the scene. After all, it is well known that carbon parts do not deserve an ecological halo. Pole has made a decision. From Kokkonen's point of view, better late than never. Because he wants to leave his children a world that is as clean as possible.

According to Pole Bicycles, the company is concentrating on a revolutionary processing method for aluminium, with which the high demands on style, low weight, high rigidity and durability can also be met in the future. And all this with maximum recyclability. So there would be no need for carbon at all.