Bicycle Manufacturing Facility
Real Bicycle Co. designs and manufactures bicycles in South Africa, for the world. We are an end-to-end bicycle design, engineering and manufacturing business, and wholly owned by the Qhubeka Charity. When you buy an RBC bicycle, you’re supporting job creation, technical innovation and a deep commitment to building the best commuter bicycles in the world.
RBC uses local materials, skills and labour, and maintain control of the entire parts supply chain.
RBC is a social enterprise and relies partly on Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) funding from corporate partners, as well as value-in-kind contributions.
The brief
Our parent company, Qhubeka, wanted an improved bicycle for distribution into its programmes throughout South Africa. RBC was tasked with:
- Improving desirability by creating an iconic silhouette
- Improving component spec to lengthen service life
- Designing bicycle components for local manufacture, to improve service life and create jobs
- Reducing part count to make the bicycle easier to maintain
- Reducing weight by at least 4kg for better handling
- Creating a single frame size to accommodate children from 12 years up to adults
- Ensuring load-carrying capacity of up to 100kg
- Simplifying bicycle design to reduce production cost (the minimum number of sub-assemblies/welds)
- Using locally sourced materials, both raw and finished
- Creating a bicycle that is single- and six-speed transmission compatible
- Utilising the same component standards as the previous Qhubeka bicycle (to ensure availability of parts in rural areas)
- Improving parts integration
- Meeting requirements for South African certificate of origination
