Recently, during one of my dealer tours in Spain I had the chance to visit the Rotor facility. If you arrive at the factory you think your GPS has tricked you, as you would expect a different building from a high tech parts manufacturer. But once you are in the factory it is completely different: Super clean white painted rooms packed with the latest state of the art CNC machines. When I was there, 3 new machines where ready to be built up in a new hall…things are progressing well with Rotor.

Here are some photos from their production process. First the raw material for their cranks:



Here are the 3 different stages in the machining process of a crank arm:



This is the raw material for the chainrings:



It is  very interesting to see how a crank, chainring or a spider is shaped  to perfection from a piece of aluminum in only a couple of machining steps. It is as well impressive to see how it all started. Here is a pic of the little tiny office that was their first base:



And of course it is very interesting to see the first proto bike:



Amazing to think the ideas behind this prototype and the radical approach that was made by a couple of extremely courageous people (as this was really something new back then and still is), led to a company that is now the size of Rotor. .

It clearly shows that people with dedication, passion and great ideas can be successful with swimming against the stream. One more thing about this company is the people. I think I have never seen a company with so many different characters working so well together and not only doing business but also building long lasting partnerships that are based on true friendship ...