🚴 What makes a bicycle move: the wheel assembly team

🚴 What makes a bicycle move: the wheel assembly team

It's in the wheel assembly team that the entire process gains its true meaning – movement. Here, individual components come together to form one of the most important parts of a bicycle, one that affects not only riding, but also safety and stability.

Regvita has been with the team for a year. She was brought to the company through recommendations, but her choice to work specifically with wheels was a conscious one – driven by curiosity to find out how a wheel actually comes to life. Regvita says what drew her in most was the process itself – from the very first steps to the final result:

"It was fascinating to watch the story of how a wheel comes together, from lacing the hubs to tensioning the spokes and 'catching' the wheel's center."

Wheel assembly isn't a single action, but an entire process where every step matters. It all starts with lacing the hubs, weaving the spokes and passing them through the line, selecting the right program on the robots, all the way to final assembly:

"Every one of us contributes to building the perfect wheel," Regvita emphasizes.

Today she works as a senior wheel assembly operator, which means not only being responsible for the result, but also for the whole team's work. She ensures that each wheel is true, keeps its center, and has the correct spoke tension, and steps in to help the team handle various situations when needed. And there's no shortage of those:

"Sometimes you can't get the tension or the wheel's center right on the first try. Sometimes a wheel gets warped in the robots, or the spokes don't reach the required tension level – then you have to take it all apart and start over," Regvita explains.

Austėja, who joined the team, has been working here since October. She says that at the beginning, everything was completely new – from the hub itself to the different lacing patterns:

"I had never done anything like this before, everything felt new and different." But it was the team that helped her get up to speed quickly:

"I settled into the team very quickly – they're always ready to help during work."

Wheel assembly work demands not only precision, but also the ability to adapt. Every position is different, every wheel can bring its own challenges, and as new models appear, there's always more to learn.

But the most important thing in this team is the people. Both colleagues agree that it's the team itself that creates a good atmosphere. Austėja mentions that simple things contribute to this too:

"The radio, which always lifts the mood, and a team that brightens the day with laughter – that's how the workday flies by." Regvita agrees that the foundation of the team is the connection between its members:

"What matters most is support, help, respect, and being heard."

Even when collaborating with other departments, the shared goal remains the same – smooth, seamless work.

United and strong, friendly and hardworking – that's how Austėja and Regvita describe the wheel assembly team. This is exactly where a bicycle gains what allows it to move forward.

The journey continues on the assembly lines, where teams put together the fully completed bicycle 🚲