Jetset is a professional wheel rim manufacturer of bicycles, wheelsets, and wheelchairs in Taiwan. We took a look behind the scenes.
Patience is paying off for Hsin Chan Industrial Co., Ltd, which trades under the Jetset name. Over Jetset’s first two decades in business, the brand built a solid reputation for manufacturing some of the toughest rims on the market. It briefly changed course when the market began to demand lightweight rims in the mid 2010s, but the appetite for e-bikes and cargo bikes in recent years is putting Jetset squarely back in its sweet spot.
Jetset started in 1996 as a small family affair and became the go-to suppliers of strong rims for mountain bikes and BMX bikes. The business grew and prospered for 20 years until around 2016 when lightweight rims, particularly carbon, became the trend. Jetset spent five years working on competitive lightweight rims, but the global pandemic forced another strategy rethink. Now, the company has gone back to its roots making tough, heavy-duty rims for e-bikes and cargo bikes.
“Traditionally 20 percent of our production has been in OEM and 80 percent is for the aftermarket,” said Sales Director William Hsu. “We do a lot of new product innovation and now only have e-bike and cargo bikes. ODM is becoming an increasingly important part of the business,” he said. William’s older brother, an engineer who recently returned to Jetset after a few years gaining experience at other companies, supplies the creative knowhow for the ODM collaborations now making up most of their projects.
An example of this design innovation in action is the new rim hook design, launched three months ago. “Downhill mountain bikers appreciate its ability to resist the hardest knocks from the most insanely vertical and rapid descents. The key is not simply the doubled-up wall. The finished design is stronger than the original by 15 percent, achieved by changing the angles” he said.
They also recently launched the angled nipple. “A rim and thus a wheelset will last a lot longer if the nipple has two touch points rather than one. This is especially popular for heavy-duty e-bikes,” he added.
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