JONICH WHEELS
How a wheel is born
THE SPOKES WHEEL
Birth of excellence
Every customer has his bike, his ideas, and his expectations. JoNich is tasked with materializing the dreams of its customers, guiding them, and directing them to a solution, not only fulfilling, though trying to satisfy what the customer does not say, but implies … quality, safety efficiency.
We built beautiful wheels, but with unthinkable and courageous chromatic combinations (never, ever would we have imagined making similar wheels), only to discover that precisely those combinations, in an overall vision, gave the vehicle meaning and prestige. We have learned to identify in the customer, a kind of director, responsible for coordinating a larger design than our own.
Starting from this bath of humility, let us explore into how a special ray wheel is born.
HOW A WHEEL IS BORN
In the first step, the customer wants to receive an idea and an overview of the investment to be faced. Aware of this need, JoNich is able to offer a dual activity/service in the best interest of the customer, that is, provide a cost estimate, and share photorealistic images of what its product will look like. Clearly, in order to achieve this, the customer must send us specific photos of his vehicle, so that we can proceed to the evaluation phase of the desired wheel size.
Following the first phase, certainly the most selective and important, any necessary investigations are carried out. In particularly laborious cases, the possibility of requesting that the original wheels could be sent to us for a couple of days is considered. In the metrology department, all surveys are carried out to allow faithful replication of what is mounted on the original vehicle. In doing so, we lower the parallel costs imposed on the customer, to buy brake discs or special screws. At the end of the day, JoNich is able to design the wheel.
We would like to specify that all the relevant and design activity is at JoNich’s expense. It is a bold choice, but in this way we achieve two important goals, first: we level the costs to customers (there will not be a first customer … Precursor… that will pay for all those who will go after him) and second: we fill with content our company, which now has more than 160 different applications. This treasure makes us unique and faster and faster to satisfy the customer.
HOW TO DESIGN A WHEEL
The elements that affect the design choices are the loads, the type of the vehicle and the use. Some vehicles have huge weights, but little dynamism. Others have really important power and dynamism. We cut out the best performing architecture of each one, with a particular commitment to aesthetic choice, performing a great work to provide and adapt specific architectures, in order to achieve the result. You can’t win 3 world championships without knowing how to interpret aesthetics and functionality.
By now, we have over 90 different types of beaming, going from 32M6 to 80M6 to 24M9. Each beam is developed by our calculation system, where the algorithm combines 3 main stresses (radial load, bending and twisting). In a simple and accurate way, the program returns to us the degree of criticality or confidence of the wheel.
This business is also a JoNich investment in customers. So, we create the right wheel for disparate applications. We do not want to burden the customer with all the design choices… those are our cargo. The customer must remain focused on his (often aesthetic) goal feeling guided and protected throughout the rest. In doing so, we increase the chance that he makes a bike a nice bike, and we draw luster. OMG … you want to see that is also why we have won the World Cup?!?!
HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE WORKSHOP
Defined as the wheel, the customer receives a photorealistic image of the product built with him and for him. The desired finishes and colour combinations are not, of course, to be overshadowed. By sharing and deliberating together, they greatly decrease the chances of error (a real problem of a company’s costs), and the customer knows exactly what to expect. At this point, the image must be transformed into a subject. This step is done by going from 3D modeling to 2D-encoded sheets. The production department, having the 3D model and following the indications (tolerances, roughness measures, construction notes etc.) imposed by the 2D tables, can materialize what is set with the design office.
LA COSTRUZIONE DEI COMPONENTI
THE HUB
This is manufactured from the full, starting from extruded bars in league 6082-T6. There is league with higher mechanical characteristics, but they are not always suitable for this type of work (and here we put a nice radio silence to protect our little secrets). The choice of full-fledged processes is dictated by the need to always have the maximum freedom of maneuvre and modification, without being forced to start from binding and often limiting blanks.
THE RIM
Also made of league 6082-T6 is entirely built in MILAN with equipment of our own design. It undergoes a very different production cycle from the technology commonly used for the manufacture of rims, in fact, while the vast majority of the rims come from an extruded and welded, our circles come from a process of fluo-forming. Basically, we start from a plate of adequate thickness, and then shape the material (how clay is shaped to make a vase), until it takes the form of a rough rim. The rings thus built, undergo a treatment of hardening and artificial aging (precisely the T6 treatment). This gives the material great strength and tenacity. Once out of the furnaces, the ring is turned both internally and externally on specific turning machines. The rim is then polished by hand in order to homogenize the entire exposed surface. At this point it is drilled with the use of 5-axis CNC machines according to the intersection established by the project.
THE SPOKES
These are children of two distinct processes. M6 beams are cold-forged in high-strength INOX steels, while M9s are filled from high-strength INOX steel bars. The thread of the spokes is obtained by deformation through the well-known taxiing process, able to respect the fibers of the bar while raising the strength of the radius. The central part of the spokes (either M6 or M9) is tapered, in order to save weights and optimize the distribution of efforts.
THE FINISHES
With the finish, we touch a delicate button, as it is necessary to provide aesthetics and protection. We have become lovers and connoisseurs of many processes, and we want to implement our possibilities thanks to information and experimentation. We can say that, all aluminum parts (rims and hubs) are anodized or painted, while all steel parts are in INOX.
As for the stainless, we have the ability to perform black chrome in order to propose silver and black spokes. As for the anodizations, we can offer the possibility to get all the colors in the bright or matte glossy version. We have also partnered with major companies in the industry regarding liquid or powder painting. In all cases, our partners are instructed and prepared to treat spoked wheels, protecting, or insisting on specific areas of the wheel.
THE MONTAGE
Perhaps the assembly is the most “romantic” phase of the spoked wheel. It is not possible to assemble a spoked wheel by simply tightening threaded components. This is how static mechanical organs are mounted. The spoked wheel is a structure in balance of forces, and to make a wheel a good wheel, it is important that all forces are evenly distributed on all spokes, simultaneously achieving the ultimate goal of having a well-centered wheel (i.e. with the round rim, coaxial to the hub, with minimal lateral shift and correct alignment with respect to the center of the vehicle). Is it hard to get this? Absolutely you. It requires years of preparation and experience.
JoNich decided to assemble all the wheels in the field, in order to check and verify every qualitative element of this delicate operation. It is important to remember that the influence of the production department on site, stimulates designers to adapt the design choices, without avoiding important aspects related to assembly.
SHIPPING
JoNich has studied and improved over the years a simple, light, economical and very durable packaging system as well as protective. Respecting the work and the possible and unpredictable situations, we have tied our packages to a dedicated insurance system that protects the goods from causes of force majeure