Comfort, stability and safety — that's the formula behind every vanRaam bike. From listening carefully to each rider, to state-of-the-art 3D printing, it's a formula the team works hard to uphold every single day. But what does that actually look like in practice?

vanRaam has been making bikes for more than a century. The company started out as a traditional bicycle manufacturer, but over the past 40 years has specialised entirely in custom-built bikes. The first came about after an acquaintance of then-owner Piet Boezel suffered a brain haemorrhage that left him unable to ride a standard bike. The result was a tricycle, a forerunner of the current Maxi model that in 1986 was one of the first of its kind to appear on Dutch streets.

Welding robots take over the heavy work, allowing skilled workers to focus on assembly and quality control.

Parts are also 3D printed on site, in vanRaam's own workshop, allowing small components to be made or modified quickly. It's a practical tool for customisation, and for continuously refining the details that make a real difference to the ride. 

At the Idea Factory, everything comes back to one question: what would make cycling more enjoyable and safer? Ideas don't come from behind a desk. They come from the experiences of real riders. A small frustration, a clever suggestion, or a very specific wish can be the starting point for something entirely new. No two people are the same, and that's exactly why the Idea Factory matters. Jolien Heeman, Director of Product Management, puts it simply: "We don't just think in ideas — we test them in practice as soon as we can. Every solution has to work in real life. Off the paper and onto the wheels."