Urban Arrow and Formula partnership

Better brakes make businesses more successful.

How do you connect mini-motocross and Urban Arrow cargo bikes? Here’s the story. Driven by innovation and a desire to decrease the total cost of ownership (TCO), Urban Arrow and Formula sign partnership. This will lower the maintenance costs, save valuable time and save money for business owners. Starting Q1 2023 all model year 2023 cargo bikes (Cargo and Tender) will be equipped with Formula brakes – a company active in the downhill mountain bike and (mini)motocross industry.

Increasing uptime of bikes

Urban Arrow cargo bikes are used by businesses worldwide daily and extensively. High utilization of any product requires regular service and maintenance. For bikes, this leads to downtime of the bike. Fueled by our ambition to “drive change” and remain innovative, we embarked on creating a better product. Our partnership with Formula is our next milestone to improve our portfolio of products for businesses.

Extending the service interval

Brakes are one of the primary components that require service and maintenance. Currently every brake system needs service every 1.500 km. This costs time and often comes with additional costs. This bottleneck got us thinking. Together with Formula we set out to stretch the service interval by a factor 10x.

Lab tests have actually proven that the service interval is decreased by a factor of 10. “By integrating Formula brakes, servicing brakes is now truly incidental instead of a monthly practice,” says Product Manager B2B Richard Busscher.

Formula brakes require 10x times less maintenance.

Richard Busscher – Urban Arrow Product Manager B2B

In the pilot phase we partnered with TringTring, urban cycle logistics pioneers active in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag, Utrecht and Haarlem. “These real life tests with TringTring have actually exceeded our best scenario expectations”, says Teamlead Design & Development B2B Bradford Vidal.

Controlling total cost of ownership

With Formula brakes integrated on your Urban Arrow Cargo or Tender, businesses can spend more time productively using the bike. No money, nor time is spent on servicing or replacing parts. The Urban Arrow and Formula partnership enables last-mile delivery businesses to keep control over the total cost of ownership. Be it a single bike or a fleet of bikes. In all cases, better brakes enable businesses to become more successful.

Formula brakes require much less service and maintenance is short and swift. “We believe our innovative development is welcomed by existing and new customers”, says B2B Director Frank Oudegeest. “With cargo bikes it’s all about the uptime of the bike. To all fleet managers and logistics experts, let’s connect and come visit our Amsterdam office. We think this truly brings cargo bikes to another level.”

Benefits for last-mile delivery businesses

Formula brakes in Urban Arrow cargo bikes have many benefits. First of all, riders experience a better perceived sense of control. A second benefit is the fact that Formula brakes are easier serviceable. Maintenance engineers will only spend seconds checking the status of the brakes and replacement of parts only occurs after 15.000 km. At last, as Formula brakes require less maintenance, the uptime of the bike will be maximized.

Less maintenance is especially beneficial for high intensity users that have a large fleet of cargo bikes. An example company is TringTring. Our long-term customer and last-mile food logistics company in Amsterdam have tested the Formula during a pilot. Fons Kok – lead maintenance engineer at TringTring – is super excited about the Formula brakes.

We’re nearing 20.000 km of uptime without any service maintenance needed.

Fons Kok – Lead Maintenance Engineer at TringTring

A new breed of cargo bikes

Urban Arrow will integrate the Formula brakes into cargo bikes that are subject to high utilization rates. All model 2023 Urban Arrow cargo bikes – both Cargo bikes and Tender – will be equipped with Formula brakes. We expect fleet managers, maintenance engineers and cargo bike riders to all experience the benefits from this integration and our unique and partnership with Formula. This partnership is part of Urban Arrow’s longer-term vision to truly create a new breed of cargo bikes.