As Poslovni Dnevnik/Lucija Spiljak writes, the very first Croatian water bike, made by the Osijek company Aurea Group, has been around since this month. “A Croatian product for the global market” is the slogan of this company, which presented such the first Croatian water bike, Aurea Bike, at Marina Kastela. The water bike will give both local and foreign tourists the opportunity to experience the Croatian Adriatic coast, as well as the many Croatian rivers and lakes in a new, safe, different and at the same time ecological way.
The Osijek company Aurea Group has announced that it is starting with serial production, and although they come from “flat Slavonia” surrounded by rivers and lakes, they will first present their bike on a tour of Croatia in sunny Dalmatia, in the aforementioned marina, where those interested will be able to try it out until June the 13th.
They want to place them throughout Croatia’s immediate region and the EU
There are only a few manufacturers of water bikes in the world, and the Osijek company Aurea Group is among them, according to the company’s director, Alen Alic. On the world market, this Croatian company stood out owing to its design with unsinkable floats filled with styrofoam, which guarantee additional safety when on the water, and it’s also designed for the catamaran type of navigation. This is also an additional impetus towards health tourism and active holidays, which an increasing number of people are focusing on.
“Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic affected tourism and put the season into question last year and this year, so due to the uncertainty, we started presenting the products only at the beginning of June. But there’s interest, and in May the first bicycles went down to Omis. The target group so far are renters on the coast. For three months, we prepared parts, orders and payments; everything has to be calculated in millimetres because serial production is done according to specific plans,” explains Alic, who estimates that they have invested more than half a million kuna in the project so far.
Since back in pre-pandemic 2019, when they started with the water bike idea, they’ve mostly focused on safety and functionality. Apart from being oriented towards the Croatian coast, they’re also interested in their innovation in Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia. The company also hired an export manager for the foreign market because inquiries come from outside the region as well, more precisely from Spain, the Netherlands and even from France.
Alic says that they can deliver up to 50 bicycles in a short time, but they don’t want to accumulate stock until they see how the market is standing. He also revealed the details of the production itself.
“We can deliver several dozen pieces in a short time. We have all the parts, we just need to plasticise and assemble them, but we’re going to wait and see what the reactions are. We procure the propellers in Germany, and we do and produce everything else here in Croatia. For three months, we worked only on parts, laser cutting, welding, aluminum, lathe, machine and manual processing – all to make the product as safe as possible.
Our bike can’t sink, and we tested it on strong waves and among large boats to make sure it was unsinkable and safe for all users, families and children, from tipping over and letting water in. If the user, for example, hits a rock, there is styrofoam inside, which makes the bike unsinkable, and which makes us stand out on the global market.
The bike can pull up to 5 knots, but it is designed as a comfortable and easy ride at a speed of 2-3 knots (about 5 km/h). We focused mostly on getting a product with a large load capacity and a large diameter, the only important thing is to try to distribute the centre of gravity,” explains Alic.
The Osijek company Aurea Group’s water bike has an attractive design, is two metres wide and three metres long, with a load capacity of 450 kg. However, in the realisation process, Alic says, they wouldn’t have succeeded if it were not for the company D&D Metal, with which they’ve been successfully cooperating for years now, and thanks to which they can present this piece of Croatian-made innovation today.
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