Bochumer Verein Verkehrstechnik (BVV) has been one of the leading manufacturers of wheels and wheelsets since the beginning of the railroad era. Founded in 1842, the traditional company was a pioneer in steel processing and a beacon of the then still young railroad industry.
MBM is fortunate to have been the Austrian sales partner of this leading German rolling and forging plant for decades.
Good bikes are one third steel and two thirds experience.
The secret of a good bike lies in the material and its properties. And, of course, in its manufacture. Both – material development and production process – are practically one and the same at BVV. So there is no development at the desk on paper and then production, i.e. forging/rolling, heat treatment and machining. Instead, it has always been a process in which theory and practical implementation influence and correct each other. Of course, this costs time and money – but the results are worth it.
Experience is the be-all and end-all in technology. And the famous “knack” for the material cannot be replaced by any computer program. That is why tradition and the passing on of experience are invaluable. But without the courage to innovate, tradition leads to stagnation. This is why BVV has been striking the right balance between innovation and tradition for generations – for the benefit of our customers.
Innovation
Of course, MBM and BVV don’t reinvent the wheel every day, but we work every day to make it a little bit better. To give you a small impression of our development work, here are just three examples of wheel set innovations. If this has aroused your interest in more, we look forward to hearing from you.
The new low-noise freight wagon wheelset
You can’t really hear 75 dB(A) – every car is louder – and compared to the familiar rattling of freight wagons, it’s a gentle murmur. Of course, this doesn’t solve all the problems of freight traffic in one fell swoop – but it does alleviate the most important one for local residents.
BVV is a pioneer in the reduction of noise emissions. Now we are transferring the good results from passenger transport to freight transport. Economical freight transport and low noise emissions are no longer a contradiction in terms – good news for operators and even better news for people and the environment.
High-deflection special wheels -
maximum deflection comfort
Suspension wheels are good, good for our cities, good for people and also good for the often outdated routes and car concepts, because special suspension wheels iron out many a bump.
You can hear and feel this, and you will like the result. Special developments like this have been a tradition at BVV for a good 170 years. The task here was comparatively difficult, as the aim was to create greater suspension travel despite a smaller design. LoRa, for example, the first of these modern comfort wheels, was specially developed for high wheelset loads and small running circle diameters, which are typical of modern low-floor streetcars with their space-saving design. For the first time, it works with a 3 mm suspension and thus achieves up to 15 times more suspension travel than conventional wheels for the well-built lines – sufficient reserves even for the most difficult cases. Not an “off-the-peg” product, of course. But nobody expected that. Least of all ourselves.
The new rubber-sprung aluminum wheels -
30% lighter, 100% safe
A minus of 600 kg on the scales makes every OEM happy, because at the end of the day everyone keeps a close eye on the pounds – especially when it comes to carriage weight. And for the passenger, air conditioning and low access are always more pleasant than forged steel on the rails. BVV has therefore broken new ground again and developed rubber-sprung aluminum wheels. The first units are already in operation. Forged aluminum is light and resistant – we have tested and proven this in many series of tests. Combined with our tried and tested torsion-proof rubber suspension, the result is a 100% reliable system that will make its way onto the rails:
- Quiet running, like all our rubber-sprung wheels
- Smooth-running thanks to high-strength wheel tires in Excelsior® quality
- Easy to service thanks to simplified tire changes.
A word about the costs
In rail transport, we are used to the tough price war. We are therefore looking forward to comparing the life cycle costs. After all, when you know that BVV bikes can cover around two million kilometers or more if the routes, vehicle and maintenance are well coordinated, then perhaps some of the tempting price tags will be somewhat underestimated …