A sock for your bike

Cycling has become very trendy, with more and more people regularly resorting to pedal power these days. Printable bike covers can be used to protect the environment-friendly means of transport to keep it safe or help transport it from A to B.

Usage of bicycles is also still increasing in Germany. A cycling survey carried out regularly once every two years by the SINUS institute revealed that, in 2019, 44% of people cycled regularly, while another 41% wanted to do so more often in the future.

It is not just that ever more people are biking daily or several times a week nowadays but there also appears to be a definite trend towards owning a second bike. Pedelecs, followed by mountain bikes, are becoming especially popular alongside the traditional bicycle. It is not unusual these days for a passionate cyclist to have a different set of wheels for every conceivable occasion. However, such expensive means of transport also need to be stored and protected properly. A smart wall mounting in the sitting room of an urbane flat may be one solution, but only if the mountain bike did not get too dirty on its latest excursion through the woods.

The full ‘sock’ rather than just a throw-over cover

It is precisely this problem that inspired the Latvian company Velosock. The company is specialised in providing solutions for protecting the bikes of both professional and hobby cyclists. Flexible covers make it easy to stow your bike away and store it in your flat or hotel room, take it with you on public transport or pop it into your car. Your bike is well-protected and, at the same time, your walls or floors do not get covered in dirt or grime.

Company founder, Gvido Bajars, spent a long time looking intensely at the best way of transporting, storing and protecting a dirty bicycle. Instead of the traditional throw-over cover, he developed a full “sock” to put the bike in, opening up a new niche in the market for his invention in the process. In the meantime, Velosock supplies textile covers for bikes of all different types and sizes. The bike socks are made of a stretchy material and simply slip over your bike, as demonstrated in this video.

A decision in favour of dye-sublimation printing

The bicycle socks are made of 90% polyester and 10% elastane and can be washed in a washing machine at 40°C. Velosocks are available in single-colour or cheerful printed designs. Existing patterns can be personalised with your own logo or lettering. It is also possible to create your own full custom design.

Velosock prints and manufactures its bike covers in its own locations and uses large-format Mutoh printers. The company decided initially to buy ValueJets and print using the dye-sublimation process.

Image and video: Velosock
Text: Caroline Zöller