Swiss Bike Park

In the canton of Bern, near the border with Fribourg, lies the village of Oberried, where the Swiss bike brand “Thömus” is based. The brand, managed by Thomas Binggeli, has grown rapidly over the years in Switzerland and internationally. Buoyed by this growth and a strong passion for his sport, the founder wanted to launch a completely new project in 2019: the construction of the Swiss Bike Park, the largest mountain bike infrastructure in Switzerland.

This project, located in the heart of Switzerland, aims to be one thing above all: unifying. Both training and accessibility for a public composed of both professionals and amateurs were at the heart of the concept. In addition, the Swiss Bike Park will host national and international competitions and attract a growing number of enthusiastic tourists to the Bern region. As the Swiss Bike Park promotes mountain biking by both men and women, it not only has a state-of-the-art structure, but also a contemporary approach that is social, connective and safe.

Knowing of the solidity of our group, which is also based in the canton of Bern, Mr. Binggeli confidentially contacted the managing director of Avesco, Mr. Stefan Suter, to inform him of his need for construction machinery.

It quickly became clear that his needs could be more than met by renting machinery with the high-quality service that Avesco Rent has always offered. Our branch in Ittigen (BE) organized every step of the project with the help of our logistics team in Puidoux (VD).

After an intensive period of conceptualization and planning of the works, our first construction machines were delivered on site on June 28, 2019. On the same day, the surveyor marked the entire perimeter, which included the future slopes as well as the transfer areas of the construction site. In parallel, the clearing works could start after the permission was granted by the authorities.

The construction site was divided into four sectors:

Sector A: Main Building
Sector B: Dirt Park
Sector C: Cross Park
Sector D: Cross Country Trail.

On July 1, 2019, Frutiger AG started the construction works in sector D. From July 8, the company Velosolutions, specialized in the design and construction of bike parks, started its specific works in this very sector with a team of 6 people.

The first major work step was to manipulate the sedimentary rock that makes up the ground in order to give the terrain the desired relief. Thanks to the power of our CAT 336 hydraulic excavator, this task was accomplished quickly and efficiently.

In total, another 15,000 m³ of material was transported by our machines to Sector D to shape the hilly landscape planned by the project manager. The compaction of this newly deposited material was carried out thanks to our CAT roller CS66B (12.4t).

By the evening of July 9, 2019, the iconic flags of the cross-country trails could already be seen rising. The next day, a CAT 308 crawler excavator and a CAT 302.5 excavator worked to complete the envelope of the trails in this sector. At the same time, the planting of new trees progressed, giving the area back its green color.

As the soil proved to be too sandy and therefore unsuitable as a slope surface (insufficient stability and risk of compaction), a surface of cohesive, clayey gravel sand was mixed on site with the help of a special bucket supplied by us – the ALLU Transformer bucket. This attachment, which can crush, screen, crush, aerate, mix, separate, feed and load materials, proved particularly valuable in this operation, which was carried out by the CAT 325 excavator.

Further work focused on laying the underground cabling and installing the final floor coverings.

We supplied a total of eight machines for this construction site:

• CAT 336 excavator
• CAT 325 excavator
• CAT 315 excavator
• CAT 308 excavator
• CAT 302.5 excavator
• Compactor CAT CS66B (12,4t)
• Ammann Rammax 1575 Sheepsfoot
• ALLU Bucket Transformer

The quality of our Caterpillar machines was particularly appreciated by the machine operators. One of them said, “Caterpillar excavators offer good power to break up the ground, precision to smooth and terrace, and sufficiently smooth control to facilitate all maneuvers.”

The Velosolutions project manager was also very pleased with the responsiveness of our teams. “The service is excellent. When there was a problem with a machine, the mechanic was on site within just two hours. Even when calling to get an extra machine, it took no more than two days for it to be delivered and ready to use on the job site.”

Thanks to our network of over twenty branches in every region of Switzerland, we are able to offer not only a wide and up-to-date range of machines, but also unparalleled responsiveness and support.

The Swiss Bike Park stands out strongly through the use of technologies. Some of these are well known in the scene, such as measuring speed, altitude and distance, and are now expected by users. However, the park has gone a step further by implementing virtual reality on the slopes and in the main building. This tool allows users to experiment, test, and immerse themselves in environments they would not have access to under real-world conditions, allowing them to progress with greater ease.

This new experience our customer has had is a reminder of Caterpillar’s focus on research and development in the design and manufacture of its latest machines. The new generation of excavators incorporates new technologies that increase productivity by up to 45%, reduce fuel consumption by up to 25% and lower maintenance costs by up to 15%.

These improvements lead to higher customer satisfaction and reinforce our commitment to contribute to the success of future projects similar to the Swiss Bike Park.

Our efforts are also going in this direction by carrying out remodeling projects in our rental centers. Avesco Rent aims to provide not only a fast service, but also an efficient and accurate one, and is currently carrying out a project to digitalize the input and output process of machines, using a tablet with a customized app.

We also use sensors provided by our partner Livealytics to examine customer flows in our stores. This valuable information enables us to rethink our service with the customer as the central point.

These orientations demonstrate a genuine desire to provide the best possible experience for our customers, whose success is our most important mission.