WHY COLOMBIA
We aren’t shy about the fact that we design, build, paint, and test our bikes in Colombia, which tends to perplex some people. After all, at the mention of “cycling culture”, most minds veer toward places like Italy, France, and Spain. When we hear about “bike building”? Mass-market carbon from Asia and handbuilt bikes from North America and Europe dominate the sphere of influence. But a whisper about Colombia? Bad (offensive) jokes about Pablo Escobar.
Our bikes are made here because in Colombia, cycling transcends sport, class, history, gender, and culture. It is part of the fabric of the nation, and that fabric is currently on full display thanks to its success at the highest level of sport. After nearly four decades of trying, Egan Bernal has brought the first Tour de France victory to Colombia, the crowning achievement of men’s road racing. The “Queen of BMX”, Mariana Pajón, has taken ten World Championships and two Olympic gold medals since 2008, battling through injury with a nose sniffing at Tokyo 2020 gold. Marcelo Guttierez has left his mark as one of the Americas’ most successful and consistent downhill mountain bikers, winning the endurance-level Garbanzo Crankworx DH a record five times while notching dozens of top-ten UCI World Cup DH finishes. Needless to say, when it comes to professional bicycle racing in nearly any discipline, Colombia is usually featured near - or at - the top.
As we all know, competitive cycling isn’t the end-all-be-all of bikes. In a place that has experienced so much political instability and poverty in such a topographically challenging place for nearly a century, the bicycle is a lifeline that often transpires into recreation (then competition). Kids use bicycles to get to school. Factory workers use bikes to get to work. Coffee farmers use bikes to get from field to field. Families use bikes to recreate on the weekends, perhaps to cruise during Ciclovía, a concept originating in Bogotá (from Wikipedia):
“Each Sunday and public holiday from 7 am until 2 pm certain main streets of Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, and other municipalities are blocked off to cars for runners, skaters, and bicyclists. At the same time, stages are set up in city parks. Aerobics instructors, yoga teachers and musicians lead people through various performances. Bogotá's weekly ciclovías are used by approximately 2 million people (about 30% of the population) on over 120 km of car-free streets. The inspiration for Ciclovías is credited to Bogotá, Colombia. The events have taken place since December 1974…”
With cycling permeating nearly every aspect of Colombian culture with widespread appeal (yes, the grandmother grilling chorizo at the local tienda is watching the Tour, why do you ask?), it translates into a general friendliness toward cyclists...everywhere. It’s a regular thing - something everyone does. Drivers in Colombia are far more considerate of bike riders than in other parts of the world (like the US), and no one skips a beat at the sight of a cyclist. Cycling in Colombia is downright cool.
MOUNTAINS. LOTS OF MOUNTAINS.
This tends to gloss over one of the biggest reasons we build here: The riding is sublime, owing in large part to the jaw-dropping topography of Colombia. The tres cordilleras of the Andes Mountains run through the country’s population centers, lending a road and trail network that rips around, over, and through peaks reaching almost 5800m (19,000ft). There is very little that is truly flat, with a topo map more closely resembling a crumpled sheet of newspaper instead of cartography. Massive climbs with names like Letras, Línea, and Minas stretch for dozens and dozens of kilometers, with a vertical ascent total well over 3700m (12,000ft) for the monstrous Letras. Such enormous climbs take on otherworldly qualities, with rides starting in sweltering jungles near sea level, then topping out in the cold Páramo at altitudes above the treeline.
One could spend a lifetime crisscrossing the mountains of Colombia on a bicycle and never get bored. This topography, paired with an equatorial climate where temperature is a year round constant (the high temperature at our workshop is about 72F 12 months a year), creates some of the best cyclists - and bikes - in the world. Incredibly taxing terrain? Check. Year-round riding? Colombia has that too. We build bikes that are designed to not only endure, but excel here.
After thinking of all the reasons we build here, there’s a better question that comes to mind: Why not? Colombia holds a truly special place in the world of bikes. It’s a place of grandeur and contrast - not just in vistas and geography, but in its people and culture. It is unique, far removed from the perceived cycling heartlands in Europe and the USA, a microcosm of what happens when a nation is forged by a common thread: The Humble Bicycle.
