For many years, bike brands have been known to collaborate with automobile and Formula 1 companies in order to align themselves with their halo of high level performance, innovation and technology. But factor bikes started in reverse to that. Factor might seem like a relative newcomer in the market, and that's partially true. It's been a mere eight…

It’s been said that Kona is 'The Smallest Biggest Bike Company in the World'. They’re best known as the quintessential North Shore bike brand, yet their global head office is just down over the border in Ferndale, Washington. The quirky company stood out with outrageous bike model names such as the Stinky Dee-Lux, Sex One, Sex Too, and, Jackshit, w…

In our final episode of this limited series, we turn the floor over to member questions. Thank you to everyone who became members throughout this series. Every single one of you helps make us produce more content like this. If you're not a member, you can join here: https://escapecollective.com/join/ You can listen another podcast you'll enjoy abou…

In EP3, we heard about what much of the bike industry experienced during that dramatic slowdown of bike sales, and what resulted. In this episode, EP4, we'll hear about some of the learnings and takeaways from the past three years, and put forward some tough questions for the bike industry to ask itself.…

This is the third episode in our series that takes a deep dive into what the bike industry experienced during the covid boom and how it got into the trouble it’s in now. In Episode 2, we heard from various industry professionals about the early warning signals that told them that this bubble was about to burst, and some of the reckless behaviour an…

In episode one we heard about the unexpected windfall that the cycling industry saw at the start of the pandemic and how many needed to react. Of course that didn’t last forever, and in this episode I’ve titled ‘the storm clouds’ we talk about the early signs that this new demand was coming to an abrupt halt, and the types of behaviour that was hap…

In this 4 part series, I wanted to explore the events that took place that led the bike industry to the troubling point it’s at now. I spoke to over a dozen industry professionals from all parts of the supply chain. From well run bike shops, forecasting analysts, distributors, the biggest bike brands in the world, and manufacturers. It’s well known…

There’s an undeniable truth that an overnight success takes about 10 years, not a single night. Almost no one comes up with a winning business idea all at once. And if you’re not Peter and Tom Marchment or those around them who created the aftermarket wheel brand Hunt, you might be mistaken that they came out of nowhere. Tom and Peter are brothers …

DeFeet is mostly thought about as a sock brand, and that’s largely the case, even though they also make arm warmers, gloves and base layers. After 31 years of being in the trade, they’re the longest-standing business dedicated to socks in the cycling market that I’m aware of. Back in the 90’s socks may have been the least interesting, and most negl…

Bowhead is a business that’s only about 5 years old, but it’s been twenty years in the making. It’s a brand many of you probably haven’t heard of before, and despite this I truly hope that you do listen to this episode, because this one is one of the most inspiring stories that I’ve come across while making this podcast. Christian Bagg has been a l…

Over the past decade, MAAP has risen to become one of the most successful and highly regarded apparel brands in the market. Born in the age of Instagram brands in 2014, there was an explosion of these micro-brands with a design-led ethos popping up all over the place. Cycling apparel was going through a big change at this time. People were loving u…

This month we’ve got a different episode for you. For a long time now I've been asked to share the origin story of CyclingTips in this podcast, but I always knew there was more to come in this journey. But now that the story is complete, I figured this is a good time to tell it. Instead of this being a monologue, I asked Mitch Docker (from the Life…

You could argue that Bonnie Tu is the most powerful woman in cycling, although she wouldn’t think of describing herself that way. She’s best known for being the face of the Liv brand she created back in 2008, but more than that she’s chairperson of the largest bike brand in the world: the Giant Bicycle Group. What does that mean? Quite simply, she …

In this episode we speak to the three co-founders of apparel brand, 7mesh. Getting into the cycling apparel business could now be one of the lowest barrier-to-entry segments in the industry. Anyone with an Instagram account and some design ability can source directly from factories in Italy or China and create a clothing ‘brand’ these days. That’s …

Apidura is a brand you may not be familiar with if you haven’t ventured into the world of bikpacking, touring or adventure racing. They are pioneers in rackless bike bags category, and support the community of ultra cyclists and bike packers. They’re a brand at the heart of this rapidly growing community and are enabling a whole new wave of this ty…

To most of us it would seem inconceivable to build one of the biggest bike brands in the world from absolutely nothing. Think of the capital it would require, the global distribution network, complex supply chains, logistics, manufacturing, sales, design … It’s a daunting endeavour and hard to imagine where you’d even begin. Well, it didn’t start w…

Zipp is an indisputable icon in the wheel and component business and they have a long history of innovation. They were one of the very first brands who thought about wheels differently and pushed the envelope to bring performance wheels where they are today. An engineer by the name of Leigh Sargent is the founder of Zipp way back in the late 80’s, …

Rocket Espresso is not a cycling brand per se, but it’s arguably the best-known coffee brand within the orbit of our own little cycling world. Most cyclists have an appreciation for the sort of beautiful, mechanical, craftsmanship that Rocket does so wonderfully. It’s easy to see why the brand connects so strongly with cyclists. New Zealander Andre…

SRAM is credited with having three co-founders, but Stan Day is the man who planted the seed. And you could very well argue he is the man where the brand’s culture and values stem from. At least that’s what I got out of speaking with him in this episode while listening to his polite, humble and understated approach when sharing his story. SRAM all …

Josh Poertner isn’t your typical cycling industry personality. In fact, he’s not ‘typical’ of much at all. He’s one of those people that when you meet him, you’re taken back by a man who is filled with enthusiasm, curiosity, positive energy, and intelligence that really makes him stand out from most human beings. These days, you may associate Josh’…

In recent years Rapha has been one of the most innovative, aspirational and disruptive businesses in cycling and Simon Mottram is the mastermind behind the brand. He took the company from a single idea, with the premise of how he felt about road cycling and how he wanted it portrayed. From a single jersey that wasn’t even ready in time for the comp…

The story of how a humble man played a major part in disrupting the cycling industry. Not only is Tom Ritchey one of the founding fathers of mountain biking, but he’s also a master frame and component builder, innovator, and entrepreneur. Researching this episode and trying to put a timeline together to extract the major business milestones that To…

Most businesses we’ve spoken to in this podcast have had a relatively straightforward journey, but Wahoo Fitness does not fit that mould. Chip Hawkins is the company’s founder and believe it or not, the Wahoo business started off in boat docks. That’s right, floating boat docks. But it was a good business with interesting problems that Chip loved t…

Escape Collective is entirely member-funded. If you like this podcast please consider supporting us by becoming a member: https://escapecollective.com/member/ --- Indoor training has been around for longer than I can remember, but when Zwift came along in 2014 it changed the market forever. The company came into the world with bold ambitions, reima…

Escape Collective is entirely member-funded. If you like this podcast please consider supporting us by becoming a member: https://escapecollective.com/member/ --- Strava has become ubiquitous in the lives of over 50 million athletes and is arguably the most relevant social network to anyone who loves to sweat. The co-founders of Strava, Michael Hor…