Welcome on our blog!

Dear Ridley friends, first of all I would like to welcome you all on our blog.

A short introduction on myself so you can understand how Ridley Bikes has started.

Every week, as a 3-year-old boy, my parents took me to the cycling races of my eldest brother Stefan. It only took a few moments and I was his biggest fan and cycling became my biggest inspiration. As soon as I could ride a bike, I started racing. Later, on the age of 14, my first race was a fact. I started road cycling and cyclocross on a competitive level. I was an all-rounder and I could pull my string on any kind of track. Except for the sprint. Nevertheless I managed to win 30 races in the youth categories (U15 and U18). The dream of becoming a pro rider was soon there and cycling was all that mattered. But a knee injury ended my cycling career before it even started. When I graduated from my school I started racing again. My parents encouraged me to get a part-time job to earn a few euro’s. That’s when my older brother, who was working with the Bioracer company, proposed me to paint their frames. It only took me a few months of preparation and together with my dad I accepted my brother’s offer. We went beyond the painting and started the construction of custom fitted frames for Bioracer. Instead of a part-time job and racing, I found myself with a more than fulltime job to do and no more racing. That’s when my cycling career really ended.

My dad and my brothers have always been my greatest support and this from the very beginning. Even today, my 72-year-old dad, is still working in my company on a daily basis. The first 2 years I spent my days learning and constructing custom fitted frames for Bioracer (now bikefitting.com). And when the day was over, the evening was spent painting frames. Working minimum 12 hours a day. The days were long but very inspiring. After a couple of years, the hard work paid off and we became the biggest OEM supplier for custom painted frames in the Benelux and Bioracer was the biggest supplier of steel custom fitted frames in the Benelux.

When aluminum frames replaced the steel frames, Bioracer stopped selling frames. That was the perfect moment to start my own brand – Ridley. With my experience of building and painting custom fitted frames we prepared a very attractive range of frames in no time. The collaboration with Bioracer led to the development of our much demanded race ready geometry. It’s gone very fast from the beginning. The riders and mechanics which I worked with in my racing years, helped me with their feedback to develop our range faster than any of our competitors. This continued search for innovation and development resulted that Ridley has the biggest and most balanced range of competition bikes in the world. And…….we have much more to come. I will keep you informed through my blog of the latest developments at Ridley Bikes.

My dream to become a pro rider did not come true, but I enjoy working with the pro’s on a daily basis. My passion for racing has been projected on my bikes and it gives me a lot of satisfaction to see the pro riders racing on my bikes.