I came across this video of The American Way on IBIS and Ritchey two iconic American bike brands. This is a great video and tells the story of how Ibis started and continues today as one of the coolest mountain bikes you can buy. The second part is an interview with Tom Ritchey and he explains how he built an iconic MTB brand and how he continues to live the mountain bike dream. Besides these videos being really cool and having some great content and shots, it got me thinking about what the South African way would be.
So far our industry is filled with more traders, dealers and agents than inventors and pioneers. Most probably because of our obsession with everything European and American and not having the confidence in what we have in our own backyard. Silverback was born in South Africa but it seems like the lure of "German Engineering" has seen this brand shrug off its South African roots to become another wannabee European brand. Our best story is probably Morewood Bikes, born and bred in South Africa and despite changing ownership recently, the built in South Africa logo is still in tact. Momsen is the most recent brand to emerge from South Africa and calls itself "an SA bike company" although everything is made in the east. Only time will tell if in 10 years time we are still only traders or have actually created something more sustainable and memorable. If we want the latter then we better start living up to our dream of being the leading mountain bike destination in the world and start inventing some cool stuff in addition to our cool races.
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