By Alex Bodini, Co-founder, Fixation London

We, like many others, have quietly observed the increase in cyclists on the roads of the UK with a big smile on our face over the past 5 years – we are bike people, always have been, always will be, so whether its road bikes, BMXs, mountain bikes or Single Speed bikes, we love to see people take to the road on two wheels. Working and living in London we quickly grew fed up of tubes, buses and trains – always late, always full, so expensive and an all round horrible way to start and finish the day, so we starting commuting by bike. The issue we found however is that we didn’t want to ride our carbon fibre road bikes every day but we also didn’t want to ride something we didn’t trust. In truth, we just couldn’t find a stylish, simple and affordable bike that we wanted to ride everyday.

So, with a background in marketing and a passion for bikes we decided we’d take a giant leap and look to fill that gap in the market! We went for a ‘price first’ approach – essentially to get the best bikes possible for under £300, so off we went to Taiwan to find the best and most reliable supplier who could provide our bikes. We wanted to focus on the things that mattered, the key working parts (chain, brackets, crank, tyres) whilst making them as visually appealing as possible. Today your bike is an extension of your fashion as well as a personal transportation device so finding a style for everyone was something we worked really hard at. Taiwan really blew us away – the quality of the procedures, quality control and service out there was amazing to see and gave us full confidence going forward. With the bikes in production we then set about creating a brand, identity and website that really encompassed what we were about and what we wanted to achieve. We wanted to stand out – by being urban, stylish and affordable but also for everyone. We truly believe that almost anyone can ride to work and wanted to create something that everybody understood and had desire for.

But how to stand out from all the other bikes out there? Tough question, as there are so many amazing beautiful bikes out there, but one day we had an idea and we are delighted with how it turned out: putting a clock on the stem of the bike. No more worrying about time, no more getting your phone out on the move – these little clocks on Fixation bikes look brilliant but are also surprisingly useful! With product, website, branding, logistics and marketing all set-up, the final thing we wanted to do was ‘give back to cycling’. Bikes have always been great to us and we really love the impact and many uses of a bike, so we teamed up with Re-Cycle, a brilliant charity that ships unwanted bikes from the UK to Africa. 10% of all our profits will be going to support this brilliant cause. So that’s a little about how we started our bike company, get in touch if you’d like to hear any more! We are delighted to say that the bikes are now available via www.fixation-london.co.uk. Head over and check them out!