Ridley Bicycles – Family Owned and Built, Painted, and Tested In Belgium

What makes a great bicycle? That’s a hard question to answer. How the media reviews a company’s bikes or even how a slew of cyclists respond doesn’t matter. Good or bad, the quality and value of a bike comes down to each individual who rides it.

If you were to ask Ridley Bicycles, they would, most likely, adhere to their viewpoint that “Every Ride Counts.” That said, if you pair the ambitions of a young wanna-bike bike racer, the cycling-crazed town of Flanders, Belgium, and the last name of a well-known movie director, you have a winning combination. That combination has brought Ridley success for 54 years and counting.

Belgium and Ridley Bicycles

If you are a wanna-be bicycle builder growing up in Europe, then Belgium, much like Italy, France, and Spain, is the place to be. It is a culture that is crazy about cycling. It is the location famous for many one-day spring classics, such as the Tour of Flanders, Liege Bastogne Liege, and other races.

It is this crazed cycling culture where Jochim Aerts, the eventual CEO of Ridley, was born along with his desire to be part of the cycling diaspora that is in Belgium. He rode his first race at 14 but by 19 he was perfecting his knowledge of frame building in his parents’ garage.

By 1997, and with the inspiration of the movie “Alien” by Director Ridley Scott, the Ridley bicycle company appeared.

Ridley Gains Victories in Cyclocross

Ridley’s first major brand successes came not on the road but through cyclocross. By 2002, many cyclocross champions rode Ridley bikes to victory. In fact, for Ridley, off-road cycling would become an area where it received many accolades.

While the bike builder continued to have success in cyclocross, many years later, Ridley would also have success in the gravel domain. Gran Fondo Magazine, in fact, named Ridley as the best gravel bike for its Kanzo Fast in 2023.

Pro Tour Sponsorship, Victories on The Road, World Hour Record

A few years later, however, Ridley would make its name with the Lotto team in the Tour de France when Robbie McEwen won the green jersey and final stage on the Champs-Elysées. The company would work with other pro teams, such as Team Katusha, Vacansoleil-DCM, WM3 Energie, and more. A big boon for the bike builder would occur in 2019 when Victor Campenaerts set the Hour Record.

Ridley Builds Its Own Factory For In-House Building, Painting, Wind Tunnel Testing, Etc.

Due to wide acclaim and demand, Ridley built its own factory in 2010. In addition to being fully in control of its bike builds, this is where the company worked on cycling innovations, did all its frame painting, and eventually constructed its Bike Valley Experience Centre. That would become the place where Ridley did its onsite wind tunnel testing.

Today, in 2024, and now 54 years, Ridley’s Belgian Cycling Factory has 1,000 sites for bike sales throughout Europe. The company has 180 employees worldwide, and the factory produces 400 custom bikes daily and distributes them in 60 countries. The company now produces bikes for “road cycling, gravel, mountain biking, cyclocross, time trials, triathlons, track cycling, and e-bikes.“

Last Thoughts

Over its long history, Ridley has made bikes for everyone from the daily endurance athlete to the pro road, cyclocross, or gravel rider. Their motto, as mentioned earlier is that every ride matters. That’s why it believes that cycling “makes a difference in your well-being, whether it is to improve your physical performance or just to clear your head. A good ride makes you feel alive.”

While the company has focused pretty exclusively on bike building, the innovations it’s made to how a bike frame can perform have influenced the cycling industry. Elements like internal cable routing, improved derailleur hangers, wider forks for larger tires, and improved frame geometry mean that its bikes will see continued demand and use for years to come.