April 1, 2008 (San Diego, California) – Italian for brain, French for bicycle – Cervelo, or literally translated “BrainBike” – thus the appellation for an intimate gathering of press and store owners in sunny San Diego, California in late February 2008. Hosted by co-founders Phil White and Gerard Vroomen, the two friends and co-CEO’s were pleased to be on hand to guide the intrigued through the intricate and sometimes complicated process of how their bikes came to be at Cervelo’s inaugural BrainBike 2008.

White and Vroomen’s partnership began at McGill University in Montreal in late 1995 where the two mechanical engineers embarked on a two-month bike building project. With decent success they were convinced from some tri friends to start a company where they could design and build their own rides. An initial mission statement (if you will) centered around performance and racing – making riders faster and helping customers win races. Vroomen and White wanted to be the thought of as the market leaders with respect to road and TT/Tri bicycles.

At a time when mountain biking was booming, the two friends managed to gain some exposure with their initial ride, the Baracchi, which raised some eyebrows, but old-school traditional manufacturers wouldn’t buy in.

It was the summer of 1996 and Canadian Eric Wohlberg needed a bike for the Atlanta Olympic Games and was offered one of three existing prototypes from the small company. Global exposure was what they needed but the road ahead was filled with blood, sweat and tears. Vroomen describes the years from 1995 to 2001 as the leanest. Government loans, family and friends, and their own belief in themselves and their product kept them afloat.

The tide began to turn in 2002 when Bjarne Riis and CSC agreed to ride Cervelos for the 2003 season. Leading edge design and high-performance bikes were also part of Riis’ philosophy, and he liked what he saw in Vroomen and White. That year Cervelo provided CSC with 150 bikes – quite a number for such a small company. The gamble paid off as CSC rewarded Cervelo with no less than three Tour stage wins and a No. 8 in the world ranking.

A big part of the 2008 BrainBike get-together was showcasing Cervelo’s emphasis on research and design. Utilizing the San Diego wind tunnel at a steep $1,000 per hour the Cervelo boys explained their philosophy, “if design is where you add the most value, then we are happy to be the leader in innovation”. Numerous multi-week trips down to San Diego every year, pouring over new design and tech, brought their costs well into the six-figure range. But the two CEO’s justify the expense, “the way we operate matches what we want to achieve, and we want to achieve a structured aerospace engineering approach to bike design”.

Moulds, angles, design, materials and the balance within can be a complicated venture. Cervelo now employs sixty people, with twelve of those being engineers that bring to the table cutting-edge technology and innovation. The same team that would sit down and write eight months of software before approaching the P3 model construction. A far cry from the humble beginnings of a four-man company and a $50-a-week pay cheque.

Today Cervelo has two production facilities in Asia and a new philosophy on frame measurement. “Pros ride exactly the same frames as customers – no custom frames, no custom sizes”.

CSC’s previous sponsor prior to Cervelo had twelve different sized frames for the riders and five custom frames. Cervelo has managed to put all the CSC boys on five frames (they only have six sizes in total).

Vroomen and White researched body dimensions and determined that an optimal balance between ergonomic, biomechanics and aerodynamics/handling was imperative. Combined with this they focused on comfort, efficiency and speed in their pursuit of excellence within frame geometry.

One of their first objectives was to take the focus off of the top tube length. They decided to determine a rider’s optimal position and then fit the frame to it – not the other way around.

Developing a concept of stack (vertical) and reach (horizontal), they began to define frame dimensions that actually describe fit. With this new knowledge the boys at Cervelo figured out that most people fit into a very narrow band and therefore only so many frame sizes are actually needed.

One of their most important findings was a steeper seat angle equaled a better position for time trialing. They found the traditional 73 degrees was optimal for road, but that 78 degrees was the best fit for TT/Tri for the vast majority.

Anyone who has seen Cancellara or Zabriskie on the P3’s can attest to a different, more aerodynamic look. Subsequently both of these riders have done extensive work with Cervelo in the San Diego wind tunnel optimizing their position.

Cervelo is the first Canadian bicycle company to ride at the Tour de France, a Canadian frame builder’s dream, and proved to the world that the land of “the true north strong and free” can deliver world class riders and world class bicycles. Bravo Cervelo!

For more information please visit www.cervelo.com.