BC Business
Everything you need to ride local
When it comes to suiting up for your summer ride, B.C. bike companies are on a roll. From apparel to frame bags to bike parts and more, you can shop local this cycling season. Don’t forget your helmet.
Most bike apparel is designed for men; in turn, this makes biking more comfortable for men, leading more men to bike, causing more men’s bike apparel to be made. But that’s a cycle that Vancouverite Janet Hiebert was determined to break when she founded her female-focused performance-wear brand in 2016. Samsara Cycle offers shorts, jerseys, jackets, vests and more that are specifically designed for women and feature art from local creatives. Who bikes the world? Girls.
The province is crawling with bike shops, but there’s no shortage of bike manufacturers, either—and North Shore Billet is a local legend. Founders Chris Allen and Peter Hammons first got rolling in 2003, so the Whistler-based company has been making bike parts out of aerospace-grade aluminum for over two decades. Find pedals, pulleys, chainrings and drivetrains here.
After his move from Edmonton to Vancouver, Lycra wasn’t cutting it for Andrew Gonzalez—that synthetic stuff couldn’t stand up to the unpredictable coastal weather. So when he founded Pillar Heights in 2017, Gonzalez focused on natural materials: hemp and merino wool. Pillar Heights’ custom jerseys consistently receive rave reviews—“which is amazing considering cyclists are known for being the finickiest folks in sport,” says Gonzales. “Don’t get us started on bike lanes.”
Traditional musette bags are over-the-shoulder packs used primarily to carry food while riding—but after Mike Preston and Jannah Wilson saw racers struggle to unwrap energy bars during the Whistler Fondo in 2018, they designed a silicone pouch that’s much more user-friendly. Vancouver-based Doma Cycle’s food-safe pocket musettes fit into a jersey pocket, helping to swiftly feed cyclists and also prevent wrappers from ending up on the road.
Bikes incorporate plenty of functional features, but storage is not one of them: if you want to carry the always-important first aid kit and tire repair kit with you, you’ll have to accessorize. Shaka Packs, founded in Kelowna by Julian Vicente in 2020, makes custom frame bags to order—these trusty triangular packs fit perfectly within your bike’s geometry, and the mount style, fabric and zippers are all customizable.
Owen Pemberton just launched his mountain bike brand Forbidden Bike Company in 2019, but the Cumberland-based biz has long ditched the training wheels—it’s established a faithful customer base, an engaged social following of over 90,000 people and an employee team that has expanded to the United Kingdom. The company is named for the Forbidden Plateau (a popular haven for mountain bikers on the Island) and sells trail bikes, frame kits, parts, apparel and accessories.