As Guy Andrews recently pointed out in Rouleur, the greatest cyclist in history was happy to spend most of his career advertising bargain sausage meat. There’s an inherent tragicomedy about cycling as a sport, and yet the industry still seems to takes itself super seriously. There are still heaps of dull-as-shit brands out there, all with over-sized, under-thought graphics, and none of us wanted Glider to be one of them.

The brand’s run by Philip Cavell and Julian Wall, two ex-racers who now focus on crashing their bikes and beating themselves up about the Etape each year. They also run Cyclefit, one of the most prestigious bike shops in Europe. They set up in 2001 and have been at the cutting edge of bike fitting ever since. As well as Glider they stock brands like Serotta, Colnago and Rocket 7 – and they flew out to Vegas just to make that last deal happen. So don’t go there expecting to find a deal on a bike helmet. It’s not that kind of place.

We wanted Glider’s aesthetics to represent what Phil and Jules are like as people: thought-provoking, funny, and not bothered by what everyone else is doing. They’re not Trek. And they don’t want to be.

The Wingtip, Eastway, and Tupelo frames are currently being handmade in limited editions at some of the top factories around the world.