After a year-long hiatus, VYNL Bikes is excited to press play with new ownership, a new webshop and highly-anticipated new frame releases. We sat down with VYNL’s front people, Sabrina and Max Clauson, to dig into how they found themselves at the helm of an unconventional bike brand. 

We prefer bikes we can ride like crazy

VYNL Bikes: What made you decide to get into the aluminum bike scene?

Max: I’ve been juggling a professional career and bike racing for a long time. The opportunity presented itself to get involved with VYNL and I jumped at the chance to marry my personal passions with a profession.  I am super excited to drive this brand forward and build on the existing foundation.  Who knows, maybe, I’ll even pin on a number again!

VYNL Bikes: VYNL is remaining a small, family-owned operation. How do you think this intimacy translates to the bikes and rider?

Sabrina: Max and I have three young girls. We’ve been looking for just the right passion project that also expresses our family values of craftsmanship and creative expression. When the VYNL opportunity came our way, we knew it was a perfect fit. We will bring these same values to VYNL and keep our team small so we can have a “snappy” vibe. To us, this means listening to the riders, tailoring the bikes and leaning on our tight team of craftsmen that can move quickly to get riders the bikes they want. 

VYNL Bikes: VYNL is officially calling Boulder home. Can you tell us what this means for the future of the brand?

Max: Well, it probably means fewer beach shots on the website!  Boulder is a unique place with a deep history in cycling.  In addition to fantastic riding and a rich racing scene, Boulder also has a great ecosystem of partners for us to leverage as we grow this business.  We feel very lucky to be based here and are excited for VYNL to put down deep roots into the community.

From our headquarters here in Boulder, we’re remaining committed to 100% USA-made fames and leveraging local talent as much as possible. Not only is it great to support local craftspeople, but we can ensure quality and develop new prototype ideas on the fly. In the context of the world’s crazy current events, U.S. production also allows us to have bikes, in stock, and ready to ship without the restraints of the global supply chain.

VYNL Bikes: We’ve previewed the new VYNL lineup and see that the VYNL reputation of being a little rebellious towards technology remains. To that end, can you tell us why the frames are staying simple? 

Sabrina: Product development that offers no meaningful benefit to riders drives us mental. Historically, bikes were straightforward, mechanical devices. We believe riders still want this. Sure, something like disc brakes has measurable advantage and you’ll see that introduced to our frames. We simply prefer bikes we can work on ourselves and ride like crazy, not something that’s fussy or fragile. 

VYNL Bikes: What do you want fans to take away from VYNL’s relaunch?

Max: The VYNL lineup may expand but one thing will remain: we’re absolutely staying committed to fast bikes with aggressive race geometry and careful, skilled manufacturing.