Shop Local: 11 Canadian brands to support this holiday season
From apparel to parts and accessories, these brands are fully maple-fuelled
There’s a big push to shop local in 2020 as many Canadians choose to support homegrown brands over major international competition. Any Canadian mountain bikers looking to shop north of the border are in luck. Canada’s long tradition of mountain biking, from coast to coast, means there’s an impressive range of high-quality brands from right here at home.
Whether you’re looking for new riding gear, new parts to refresh your ride, or even top-quality wheels and suspension service, here’s a short list of some of the best Canadian brands in mountain biking.
If you’re looking for a new bike in 2021, there’s an illustrious list of maple-fuelled options. From big brands to boutique builders, check out the full list of Canadian bicycle brands.
Hiding in the hills of Whistler, B.C. Chromag makes hardtail mountain bikes made tough to survive the local mountains. But the brand has also built a reputation around the world for its high-quality components. From flat pedals to stems, bars and other small parts, Chromag has you covered. It probably has it in a fun colour option, too. More recently, Chromag has worked hard expanding its soft goods, ride gear and even protective wear.
Not far down Highway 99, OneUp Components calls Squamish home. The small brand has grown its name designing creative solutions gear problems, like cassette range expanders. It now offers dropper posts, grips, pedals and its trademark EDC tool, which stashes away in your bike’s steerer tube or inside the OneUp hand pump.
On the other side of the country, 9point8 brings an engineering-first approach to small parts. Dropper posts and its Stout stem are designed and manufactured to last and assembled in Ontario.
In Quebec, Montreal’s Peppermint Cycling Co. offers a full line of women’s specific mountain bike apparel, as well as road gear. Laurentians, Que.’s Trees Mountain Apparel offers made in Canada riding and post-ride apparel for all seasons.
Out west, NF and Sombrio are both homegrown apparel brands designed in the shadow of the North Shore mountains. NF is designed and made right in Vancouver. The boutique brand’s quickly made a name for itself with high quality and attention to detail. Before NF, the infamous trails of the Shore inspired Sombrio to make its own west coast bred design. Founded by riders for riders, it’s still doing its thing over a decade later.
If you’re looking to upgrade your mountain bike for 2021, two Canadian wheel manufacturers are among your best options. Based in the lower mainland, NOBL continues to grow and improve its own line of carbon fibre wheels. It’s latest wheels offer a distinctive profile, as well as the brands custom build and colour options.
We Are One designs and manufactures its carbon fibre wheels and Da Package bar/stem combo in house in Kamloops, B.C. The made-in-Canada rims impressed Industry Nine enough that the B.C. company now supplies i9 with all its carbon fibre mountain bike rims.
Race Face is one of the original Canadian mountain bike component brands, and is still going strong in Vancouver, B.C. Along with bars, stems and dropper posts, Race Face makes wheels – carbon fibre and aluminum – and has an extensive line of apparel and protective gear.
If you want to take your ride to the next level, check out Vorsprung Suspension. The boutique Whistler brand offers upgrades, coil conversion kits and tuning services to elevate or personalize your fork or shocks.
This list of Canadian brands is far from exhaustive, of course. It seems like there’s new Canadian brands starting up all the time. If you have a local favorite for us to check out, let us know in the comments!
