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Canadian bicycle brands

The companies based in Canada that sell bicycles across the country and the world

Originally posted on March 26, 2018, updated June 2023

Despite cold winters and varied climate throughout the year, Canada is a country rich in cycling culture. This is evident by the Canadian bicycle brands that have sprung up across the country. From custom builders in small communities to multi-national corporations that distribute across the world, Canada has it all when it comes to bicycle companies. Whether you are looking for a bike built for speed or to tackle the country’s most technical trails, a Canadian bike company makes it.

Here is a list of Canadian bicycle brands, organized alphabetically, and a little about each of them.

Altruiste Bikes

NAHBS 2018 Altruiste Bicycle Company Best in Show

Altruiste Bikes recently received a lot of attention for winning the Best Mountain Bike and Best in Show award at the 2018 edition of the North American Handmade Bike Show (NAHBS). The Notre-Dame, N.B. based company offers hand made custom steel gravel, road, kids and mountain bikes.

Read our interview with Altruiste’s Gabriel Lang.

Archibald Cycles

B.C.’s Archibald Cycles is digging into the lesser-explored corners of frame design with its first prototype, the AC1. The steel frame is made locally and works around the combination of high pivot suspension layout and gearbox drivetrain. That gives the Archbald enduro rig a very distinctive look that is sure to turn heads and attract questions at any trailhead. Archibald’s first mountain bike will be available sometime in late 2023.

Argon 18

Founded by retired cyclist Gervais Rioux in Montreal in 1989, Argon 18 has grown to distribute bikes aross the world and sponsors a number of professional cycling teams and triathletes. In 2019, Argo 18 sponsores Hugo Houle’s UCI WorldTour team Astana.

Aquila Cycles

Aquila is the in house brand of Oakville and Toronto based bike shop Racer Sportif. The company offers carbon road, triathlon and track bikes that have been ridden by Canadian development squad Team RaceClean as well as by Canadian track athletes on the international circuit.

Banshee

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Banshee Bikes is a B.C.-based brand specializing in enduro, DH and trail bikes. With a long history on Vancouver’s North Shore, Banshees are designed tough to take the abuse of everyday riding, from enduro races to laps of the Whistler Bike Park.

Bassi Bikes

Bassi Bikes started in 2009 and are still made in Montreal, Que. Based out of C&L Cycles, the brand makes city bikes, Dixie and road bikes, touring bikes and randonneur cycles designed to work well and worlk for a long time.

Berg Bikes

Berg bikes

Al Bergman began building bikes in 2005. A promising young mountain biker, he was injured when he fell off a cliff while fighting a forest fire in 2000. He became a paraplegic after the accident but that hasn’t stopped him from continuing his passion for sport competing in the wheelchair marathon at the 2004 Paralympics in Greece. Berg Bikes based in Cobble Hill offers road, dual suspension mountain bikes and city bikes.

Bonavia Cycles

Ross Allan is the builder behind Bonavia Cycles. The company has been building lightweights and bespoke bicycles since the 1970’s. Allan took over the building operation in 2007 after an 18 month apprenticeship with Clive Bonavia in South West London. Bonavia builds lugged or fillet brazed road, ‘cross and touring frames in Vancouver.

Bowhead Corp.

Bowhead Reach RX
Bowhead Reach RX

Based out of Calgary, Alta., Bowhead Corp is pushing adaptive mountain biking into new areas with its innovative designs. Bowhead’s bikes are used for everything from mobility to gravel riding and even adaptive downhill mountain biking.

Brodie Bicycles

romax_v2 Brodie

Founded by Paul Brodie in 1986, Brodie Bicycles began manufacturing custom steel hardtail mountain bikes in Vancouver. They expanded into making complete bikes and working with aluminum to expand their offerings. Brodie now has a catalogue of dozens of models from trail to commuter through to road and cyclocross.

Bridge Bike Works

Based in the heart of Toronto, Bridge Bike Works aims to make carbon fiber road and gravel frames right here in Canada.

Cachet Bicycle Company

Cachet Bicycle Company

Cachet Bicycle Company is a North Bay, Ont. based street and dirt jump focused custom builders. The company makes Jordie Lunn’s titanium dirt jump specific frames he’s used at Crankworx events.

Cervélo

The S5 with the Catalan hills in the background.

Cervélo was founded in 1995 by engineers  Gerard Vroomen and Phil White. The company started by making high-end aerodynamic carbon race bikes.  Cervélo bikes continue to be used in top level competitions by Team Dimension Data on the WorldTour and professional triathletes while the industry as a whole has followed the emphasis on aerodynamics. The company’s headquarters are in Toronto but it is now owned by Dutch conglomerate Pon Holdings.

For more Cervélo see the S5 road bike and Áspero gravel bike reviewed.

Chromag

Chromag is a Whistler, B.C. based company specializing in steel and titanium hardtail mountain bikes. The brand offers frames hand-made in B.C. as well as made in Taiwan options. Chromag also offers an extensive range of components, including stems, pedals, seat posts, saddles and more.

Circa Bicycle Company

Circa was founded by Moise Bensimon of Toronto who also owns a company that designs and builds upscale custom carpentry for residential and commercial properties. The company offers titanium city single speeds, road, track and cyclocross models in sizes 52, 54, 56, 58.

Cove

Deep Cove in North Vancouver is where Cove got its start making freeride bikes in 1992.

Cycles Golem

Cycles Golem

Guillaume Desy is the welder and owner of Cycles Golem. It is a small bike company with the frames built in his Québec City workshop. Trained a mechanical engineer, Desy builds steel bikes based from his passion for mountain biking, road and cyclocross racing. Golem builds road, mountain, cyclocross, touring and fat bikes with a host of custom options and add ons.

DaamBuilt

Peter Daam started DaamBuilt bikes during his 10-year career as a mechanical engineer. Since then, Daam’s relocated from North Vancovuer to Montreal and left engineering to build frames full time. DaamBuilt creates full suspension mountain bikes, road, track bikes, and bike packing rigs. With his engineering background, Daam will custom build your bike to your riding style, down to fine tuning the suspension linkage and progression.

Dekerf Cycle Innovations

Dekerf-PaulSkilbeck-105-1620w

Chris Dekerf is the frame builder behind Vancouver-based Dekerf Cycle Innovations. With over thirty years in the business, Dekerf produces frames, forks, bars, stems and complete custom bikes, as well as doing paint and OEM frame building for other brands. At NAHBS 2016, Dekerf was recognized with the show’s Artisan Award.

Devinci

Devinci was established in Chicoutimi, Que in 1987 by two engineering students and have expanded to headquarters in Saguenay under new ownership. The company makes road and mountain bikes. Steve Smith was one of the company’s sponsored athletes at the time of his passing. The company also sponsors Devinci Factory Team which competes in Enduro events. Devinci also make Montreal’s Bixi bikes and the ones for Toronto Bike Share.

Flansberrium Fabrications

Based in Quebec, Flansberrium Fabrications is a one man shop making custom unicycles and bicycles for on and off-road use.

Forbidden Bike Company

Based in Cumberland, Vancouver Island, Forbidden Bike Company is a small brand of experienced mountain bike engineers and designers building a high pivot trail bike. Started in 2017, the brand released its first model, the Druid. That was followed by the Dreadnought and the brand’s own EWS and downhill World Cup team, the Synthesis.

Framework Bikes

Based in Hamilton, Ont., Framework Bikes makes custom, made-to-measure frames and components out of carbon fibre and aluminum.

Kermode Cycles

Kermode Cycles is a boutique operation making custom bicycles of all kinds. Kermode is now located in Vancouver, B.C., but the name maintains the brands connection to its northern B.C. roots. With experience building track, mountain, and all other kinds of bikes, Kermode’s Instagram is always documenting the next unique build.

KindHuman

KindHuman

KindHuman is a made-to-order bike company based in Toronto that offers complete bikes. Kindhuman offers stock sized frames and gives customers the controls over choosing the groupset and components the bike is built with. Kindhuman have road, gravel and cyclocross models to choose from with the frames painted in Canada.

Knolly Bikes

Knolly Bikes has been building mountain bikes in Vancouver since 2002. With a focus on quality manufacturing, durability, and founder Noel Buckley’s background in engineering, Knolly’s are built tough to thrive on the notoriously tough North Shore trails. While carbon fibre frames have recently been added to the line, there are no plans to stop making the alloy frames Knolly built its reputation on.

For more from Knolly see our review of the 29″ Fugitive LT and Warden 27.5″ mountain bikes.

Kruch Customs

Kruch Customs makes steel bikes of all kinda in Calgary, Alberta. Starting with full-custom designs, Krush quickly added runs of small-batch frames, from gravel bikes to fat bikes and the steel full-suspension Shrimpalicious to its line.

Kona

Kona was founded in Vancouver in 1988 by Dan Gerhard and Jacob Heilbron. The headquarters are now in Ferndale, Washington. Kona make bikes from carbon, titanium, aluminum and steel. The company has a world-class gravity team, Kona Factory Team which races internationally.

Landyachtz

Vancouver-based, Landyachtz are new to the bike building scene launching in the summer of 2016. The company that was building longboards, skateboards and skateboard accessories have decided to enter the cycling industry thanks to the founders Mike Perreten and Tom Edstrand interest in the sport. The company makes city, touring, road and custom bikes.

Letellier Bikes

Based in St.-Hyacinthe, Que., Letellier makes custom carbon fibre road bikes. The company offers two base models, aiming to mix high performance and competitive prices.

Louis Garneau

Transcontinental Race Geoffroy Dussault
Photo: Courtesy Louis Garneau

An apparel company founded in 1984 in Quebec City by former Olympic cyclist Louis Garneau, the Garneau has expanded to offer a range of sports products that began including bikes about 20 years ago. They now offer a range of time trial, cyclocross, road, adventure and fat. Customers can have their frames painted to their liking through the Garneau Dream Factory.

For more from Garneau see our review of the Garibaldi C Prohibition or, for winter rides, the Gros Louis fatbike.

LT Wiens Fabrications

Lyle Wiens has been building bikes in Altona, Manitoba under the LT Wiens name for four years now. Wiens first started building to meet his own needs: at 6’8” he couldn’t find a bike that fit him properly. Having built everything from road bikes to dual suspension mountain bikes, Wiens is comfortable with all kinds of projects, but admits he has a particular knack when building for other extra tall riders.

Marinoni

Giuseppe Marinoni started building frames in the early 80s after a lengthy career as a cyclist. Over 40 years ago he started building steel bikes in Montreal and the family business continues to this day. While known for the bikes, the founder himself has captured headlines in recent years. In 2012, Marinoni broke the 75-79 age group hour record with a 35.728-km ride at a velodrome near to where he was born in Brescia, Italy. In 2017, he broke the 80 to 84 hour record with a 39.004 km ride in Milton, Ont..

Mariposa

Mariposa Cyclocross
Photo: Walter Lai

Since 1969, Mariposa has been hand-making frames in Toronto. The company was founded by John Palmer and Mike Barry, the father of former professional cyclist Michael Barry Jr. who now operates the business with his wife Dede since the brand’s relaunch in 2012. The company makes custom classic steel frames.

For more Mariposa see our steel Cyclocross review and 2018 CX nationals bikes

Memento Cycles

Montreal’s Memento Cycles aims to create custom steel bikes and cargo racks (and, eventually, a cargo bike) that are accessible to more riders. Created by two engineers, one a former bike messenger, and connected with Montreal’s C&L cycles, Memento creates locally and even delivers most orders by bike.

Moose Bicycles

Based in Quebec, Moose Bicycles is a consumer direct company that offers budget-friendly commuters, city bikes, fixies, a gravel bike and fat bikes.

Naked Bicycles

Naked

Naked Bicycles based on Quadra Island in B.C. has been building custom frames since 1998. Founded by Sam Whittingham, Naked Bicycles makes road, cross and mountain frames out of steel and titanium.

For more from Naked Bicycles see Carter Wood’s titanium X20 cyclocross bike or a custom titanium hardtail dream build.

Cycles Narval

A frame building shop based in Montreal, Cycles Narval specializes in fillet brazed steel bicycle frames.

No. 22 Bicycle Company

No. 22 Aurora
The No. 22 Aurora

Owned by two Canadians and named after the atomic number of the company’s favoured material, No. 22 make hand-made titanium frames in their Johnstown, New York facility. With seven models, custom options and ready-made complete bikes, No. 22 have been growing rapidly in recent years. The company also offers in-house anodized finishes. No. 22 won the People’s Choice Award and Best in Show at the 2018 edition of NAHBS. In 2017 they took the award at NAHBS for Best Campagnolo Build.

For more No. 22 see our Aurora review.

Norco

Photo: Nick Iwanyshyn

Norco opened its doors in 1964 as Northern Cycle Industries and was founded by Bert Lewis. The company changed its name but has grown considerably from its humble roots. The company introduced the first full suspension BMX bike in 1973 and in 1975 began making 10-speed road bikes. The company expanded into mountain biking as the sport became more popular and continues to have the strong Norco Factory Team of pro riders who race internationally in various disciplines.

For more Norco, read about the 2020 Revolver XC bike, Optic trail bike, Sight all mountain shredder and Fluid FS. Norco has a full line of eMTB, including the Sight 29 VLT, and the larger Range VLT.

Opus

vivace

Opus began in Montreal focused on building road bikes but has expanded in recent years with particular emphasis on commuting and urban riding in mind. They also offer e-bikes, trail and youth models in its line-up.

For more on Opus, see our review of the Horizon 1

Panorama

Panorama is a Montreal company that currently offers two carbon fibre bikes. They make a fat bike and a gravel bike. The companies emphasis is on creating bikes for outdoor enthusiasts.

Prologue Bicycles

Prologue Bicycles

Prologue is an Ottawa brand specializing in custom paint and custom builds in high performance road bikes. The brand offers carbon fibre, steel and titanium in Canada’s capitol region.

The Rise

The Rise only makes one frame: The Partymaster. Designed specifically by The Rise crew to survive their brand of street, dirt jump and slopestyle riding, the Partymaster’s Chromoly tubing focuses on a different type of performance than chasing podiums. Handmade in Canada by NAHBS-winning builders at Altruiste Bikes, The Rise is Canada’s street and slopestyle brand.

Rocky Mountain

Felix Rocky Element side

Founded in Vancouver in 1981, Rocky Mountain has been making bikes used at the top level of mountain biking for decades. The company’s line-up is punctuated by various models for different mountain bike riding styles but their wide catalogue also includes gravel bikes as well. The brand’s HQ are now in Quebec, and Rocky continues to sponsor elite and pro freeride, enduro and cross country athletes.

For more Rocky Mountain see: Our Instinct review, Felix Burke’s Element, Andréane Lanthier Nadeau’s Instinct, or the Slayer.

Rollingdale Cycles

Rollingdale Cycles
Rollingdale Cycles. Image: Nico Humby

Rollingdale Cycle was established by Dale Marchand. The Alberta-based frame builder primarily focuses on building custom titanium frames, trailers and components (including stems and seatposts).

RSD Bikes

RSD was founded in 2012 and their name stands for Rubber Side Down Bikes. They are based in Toronto and offer fat bikes. The RSD line-up includes 27.5+ and 29+ mountain bikes for riders looking to put very thick rubber on their ride. The bikes are built from steel and titanium at a Taiwanese based plant.

Schön

Schon studio

Schön Studio is a Toronto-founded welding shop that tackles a wide variety of projects including bikes. Schön builds custom frames, forks, lugs, stems, racks and repairs from mostly steel. The studio has relocated to Squamish, B.C. in recent years.

Spawn Cycles

Spawn Cycles

Spawn Cycles is based in Squamish, B.C. and has been building high quality mountain bikes and components for youth since 2012. Spawn Cycles models range from 12″ wheels up to 26″ wheels for youth of all ages.

Spherik

Spherik is based in Quebec City and offers a full catalogue of bicycles built from carbon and alloy. There are fat bikes, hybrids, tri bikes, MTB and road bikes. The company also sells wheels.

Squad Cycles

Squad

Squad bikes are assembled in Montreal. The company offers different models of road and triathlon bikes with custom paint, builds and are constructed to the riders desired fit.

Staran Cycles

Staran_Hardline_1024x1024

Staran bikes are assembled at their facility in Burlington, Ont. The company offers a couple of different models of mountain bikes as framesets or full builds. The frames are built from hydroformed aluminum.

Steelwool

Steelwool is the in house custom brand for Ottawa, Ont.’s Tall Tree Cycles. The brand has made custom steel cyclocross, touring and gravel bikes for over ten years.

Structure Cycleworks

Structure Cycleworks

Structure Cycleworks is a Calgary-based brand that has developed a linkage chassis mountain bike. The engineering-focused company currently offers two models of the unique looking bike.

Want to know more about this innovative Albertan brand? Listen to our interview with founder Loni Hull.

T-Lab

T-Lab

T-Lab builds titanium bikes in Montreal. The company designs, engineers, manufactures and finishes their bikes at their facility. T-Lab currently offers two road models and two adventure frames. The brand came together lead by founder Tony Giannascoli after Guru bikes folded in 2016.

Find out more about T-Lab in our recent profile of the Montreal brand.

Tool

Quebec’s emerging boutique brand, Tool, takes a very different approach to frame production. One of the few brands really pushing what can be accomplished with CNC machining, its full suspension mountain bike is created from solid 6061 T6 aluminum right in Château-Richer. Tool is still in the prototype phase of its first mountain bike but it already looks sleek.

True North

True North

Founded in 1993, in a farm workshop in Alma, Ont. by Hugh Black, True North history began with mountain bikes. Now based in Belwood, Ont., True North build steel and titanium frames ranging in riding styles from touring to mountain biking.

Velos Levesque

Velos Levesque

Alain Levesque has been building custom steel bicycles in Toronto under the Velos Levesque name since 2011. Focusing primarily on road and gravel bikes, from race light to rugged, Levesque will build both lugged and fillet-brazed steel frames. Each bike is purpose-built for its future owner, and no two bikes are the same.

Vitess

Vitess is a made-to-order bicycle company based in Toronto, Ont. The company makes custom carbon fibre bicycles.

We Are One

We Are One started out making carbon fibre mountain bike wheels right here in Canada. Not just designed, the rims were hand-laid in the company’s Kamloops, B.C. facility. Next came a stem and carbon fibre handlebar combo, Da Package. Now, We Are One released the Arrival, its first full suspension mountain bike. Like the rest, the Arrival is made here in Canada, down to most of the hardware.

Wildwood Cycles

Wildwood cycles

Wildwood Cycles bikes are custom built from steel in Nanaimo, B.C. . The company was founded in 2013 by Jesse Hildebrandt who is a Red Seal welder by trade. Wildwood builds mountain, track and road bikes in custom and semi-custom build as well as a range of accessories.

WZRD Bikes

Started in Victoria, B.C., WZRD builds everything from west coast-specific hard tails to track bikes, tracklocross, road bikes as well as accessories like bikepacking mounts, racks and handlebars.

YessBMX

YessBMX

YessBMX produces handmade in Canada frames and parts designed for top-level BMX racing. With experience building frames dating back to 1994, YessBMX focuses on high-quality aluminum frames.