We spoke to father and son team James and John-Paul Bossi to find out exactly what it takes to start a bike company from scratch. And along the way we were blown away by the knowledge of bike building by designer James and the true passion to simply get as many people as possible onto two wheels from dad John-Paul.  

Did you ever sketch pictures of bikes when you were a kid and dream about building your perfect machine?

Or imagine the thrill of seeing your name emblazoned on the down tube, as well as on a sign above the door of your very own bike shop.

Well, James Bossi has turned that dream into a reality in double-quick time after becoming frustrated by his job involving global fast-food ordering systems.

Bossi, an industrial designer who studied at the University of Technology Sydney, was managing a team of eight people in Guangzhou working on the touch screens used by McDonalds in their restaurants around the world.

But his heart was not really in it and his thoughts increasingly turned to the technical drawings of bicycles he’d made since he was a young boy.

Frustrated by his day job, Bossi eventually took the leap of faith in March 2016 to start his own bike company – and just one year later is sitting in a shop in his hometown with four different models on sale.

It’s an amazing success story – and begs the question: How exactly do you go about creating a new bike brand from scratch? 

Bossi explains: “I was really lucky being in China. Over there you have access to so many different types of manufacturing that you don’t available in Australia.

“That’s things like rapid prototyping, CNC machining, through to full-production factories. I had everything on my doorstep. So what started with a few sketches ended up with me visiting a trade show. I met a few suppliers there and did a few factory tours.

“Eventually a friend of mine introduced me to a factory in Shenzen and I was really impressed.”