Taking the leap: The story behind One Ride

Inspired by one brand in particular, Piers Riley decided to leave behind his lucrative engineering job to set up his own cycling distributor. This is the story behind One Ride

This piece first appeared in the May edition of BikeBiz magazine – get your free subscription here

“You don’t come to the bike industry for the money, you come because you love it,” said Piers Riley, the founder of new British cycling distributor One Ride.

Based in Lichfield in Staffordshire, Riley decided to take the leap to found One Ride late last year after testing out the first product in his portfolio, Spanish lube brand Momum.

On his cycling background, Riley said: “My first job was fixing and building bikes at a local independant bike shop when I was 14 under the wing of a local infamous cycling veteran. I grew up on bikes, my dad a keen cyclist, and since that first day in the shop I knew I wanted to work in the cycling industry.

“I walked away from a well-paid job in engineering to pursue my love for cycling and represent brands and products that I’m genuinely excited about. One Ride is a small fish in a big pond but focused on delivering top class products and outstanding service and support to B2B and B2C customers.”

While working as a design engineer in the manufacturing industry, Riley came across Momum’s MIC Wax product, and was hugely impressed by the brand, which inspired further conversation with Momum’s founder, Eduard Aguilera.

Following those discussions Riley and Aguilera, who also runs his own distribution company in Spain, Musette Pro, the pair reached an agreement that Riley would establish his own company, as the first UK distributor of Momum products.

Riley said: “With a background in the cycling industry spanning across 13 years, and a degree in product design and engineering, I am well acquainted with the market and have tried most of the performance chain lubricants out there, often feeling they fell short of the mark.

“It was while testing Momum’s MIC Wax that for the first time ever, I was genuinely impressed with its performance – how well it rode across wet and dry weather and most of all, how incredibly clean it was compared to other lubes.

“I began to imagine setting up a business to sell the product in the UK knowing that others too would love it and be as impressed with it as I was. Who doesn’t want a super smooth, cleaning running chain with less time spent cleaning and maintaining?”

After setting up One Ride in 2021, the brand is now supplying Momum’s range of lubricants, grips, and tubeless accessories to the UK market.

The cycling lubricant market is a competitive field in the UK, but Riley said he is every bit as confident as when he first tried Momum, adding that he believes retailers are missing out on a brand with a unique USP.

While One Ride is still in its infancy, Riley plans to use his eye for products, honed during his time as a designer, to help build a portfolio of cycling brands.

He said: “We’re not aggressively scanning the marketplace for brands and products to represent here in the UK, but we’ve always got an eye out there to see who is developing what, and will enter into discussions with brands and people that we’re interested in.

“In my view, it’s true that price is becoming more and more important in the leisure sectors. Many people are feeling the pinch right now and are spending their disposable income while wearing their ‘cautious hats’ as the future holds much uncertainty around further price hikes of domestic essentials.”

Riley added: “We are, however, cyclists and do love to buy new kit and upgrade bike parts, so there is a huge opportunity in the ‘price competitive but performance focused’ marketspace and One Ride is in talks now with a brand that could compete seriously well in this space.”

The plan now is for One Ride and Momum to capitalise on the British summer and build a solid base in the UK trade. Founded in 2018, Momum has worked with top tier mountain bikers and has been used by two teams at the highest level of road cycling, all of which has helped develop the products, Riley said.

He added: “Here at One Ride, we’re really excited to have Momum on board and continue to look forward to the development of new products that, put simply, make riding more enjoyable for riders of all levels and disciplines.”