We talk to Will Meyer of Brother Cycles on building bikes and a global cycling community
Welcome to our interview with Will Meyer, the founder and co-owner of Brother Cycles. Thirteen years ago, Will and his brother James started with a simple idea: to create a classic looking steel track frame, a product that wasn't readily available in the UK at that time. This humble beginning marked the creation of Brother Cycles, making a diverse range of bikes for various cycling disciplines under the now esteemed brand name Brother Cycles.
As they celebrate over a decade in the industry, Will and James continue to adhere to their founding principle—designing and building bikes that they would want to ride. This ethos has kept them aligned with their core audience and values, even as they've grown to reach customers worldwide. From their first creatively named ‘Classic Track’ frame to today's sophisticated models like the Mehteh and the Kepler, every bike showcases their commitment to quality and community.
Brother Cycles holds a special place in our hearts, and it's amazing to be part of something so special that Brother Cycles has created.
In this interview, we dive deep into the ethos behind Brother Cycles, explore their product range, discuss their global reach, and look ahead to future innovations. Join us as Will shares insights on what makes Brother Cycles a beloved brand in the cycling world.
Curious about buying a frame, bike, or custom build from Brother Cycles? We've got you covered
What Brother Cycle bikes do/did you have personally?
Good question! I have owned and ridden every single one of our bikes. Generally speaking, I am riding the bike that we most recently designed. Looking back over the 14-year history of Brother, it started with the Classic Track frame, followed by the Reynolds 725 track frame, then a Swift track frame. Next was the Kepler. I took the Kepler all around Scotland, Wales, and the rest of the UK for testing, back in the early days of the canti, quick release Kepler. I took the Big Bro to Canada to attempt the Tour Divide. For the last 2 to 3 years, I have been riding a Mehteh, a super capable, versatile gravel bike.
This year, as we've redesigned it, I've moved to the updated Kepler: all steel, with fat tyres and a nice flexible steel curved fork. They look nice and ride really well. I also had an All Day single speed, which has been my coastal cruiser. We are now adding a funky little hanger attachment that will allow you to fit gears. I've equipped it with an old '80s Shimano group set: seven-speed, big wide bars, Velo Oranges' funky downtube shifter attachment for your bars, a nice little Shimano 600 shifter up on my bars, a big bell, and a front rack—perfect for cruising around town. I am always riding all sorts of our bikes, often made up of parts we have in the warehouse.
Curious about buying a frame, bike, or custom build from Brother Cycles? We've got you covered
Where do you sell Brother Cycles?
We sell through our website directly to customers, as we always have - we like having that direct contact with our customers. But we also sell through a now large selection of independent bike shops, like Velo Domestique and others all around the UK. Germany is our biggest market; the Germans love Brother Cycles, and we love the Germans. We sell all around Europe and are starting to go further afield now; a few shops in Australia regularly order our bikes, and even a couple in Japan. Brother Cycles is pretty worldwide.
What are you most proud of about Brother Cycles?
It’s probably the fact that we're 14 years in and still going strong. We're currently working on our zine, which gives a look at everything we're doing in 2024. For anyone unfamiliar, we collaborate with lots of amazing creative people, but at the heart of it, Brother Cycles is my brother James and me. We're incredibly proud to be selling all around the world and to work with such amazing people.
What is the most awesome thing you or someone else has done on a Brother Cycles bike, that you know of?
Stefan from Pannier and Dave completed the Silk Road mountain race on two Big Bros. An early model Kepler tackled the Trans Pennine Trail. On Instagram, the Lost Cyclist shares his global adventures on his Big Bro. We get tagged in so much amazing stuff online.
Back in 2017, when fixed gear cycling was at its peak, Brother Cycles supported the Velo Domestique-based fixed criterium racing team KYCU Velo. Equipped with custom-painted Brother Swift Track frames, the KYCU Velo team participated in races across Europe, including Red Hook Crit in London, Barcelona, and Milan, and Rad Race's Fixed 42 in Berlin. This collaboration forged a lasting bond between Brother Cycles and Velo Domestique, leading to nearly a decade of close partnership through Brother in the Wild Dorset.
It's awesome that people buy our product, embark on life-changing adventures, and then share photos with us, which makes us really proud. We’re making a commercial product and selling it, but the incredible things people do with it—that’s our favourite thing to see.
Brother in the Wild in Dorset has been running for over 8 years now - are you planning on changing anything?
Well, this is a sneaky way to drop some news; the plan is for it to be the last Brother in the Wild at the current venue in 2025 - so if you haven’t visited this beautiful farm nestled in the Dorset countryside - don’t miss out on getting your tickets for 2025 - because we’re thinking of making it a special one. Not to say it's the end in the Purbecks or Dorset altogether, but we've been at this site for 5/6 years now.
We're aiming to invite back all the incredible people we've collaborated with over the years—every brand that's been a part of it. We want to gather all the friends, supporters, and believers of Brother in the Wild and throw one epic party in 2025!
Curious about buying a frame, bike, or custom build from Brother Cycles? We've got you covered
Brother Cycles has some of the best features for gravel cycling, who comes up with them?
Yeah, that's an interesting question. There are two of us, myself and my brother James. I'm more involved with the riding community, while James focuses on the design and development of bicycles and works closely with the factory. When it comes to features, it's a collaboration. Based on my extensive experience in the community and on the bike, I handle the conceptual side, and James turns those ideas into reality and handles the actual designs. Although he's the lesser-seen brother, he's truly the one who creates the product.
Having deliberated over bike designs for about 14-15 years, we have a close working relationship with our factory, which provides valuable feedback from decades of building bikes out of steel. They understand what works and what doesn’t. Many of the current trends are actually ones they saw 30 years ago. It was amusing during a meeting last year at a tradeshow in Germany; the head of R&D laughed about being asked for the same designs three decades ago.
So, it's a collaborative effort, but really, James deserves the credit for what we create.
Do you feel you are able to implement changes faster because it's a smaller team and you have a direct relationship with your factory?
Internally, yes, James and I are family, and often we will disagree. Maybe if you're working with colleagues, you might hold your tongue a bit more or be softer in pushing for what you want. James and I disagree quite a lot, but it helps us come to a conclusion quite quickly.
Things were very slow during Covid with the factory; everything went super slow. This year (2024), we're finally seeing it return to normal. That's why you're seeing all these cool new features on the Kepler. We're also making some design changes on the next round of the Big Bro, as well as working on a new product. So, yeah, things should now start to be more efficient on this side of things.
Curious about buying a frame, bike, or custom build from Brother Cycles? We've got you covered
How is Brother seen price-wise compared to other bike brands?
Interesting question. It’s funny because if you ask someone who isn't really into bikes, like my friends from school, they'll say bikes are super expensive, but that's not necessarily the case. In the whole bike market, the biggest segment is actually the super cheap high street side, so that's a big chunk of it. But I think we sit somewhere in the upper middle, not considering the crazy expensive ones.
Relatively, we are quite a new cycling business, so in the early days, we felt we needed to be more affordable, which was good because it's nice to be accessible, especially when you're trying to break into an industry. People might choose you because you're more affordable. But now, we're confident in the quality of our products and our design, from visually appealing to really rad paint jobs, which cost more. A fade or a splatter paint finish costs more, but years of work have gone into designing each product. We are moving more toward pricing our products comparably to some other brands.
The thing about the industry is that it’s weird - when you delve into why certain things cost what they do, it’s often because some brands' products get shipped around the world several times!
Curious about buying a frame, bike, or custom build from Brother Cycles? We've got you covered
Do you sponsor any groups or athletes with Brother Cycles bikes?
Good question, and it's certainly relevant, although there's been no systematic approach to it. Over the years, we've had a few people get in touch. A great example I'll soon share on Instagram involves a totally random guy named Dan Bridle from London. He's not an established athlete but used to ride a Brother and works in the bike industry. He contacted us because he got a spot in the Silk Road mountain race and was using a low-quality high street bike. He wanted to transfer all his components to a Big Bro. Coincidentally, we had an ex-demo Big Bro in his size. His email was really endearing—he was taking a chance. So we thought, 'yeah—why not?' We weren't using the frame for anything, and we didn’t really want to sell it, so we gave it to Dan. He was so grateful, and that's how we like to do things. I appreciate that he doesn’t have loads of Instagram followers or a built-up personal brand. We do support people in that way.
This year, as our products become more technical and we see people doing more impressive things on their bikes, we're looking to assemble a small group of supported rider ambassadors. We're currently in talks with a few people. As a small brand, it’s a big expense, but we're hoping that within 12-18 months, we’ll have 2 or 3 riders who are a great fit for Brother, doing really cool stuff, creating interesting content, and effectively using our products. That's something we're really focusing on right now.
What does the future hold for Brother Cycles?
When James and I struggle to make decisions, I often recall something I learned from Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia. I read in an interview that when they faced tough choices, they would consider which option would most likely ensure their company's longevity—10, 20, even 100 years down the line—rather than opting for a quick profit.
Our goal has always been to sustain the business. We truly love what we do; it provides a wonderful lifestyle and allows us to connect with many interesting people like you, and we have no intention of stopping any time soon. Here’s to continuing the same way long into the future.
Curious about buying a frame, bike, or custom build from Brother Cycles? We've got you covered
To wrap up
Chatting with Brother Will has been a real insight into what makes Brother Cycles tick. Starting with a simple idea, Will and his brother James have nurtured their company from a small project into a global brand.
True to its roots, Brother Cycles continues to create bikes that they love to ride while building a strong community of passionate cyclists.
Looking ahead, Brother Cycles remains dedicated to innovation and community, promising an exciting future for both the brand and its riders.
Thanks, Will, for sharing the Brother Cycles story.
