It’s quite likely you haven’t yet come across the Vincent Bikes brand. That’s probably because it’s a niche brand that’s focussed on quality and not quantity. It’s also a South African brand that’s been built on experience, passion and trust. Launched in 2016, Vincent Bikes has created a solid foundation and is now embarking on its next phase – here’s what you can expect.
Paid partnership with Vincent Bikes
Vincent Bikes is a partnership between Nico Rust and Albert Cronje, both engineers. And who is Vincent? Well, it’s nobody really. It’s not a person, it’s a positive feeling. It’s derived from the Latin word Vincentius or Vincere, which means to conquer or win.
Nico is based in Heidelberg, Gauteng and Albert is located in Sedgefield, Western Cape. Together, they have patiently built a bicycle brand that’s focused specifically on the South African market and which is more passion driven than profit driven, giving the brand a measure of exclusivity as well as affordability.
Don’t expect flashy marketing slogans, close-up studio photographs of gleaming bikes or even a website that’s intuitive. These guys are old school, preferring to allocate their energy to one-on-one customer relationship building and buyer satisfaction.
“Besides creating bikes that ride very well and aren’t excessively expensive, the focus at Vincent Bikes is fully on personalised customer service and sound technical advice. We have a basic website but we will not be going to an online store as this completely loses that personal touch that we value deeply,” said Nico.
“We also do not intend to grow the business to sell thousands of frames per year as this tends to end up with a loss of focus on attention to detail and customer focus,” added Nico.
Vincent Bikes currently offers just five models, which are only carbon fibre frames, manufactured in China and then either sold as framesets or complete bikes in South Africa. All frames carry a three-year limited factory warranty and Bafang motors come with a 12-month warranty.
The Vincent Bikes range currently comprises the following models:
X8 – Full Carbon Hardtail
S8 – Full Carbon Dual Suspension XC
X17 – Full Carbon Dual Suspension Enduro
P1 – Full Carbon Dual Suspension Trail
E04 – Full Carbon Dual Suspension E-Bike fitted with the Bafang M510 motor and either 450Wh or 600Wh battery.
“From a R&D point of view, we use the shared principle with certain closed moulds that our factories in China supply to similar companies like us across the world, which then cuts down on the overall frame development costing, allowing us to supply frames to the market at more competitive prices,” said Nico.
“This also allows us some protection in our local market so that every Tom, Dick and Harry cannot just buy the frame. This has somewhat changed from not too long ago where frames were all open mould out of China and anybody could order a frame off Alibaba.
“From a local development point of view, we have started to use suspension guru Robbie Powell at RBC to optimise the E04 E-Bike and the X17 Enduro bikes suspensions. Our focus is to grow the business organically and this has allowed us to establish our reputation and develop our supply chains so that everything works very well,” added Nico.
One of the standout differentiators for Vincent Bikes is the price, particularly on its eBikes. For example, the EO4 XC eBike is a full carbon full-suspension eBike that’s specced with a Bafang M510 Mid-drive motor system, Shimano Deore 1×12 drivetrain, X-Fusion suspension and a choice of established brand options for wheelset and cockpit. It currently sells for R90 000 (January 2023)!
“We have some standard builds, but because we have the ability to fully customise, there’s a lot of flexibility in what we can offer a Vincent Bikes customer. We’re not in a rush to make a sale and because we want only happy customers, we enjoy it when they become a part of the bike build process in terms of what we spec for their new bike,” said Nico.
Happy customers – isn’t that the objective of every business? Yes, but in reality, it’s not always possible. But with Vincent Bikes, the measure of their success isn’t how many bikes sold, it’s the size of the grin of those riding their bikes. Here are some comments from current Vincent Bikes customers:
Not only do the Vincent products compare with the top supplier’s offerings, but they also offer top-notch quality, service and rates. They are not only thorough but easy to work with and are always willing to go the extra mile. – Gawie Augustyn
I bought a Vincent E04 XC carbon eMTB and loved the ability to select my preferred tyres, suspension and other components. After an initial teething problem with the speed sensor software display, Albert drove from Sedgefield to Port Elizabeth (a distance of 285km) to install demo components and then returned to install the replacement components when they arrived. That’s incredible customer service! – Martin Glaum
I’ve been riding my Vincent Hardtail Mountain Bike for over a year and a half and I couldn’t be happier with my purchase. The quality of this bike is outstanding and it handles everything I’ve thrown at it so far with ease. The process of choosing this bike was so detailed and Albert and Sonja were incredibly patient and thorough. – James Godwin
The Vincent S8 just works. From singletrack to jeep track to gravel grinds to tar travels. One bike to rule them all. At a price which kicks dirt in the eyes of all the big bike brands. Absolutely NO compromise on quality, components, capability or ride impression. With expert advice and maintenance from Albert and the team at Vincent Bikes to top off an all-round satisfying experience. – Schalk van As
In addition to carbon fibre mountain bike frames and complete bikes, Vincent also sells carbon wheelsets and carbon handlebars .
After six years with a relatively small, but very satisfied customer base, Vincent Bikes is now moving into its next phase, which sees an investment in marketing and growing its market from the traditional marathon/stage race segment, to the dynamic gravity segment, with its mid/big-travel X17 model (look out for a TREAD Media Test soon).
“We are ambitious, but also realistic. We want to grow Vincent Bikes and feel that we are ready to move up a gear. But no matter where the next phase leads us, the essence of Vincent Bikes will always be that we provide more-affordable, well-specced, reliable and durable bikes that are built with passion and attention to detail,” said Nico.
Find out more about Vincent Bikes:
Paid partnership with Vincent Bikes
