PRESS RELEASE: Giro Sport DesignWords by Héctor Saura, Bicycle NightmaresI found my passion for mountain biking in 2006 and my dream was always to become a professional rider. Unfortunately, I suffered many injuries at a young age and that complicated everything. I went through very dark times where I couldn’t see the light and I didn’t understand why all of this was happening to me. It was a very bad time, but from which I learned a lot, and as I grew older, my mind started to change. My perspective and vision for the sport became different, and despite everything (including more injuries!) it has brought me many good things, such as
Bicycle Nightmares and my new
collaboration with Giro.
THE STORY BEHIND THE GIRO X BICYCLE NIGHTMARES COLLECTION
For as long as I can remember Giro has been a company known for collaborating with artists and athletes. They were involved in the freeride scene since the beginning, and I have always thought that it would be cool to do something together one day. It’s a brand that is trusted and loved because they combine the latest technologies with subtle designs, care and attention to detail, and that is something very important to me at Bicycle Nightmares.
In 2016 I asked my friend Bastian, who at the time was working with his marketing agency for Giro Europe, for a contact at the Giro HQ. I was going to the Sea Otter Classic and while I was in California, I wanted to see Giro’s offices and test lab in Santa Cruz. I sent an email to an unknown marketing guy and hoped for a response.
I remember that it was 2 a.m. later that day and I was walking home after dinner with one of my best friends from school when I randomly checked my phone and saw a response from Dain Zaffke, Director of Marketing at Giro. He mentioned that he was already a fan of Bicycle Nightmares and that he looked forward to meeting me in person at Sea Otter. I couldn’t believe it.
Four weeks later I was trail riding in Santa Cruz with Dain. At the time I was only riding dirt jumps, but I borrowed a bike and decided to take Dain up on his offer of showing me some of the best trails in the area. That was my first time riding at UCSC, and probably one of my first real trail rides ever, and it was terrible.
I wasn’t in shape, I wasn’t used to the bike, I had barely eaten before, and I even got a flat where no one else would get a flat (and I didn’t have a tube or a pump). I basically couldn’t keep up with Dain. I am not sure what impression he got of me that day, but I was definitely overwhelmed. He was a mountain biker and I was a dirt jumper. I failed the test, but I promised him that the next time that we rode together, I would be ready.
Since then, he has always supported me and showed appreciation for my work.
About two years ago, Dain contacted me to get my input on a new helmet Giro was designing for aggressive trail riders and dirt jumpers. Just like my initial contact with the brand, the crew at Giro was surprisingly eager to get my input. There were several long calls and lots of emails with the designers as the helmet came to life.
A little while later, I bought a van in Los Angeles and embarked on a three-month road trip across the West Coast. I spent a lot more time in Santa Cruz on that trip, in the Giro office and riding with Dain, who ditched work a lot in those weeks to me the hidden stash of steep and fast trails at Campus. By this point, I was feeling comfortable on a trail bike.
As the new Tyrant helmet took shape, I proposed to Giro that it would be cool if we made a limited-edition Bicycle Nightmares version of it, and in the end, we decided to do
a whole collection, including a helmet, goggle, gloves, jersey, socks, and a t-shirt.
| Bicycle Nightmares is a media outlet unlike any other. It’s mountain biking through the eyes of visionary Héctor, a core rider whose stoke for mountain biking is infectious, and also a world-class photographer. And the bond between Giro and Bicycle Nightmares is rooted in a shared understanding of the need to shed light on an underserved niche within mountain biking. It’s an aesthetic defined more by what it is not, than what it is. And this aesthetic is the opposite of motocross-inspired racing pajamas. It’s the opposite of lycra team kits. This collaboration started as an idea born on the trails, and it means much more to us than simply an opportunity to sell stuff. Héctor and I have spent more than a year sweating each and every detail. It’s the quintessential collaboration, where two different worlds become greater by working together.—Dain Zaffke, Giro's Director of Marketing |
why do we seem to only have a choice between fluro extremes and black in the mountain bike world. snowsports and surf brands manage to introduce colour into their ranges without it looking garish, why not us?
ifht.tv/collections/all-products/products/ifht-vhs-mountain-bike-jersey
If/when I can get a race in, I want a splash of color...otherwise the photographers ignore you.
Oh..and FYI...it's deer season here in NC. Make an orange sticker kit for my A1 so I don't get shot.
Condolences Giro - who died?
Riding bikes is his life and he puts so much energy, passion & time into everything related.
For the color choice, am biased, because I've been wearing only black&grey riding&protection gear for the last decade or so.
Too big of a deal trying to promote their new stuff
They would have sold way more by just not promoting it
This will be on the sale rack next to the Aggy colab.
BUT
The pants, upwards of £100 for what? Tattooing TLD on my legs this year then.