Our mission
The goal at Lal is to make the Supre Drive as durable, affordable, and high performing as possible while respecting people and the environment.
To us, the holy grail is a derailleur and chain tensioner that outlast the bike that they’re on.
We manufacture the Supre Drive in BC, Canada. Manufacturing is hard, but we do it so that we can innovative more quickly and effectively, provide better long-term support, control the conditions of work and environmental impact of the manufacturing, and benefit our local economy and community.
We aim to scale our manufacturing operation and improve its efficiency to make the Supre Drive as affordable as possible.
We’re open to collaborating with all bike companies in the development of bikes equipped with the Supre Drive. We’re also open to licensing our drivetrain technology to other drivetrain companies. We want there to be as many options out there as possible.
In honor of the spirit of invention, Lal is named after Pierre Lallement, who is considered by some to have invented the bicycle.
Our story
Lal Bikes was founded by Cedric Eveleigh. Cedric grew up in in the town of Chelsea, Quebec, where he learned how to mountain bike at a young age on gnarly east coast terrain. He has been thinking about technical problems with mountain bikes since his days as a teenager wrenching in bike shops.
After completing engineering studies, Cedric spent some time thinking about the problem of derailleurs on mountain bikes. While taking a break during a ride, he had a light-bulb moment. He then built a benchtop prototype drivetrain which proved the idea to work. That was in March of 2019, and it was followed by three years of developing the drivetrain and building test bikes out of his parents’ basement in Chelsea.
In April 2022, Cedric moved Lal Bikes to the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia. The Sunshine Coast is one of the few places in Canada where one can mountain bike year round, while at the same time being in the mountain bike mecca that is Coastal BC.
The Supre Drive was revealed in November 2021, at which point we started a collaboration with the German bike company Nicolai. This led to the first production Supre bike, the Nicolai Nucleon 16 Supre. We have learned a lot from collaborating with Nicolai, and we’re excited to help bring the Nucleon to market.
Team
Lal Bikes is currently a team of two working full time.
Cedric Eveleigh
Cedric is super passionate about what we're doing and charges into whatever task needs to be done. In addition to inventing and designing the Supre Drive, he handles our manufacturing, marketing, purchasing, sales, strategy, finances, and floor sweeping. Cedric is keen about the environment and volunteers for a local cycling advocacy group. When not working or riding, you'll find Cedric trail building in our local woods.
Alex Ham
Alex is a skilled engineer and mountain biker. He moved from South Africa to join Lal Bikes at the beginning of 2023. Alex has a background in sailing and composites, and he does all kinds of things at Lal including running 3D printers, improving our drivetrain parts, building our website, designing manufacturing equipment, and assembling parts. Alex loves to ride, and he forms a rock solid team with Cedric.
Advisors
There’s a lot of business skill needed in building a company like Lal Bikes. Alex and Cedric both have an engineering background but are fortunate to have great business advisors.
Graham Truax
Graham advises us through BC's Venture Acceleration Program. Graham's full time work is to help startups from launch all the way to large scale funding rounds. Graham lives on Vancouver Island where he mountain bikes, skis, and sails.
Jonathan Theriault
Based on the other side of Canada, Jonathan is a cycling enthusiast and an experienced manufacturing engineer. He currently runs a manufacturing operation in Canada. Jonathan provides us with valuable guidance and support.
Diranne Lee-Renwick
Diranne is a gung ho entrepreneur and mountain biker from Australia. He's experienced in technology and business development. He brings great ideas and support. Also, Diranne knows about high pivot magic, with his current bike being a Forbidden.
Follow our journey
We share regular updates on social media (primarily Instagram), and more occasionally with our email list. If you’d like to visit us on the Sunshine Coast, feel free to contact us through the link below, and we’d be more than happy to show you some Supre bikes and our workspace, and to go for a ride.