Fed up with building site life, Mark, Quella’s bike-mad founder turned his hobby of riding and building fixies into a cottage industry. From weekend bike building in his front room, Quella has become Britain’s most iconic single speed brand.
The big day arrived, and the packaging was ripped off the first frame delivery only to find that the paint finish was about as smooth as a typical English road. The only course of action was to strip each one back to bare metal and to get down to the paint-shop. It was a nightmare and cost a bloody fortune, but the end-result was awesome, and we learned a lot about painting bikes.
Quella officially began trading in the Summer of 2012 from a mate’s workshop. The Tour De France was in town and Team GB had smashed it in the Olympic Velodrome. Cycling was flying and so were we but investment was needed to get things to the next level.
After some sticky moments, we found growth funding through a private investor who is still at the helm (thanks Mike!), and we moved into glamorous new global headquarters – a renovated old chicken coup! From here the Varsity Collection was born and remains our flagship range.
We’re still going strong from sexy new premises, we’re still building and riding great bikes, and we still love it! We’ve collaborated with Ted Baker, we sell nationally through Cycle Republic and our network of fantastic independent dealers, created custom and branded bikes for 100’s of brands and individuals, and have some super-cool ambassadors (check out The Fix). Team Quella won the UK Street Velodrome cycling series (twice) and we have ridden and attended countless other cycling events and will continue to do so.
2019 will be a record year and we remain excited for the future – thanks to all of customers and supporters – its been a great journey – keep riding!