BMC

BMC is a bike manufacturer based in Grenchen, Switzerland. The company manufactures bikes for a wide range of disciplines, from road and gravel to mountain bikes and commuting.

History

BMC, or Bicycle Manufacturing Company, started in 1986 when Bob Bigelow launched the company as Raleigh Bicycles’ first licensed distributor. By 1994, BMC was its own entity.

The company had a steady beginning but began to reap the rewards of its endeavours in 2000 when Andy Rihs took over BMC and shifted its focus to performance cycling. Rihs owned the hearing-aid company Phonak and managed a pro team under the same name. In 2002, BMC developed the Teammachine road bike for the team.

A year later and the company began exporting its products internationally. The Timemachine TT01 and Promachine SLC01 were launched in 2004 as BMC debuted its bikes at the Tour de France for the first time. One edition later, BMC celebrated its first Tour stage win thanks to Óscar Pereiro.

However, Phonak's time at the top of the sport came to a sudden and emphatic halt in 2006. American rider, and team leader, Floyd Landis topped the podium at that year's Tour de France - only to later have his result erased following positive tests for high levels of testerone. The team disbanded at the end of the season.

BMC kickstarted its strong presence within MTB in 2007 with the launch of the BMC Fourstroke - an ultra-lightweight carbon trail bike. These pioneering developments continued, especially with the launch of the BMC Impec laboratory in 2010.

A pinnacle point in the company’s pro cycling involvement arrived in 2011 as Cadel Evans, aboard a BMC Teammachine SLR01, riding for BMC Racing Team, won the Tour de France. The bike went on to be ridden to glory at the Olympic Games, World Championship Road Races and on the testing cobbles of Paris-Roubaix.

Following a battle with leukaemia, Andy Rihs sadly passed away in 2018.

BMC launched the URS, or Unrestricted, in 2019 in a bid to change the gravel bike industry. The bike featured soft-tail micro suspension previously used in the company's MTB XC hardtail bikes.

The BMC Racing Team departed the road racing scene in the same season. BMC continued its involvement in MTB racing and then returned to the WorldTour in 2021 when it agreed to sponsor French team AG2R Citroën.

After four years of collaboration, BMC and Red Bull Advanced Technologies launched the 'world's fastest race bike' in 2022 - the Speedmachine. The two companies' passion for speed has led them to produce a number of prototype race bikes.

Did you know?

Pro cycling

Current sponsorships: AG2R Citroën, Tudor Pro Cycling, BMC MTB Racing Team

Highlights:

• Óscar Pereiro secured BMC's first Tour de France stage win in 2004 whilst riding for Phonak Hearing Systems and using the Promachine SLC01.
• In 2011, BMC Racing Team's Cadel Evans became the first Australian, and only the second non-European rider, to win the Tour de France. Evans rode a Timemachine TM01 during the Tour.
• A year later Philippe Gilbert was crowned road race world champion after attacking with 2.5km to the line in Valkenburg.
• In 2014, Julien Absalon became the next sponsored athlete to don the rainbow jersey, this time in the XCO Mountain Biking. The Frenchman also triumphed at the European MTB Championships, the French MTB National Championships and was crowned winner of the UCI MTB World Cup.
• Greg Van Avermaet won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics Road Race before claiming victory at Paris-Roubaix in the following spring, both whilst on BMC bikes.
• Jordan Sarrou became BMC's next MTB World Champion when he won the XCO event in Leogang, Austria during the 2020 season.
• Tom Pidcock used BMC's Fourstroke to devastating effect as he stormed to the gold medal at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics Men's Cross Country event.
• In its first season as sponsor, BMC bikes helped AG2R Citroën to achieve stage wins at all three Grand Tours in 2021.