Celebrated U.S. carbon bike manufacturer Pursuit Cycles ends frame production

Pursuit Cycles, an award-winning U.S. custom carbon manufacturer, is closing the chapter on its bicycle frame production. With founder and master framebuilder Carl Strong retiring, the company has announced a transition toward advanced composites research in collaboration with Montana State University.

Pursuit Cycles was founded in 2016 by Strong, well-known for his steel and titanium bicycles under the Strong Frames banner, and three other partners. With three of the four partners possessing engineering backgrounds, Pursuit Cycles has a distinct engineering focus, and the ethos of the company was strongly rooted in a practical, functional approach to making high-performance, U.S.-made monocoque carbon bicycles.

For eight years, Pursuit Cycles was a favourite at bike shows thanks to its colourful paint jobs and meticulous craftsmanship. When we reviewed one of its bikes in June 2023, it received high marks, concluding: "The Pursuit is a great all-rounder. The design and build are top notch, and there’s a reason [Carl] Strong has been successful for so long."

An excerpt from the company’s released statement is below:

"It is with a mixture of pride and sadness that we post this message to our friends, family, and customers at Pursuit Cycles.

With our experience at Strong Frames, and some good relationships, we pitched an idea to some key players in 2016 to manufacture in-house, quality, customizable, modular monocoque carbon frames. With that Pursuit Cycles was born - the main goal being to build the finest carbon fiber bicycles in the world. Pursuit Cycles has been recognized in the bicycle industry, receiving glowing reviews in cycling media, as well as “Best Carbon Construction” at the (NAHBS) North American Handmade Bike Show.

Recently through one of our founding partners and chief engineer, Dr. Jared Nelson PhD, we had an opportunity to participate in a very exciting project with Montana State University (MSU) and the US Naval Dept of Research. We were asked to contract for services building test parts with a new carbon fiber developed by Doug Cairns (innovator of the Trek OCLV) as well as a concurrent and equally exciting project working with Steve Tsai (Godfather of Carbon and the Tsai-Wu criterion) developing new laminate theories.

As cyclists it seemed distracting to our core mission, but also served as a way to access some of the best brains and technology around. With a shop full of engineers, and the opportunity to “Always Get Better” we were in the fortunate position that we could either keep building bicycles, or take this opportunity to retire and allow the team we built to move on and do research. With that, we’ve decided it was time to let go, move on, and take a nice long ride. We are beyond proud of what we were able to create, and flattered by the opportunities we’ve had along the way."

The Strong Frames business will continue making titanium and steel frames, and current Pursuit Cycles customers won't be left hanging. The brand says that spare parts, like deraiileur hangers, will remain available, and warranties will be honoured.