“The most interesting bikes in the world”

Dan Craven, the retired two-time Olympic road cyclist and Namibia’s only professional cyclist to ride a Grand Tour, shares the story of ONGUZA – steel-framed bicycles built entirely by hand in Omaruru.

“I have spent the last 15 years of my life chasing the professional cyclist dream in Europe but as my first career has come to an end I’ve been asking myself, what was the point of becoming a pro in the first place? Did it matter? What can I do now? What must I do now?

It would be easy for me not to use my privilege, influence, and visibility for good. But if I don’t, why did I gain these things?

Back in 2010 I had an idea. It has taken 12 years to realise, but it is finally happening and it’s time to share it with you.

With the help of Robin Mather, Matthew Sowter, David Mercer, Andres Arregui Velazquez, Tom Sturdy, Columbus, The Bicycles Academy and countless others, we have created a frame-building workshop in my hometown, Omaruru, where Namibians are now building world-class, steel-framed bikes. I was meant to ride one of our bikes at the Tokyo Olympics. We would launch with a bang to a global audience. But COVID didn’t let that happen, so we went back to the drawing board.

Does the world really need another bicycle brand? No. But my hometown, Omaruru, does.

Namibia is a country of talented makers stuck in low-value jobs. Many of them struggle to find work aside from farm labour. Building world-class steel bicycles is a high-value trade that matches the quality of their workmanship.

ONGUZA’s story is about celebrating Namibian people and culture. The easy thing would have been to talk about nature and wildlife the way most people think about Namibia, but it is far more important and interesting to find inspiration right on the side of the road: Namibia has many beautiful fashion traditions, the food, the cows, goats and chickens, the general stores and even the design of shebeens that are truly the lifeblood of so many small communities here – but also for cyclists passing through.

Our first builders, Petrus Mufenge and Sakaria Nkolo, are building world-class steel-framed bikes on a dusty farm in Namibia. It’s maybe the last place you’d expect something extraordinary to come from. But we’re doing it. The business is really putting its money where its mouth is and have made Nkolo and Mufenge shareholders in the company. We have already had orders from customers as diverse as New York City and Malawi.

What we are doing is not just assembly. We get specialist steel tubing and machined parts from Italy and California specifically for this kind of bicycle, but then the work starts. Designing geometry, further bending of tubes, hand-mitering and hand-filing all parts for a perfect fit before brazing the parts using brass and silver and working with temperatures of up to 900 degrees, before continuing with the very tricky task of attaining perfect alignment and beautifully clean welds. It takes a full week to build every single frame, even with four sets of hands in the workshop. All to create bicycle frames good enough for racing at the highest level – or to ride across the continent.

What do you picture when you hear “African bikes”? There is a good chance you are not thinking of a luxury, world-class bike. And you are not alone. We need to change the way people think about goods made in Namibia – and in Africa as a whole. Name a luxury brand from the African continent…? We have our work cut out for us.”

Launched in 2022 by Dan and his partner (and wife) Collyn Ahart, ONGUZA has already made international headlines across the cycling and sport industry with features on CyclingTips, BikeRadar, UK Sport, Cyclist.co.uk, GearPatrol and many others. ONGUZA has been dubbed “the most interesting bike in the world” by Bicycling Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Bill Strickland.

Watch ONGUZA’s incredible video here: hqrco.de/bdWEZc

Learn more at www.onguza.com