Mountain Life
  • Daily Content
    • Trips & Expeditions
    • Climbing
    • Mountain Biking
    • Mountain Lifer
    • Multiplicity
    • On The Trail
    • Paddling
    • Photography
    • Skiing
    • Snowboarding
    • Stay & Play
    • Surfing
    • The Great Outdoors
    • The ML Interview
    • Travel
  • GEAR
  • VIDEOS
  • STORE
  • Magazines
    • ML Coast Mountains
    • ML Rocky Mountains
    • Vie En Montagne
    • ML Blue Mountains
    • ML Annual
    • ML Subscriptions
  • ABOUT
    • What is ML?
    • Our Team
    • Newsletter
    • Adventure Grant
    • Distribution
  • Podcast
  • Contests
  • CONTACT
    • ML Agency
    • Advertising
    • Contribute
Subscription Form

Get notified of the best News

Social Links
Instagram 22K Followers
Facebook 25K Likes
Twitter 5K Followers
Pinterest 1K Followers
Vimeo 34 Followers
LinkedIn 0
22K Followers
25K Likes
5K Followers
1K Followers
Mountain Life
Mountain Life
  • Daily Content
    • Trips & Expeditions
    • Climbing
    • Mountain Biking
    • Mountain Lifer
    • Multiplicity
    • On The Trail
    • Paddling
    • Photography
    • Skiing
    • Snowboarding
    • Stay & Play
    • Surfing
    • The Great Outdoors
    • The ML Interview
    • Travel
  • GEAR
  • VIDEOS
  • STORE
  • Magazines
    • ML Coast Mountains
    • ML Rocky Mountains
    • Vie En Montagne
    • ML Blue Mountains
    • ML Annual
    • ML Subscriptions
  • ABOUT
    • What is ML?
    • Our Team
    • Newsletter
    • Adventure Grant
    • Distribution
  • Podcast
  • Contests
  • CONTACT
    • ML Agency
    • Advertising
    • Contribute
  • Mountain Biking

Spawn Cycles Wants to Change the Way You Look at Kids’ Bikes

  • April 19, 2017
  • Ben Osborne
Total
4
Shares
4
0
0
0
0
0
Total
4
Shares
Share 4
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Share 0
Share 0
Share 0

As often the case, Max and Elena Zureski’s quest to find a good quality bike for their child shifted into a passion project that eventually launched a business.

Geared towards enthusiastic parents looking for better mountain bikes for their kids, Spawn Cycles hit the trails in 2011 in Calgary. With a two-year-old son transitioning from a balance bike, the Zureskis, like many of their parent peers, weren’t able to find a bike that was lighter than their youngster.

 

08152016 Kidsworx2016BLineDHRace ROP B 124

 

“I hadn’t looked a kid’s bike in 20 years, and I was shocked that nothing had gotten any better with them,” Max says. “At the time my son weighed like 25-30 pounds and it seemed like all the bikes weighed more than him. Imagine you don’t know how to pedal a bike—and say for me, I’m almost a 200-pound guy—it would be like trying to learn to pedal on a dirtbike.”

“We make high end kid’s bikes that make sense—lightweight with good components,” he continues. “We want to make riding fun for the kids instead of being a chore with some of the heavy junky bikes out there.”

“At the time my son weighed like 25-30 pounds and it seemed like all the bikes weighed more than him. Imagine you don’t know how to pedal a bike—and say for me, I’m almost a 200-pound guy—it would be like trying to learn to pedal on a dirtbike.”

While there are some options for lightweight children’s bikes out there, most aren’t available in North America, and fewer still cater to the offroad market, leaving parents to cobble together components to make a department store marginally better.

In 2013, Spawn Cycles moved its operation to the lower mainland, and after a weekend of filming on the trails of the Sea-to-Sky, the couple moved the company again, joining the growing mountain bike industry in Squamish.

 

 

Max says that about 90 percent of Spawn’s business is online, and while in the beginning most sales were domestic, the majority of sales are now south of the border. Spawn expects to branch out into the EU, Australia and New Zealand markets in the coming year.

An avid BMXer growing up in the ’80s and early ’90s, Max is now a recreational mountain biker, giving him first-hand knowledge of his typical customer.

“Ninety-nine percent of our customers are enthusiasts who want something better for their kids,” he says. “When you have kids, the activities you like doing can either slow down or completely stop. A lot of the parents don’t want to lose the lifestyle and want to introduce their kids to the outdoors and being out on the trails.”

The bikes are designed in house, with Max conceptualizing the majority of the parts, an idea he developed during his BMX days.

“My dad’s a mechanic and does a bunch of machining, so he helped me build parts when I was a young BMXer,” he says. “We’ve always had this do-it-yourself take on things, so it didn’t seem like a big thing to step out and do something like this on our own.”

 

07062016 DevilsClub ROP B 044

 

As with all things lighter and of higher quality, it begs the question: what about price?

Spawn Cycles offers a line of about nine complete bikes, as well as frames and individual components. Bikes start at about $350 for a 16-inch hardtail that weighs about 15 pounds. In the mid-price range, a 20-inch front suspension mountain bike that weighs only 22 pounds will cost about $600, and on the high end, a 24-inch loaded, full-suspension bike comes in at just under 2k.

“There are a lot of people who are happy to buy a department store bike for $100, but for our customers, they are usually pretty clear with what they want out of a bike so cost isn’t an issue,” he says.

He adds that the bikes have a strong resale value, fetching between 80-to-90 percent of the new price after a couple years. And while components are important, he’s quick to point out that the low overall weight is the real draw.

“This might be the first time a child realizes that body position makes any sort of difference at all…With a light bike, kids learn the fundamentals to build the foundation earlier.”

“This might be the first time a child realizes that body position makes any sort of difference at all,” he says. “On a heavy bike, they can move their position around all they want, but they’re never going to get the front wheel up, or get the bike to respond properly. With a light bike, kids learn the fundamentals to build the foundation earlier.”

So while high-end children’s bikes night not be in the cards for every parent, Max says the response from his customers so far has been on track with his mission.

“When you see a parent crying when their kid jumps on a bike and rides away without training wheels—it can be a super emotional things for parents. It can be pretty cool.”

For more information, check out https://spawncycles.com/

 

You might also like:

Screen Shot 2017 04 19 at 11.56.37 AMMOUNTAIN BIKING IN SQUAMISH
For decades, most Coast Mountain-ers knew Squamish as little more than a roadside refueling station with a hick reputation and an ever-present odour of pulpy, wet farts. Set almost exactly halfway between Vancouver’s legendary North Shore and the much-hyped riding in Whistler, old-time Squamish locals endured decades of ridicule and general excommunication by the “snobs” living to the north and south… Read more

 

 

Screen Shot 2017 04 19 at 12.02.18 PMMOUNTAIN LIFER: FRASER NEWTON—MORE THAN JUST A BIKE MECHANIC
Good bike mechanics are born, not built. Sure, there are courses a person can take and certifications to achieve, but at the end of the day, it comes down to a state of mind: you’re either a tinkerer or you’re not. “I started building stuff when I was 7 or so, I guess,” says Fraser Newton, Squamish resident and chief mechanic for the BC Bike Race… Read more

Total
4
Shares
Share 4
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Share 0
Share 0
Share 0
Related Topics
  • Mountain Biking
  • Spawn Cycles
  • Squamish
Ben Osborne

Previous Article
  • The Great Outdoors
  • CLIMBING
  • Mountain Biking
  • Mountain Lifer
  • On The Trail
  • Paddling
  • Skiing
  • Snowboarding

Mountain Life Media Nominated for 2017 Whistler Excellence Award

  • April 17, 2017
  • Ben Osborne
View Post
Next Article
  • The Great Outdoors

Mountain Life Media Wins Entrepreneur of the Year Award

  • April 20, 2017
  • Ben Osborne
View Post
You May Also Like
AleTrailsSouthernInterior_Vernon_MikeGamble_LookoutTrail_BenHaggarPhoto
View Post
  • Mountain Biking

Ale Trails: Southern Interior Part 1, Vernon + Shuswap

  • Mountain Life Media
  • March 20, 2023
Life-Time-Grand-Prix-gravel-bike
View Post
  • Mountain Biking
  • On The Trail

New Docuseries Profiles the World’s Elite Off-Road Cyclists

  • Editor
  • January 30, 2023
Golden-BC-mountain-biking
View Post
  • Mountain Biking
  • On The Trail

Shifting Gears

  • Mountain Life Media
  • December 18, 2022
Sarah Hornby, Penny Lawless & Katrina Rosen, Icefields Parkway
View Post
  • Mountain Biking
  • Rockies

Friends in High Places

  • Editor
  • November 22, 2022
View Post
  • CLIMBING
  • Mountain Biking
  • Surfing

Friday Flick: Inseparable

  • Mountain Life Media
  • November 11, 2022
Colin-Field_weekender-ride-fall-colours-Ontario-crop
View Post
  • Mountain Biking
  • Ontario

The Weekender Ride

  • Mountain Life Media
  • November 10, 2022
AleTrailsPenticton_TinWhistleBrewing_BenHaggarPhoto
View Post
  • Mountain Biking
  • On The Trail

Ale Trails: Penticton

  • Mountain Life Media
  • October 25, 2022
Brett Rheeder
View Post
  • Mountain Biking

Two Canadians Podium at Red Bull Rampage Freeride Contest in Utah

  • Editor
  • October 24, 2022
Featured Posts
  • natural-selection-Redbull 1
    Friday Flick: Natural Selection Tour Highlights
    • March 17, 2023
  • AleTrailsSouthernInterior_Vernon_MikeGamble_LookoutTrail_BenHaggarPhoto 2
    Ale Trails: Southern Interior Part 1, Vernon + Shuswap
    • March 20, 2023
  • Bora-Boreal-Quebec-winter-cabin-stars 3
    Bora Boréal: Frozen in Time and Ice
    • March 14, 2023
  • Uncertainty-mountains-Rockies 4
    Facing Uncertainty: The Role of Chance in Mountain Adventures
    • March 13, 2023
  • Elements-Outfitters-Filson-cabin 5
    Elements Outfitters Partners with SALTS to Protect Alberta’s Incredible Landscapes
    • March 16, 2023
RECENT POSTS
  • The-High-Route-Kaytlyn-Gerbin-Jenny-Abegg-North-Cascades-High-Route-glacier-hiking
    Friday Flick: Alpine Ultra-Run Sufferfest
    • March 10, 2023
  • Lynx-OGT-Flashlight-standing-up
    Gear Shed: Top Picks for Shredding, Snacking + Seeing in the Dark
    • March 9, 2023
  • rope-tow-Vancouver-Island
    Poached Winter
    • March 7, 2023
Social Links
Instagram 22K Followers
Facebook 25K Likes
Twitter 5K Followers
Pinterest 1K Followers
Vimeo 34 Followers
LinkedIn 0
INSTAGRAM
mountainlifemedia
22K Followers
Do Not Disturb mode activated ✅ #mountainlifer
Conceived by superhuman snowboarder @travisrice, the @naturalselection Tour highlights earth’s premier riders, from big-mountain mavens to Olympians, all competing on the most stoketastic—and unpredictable—terrain known to humankind.
Built upon a shared desire to enjoy, respect, and advocate for Alberta’s incredible landscapes, it was a natural fit for @elementsoutfitters to work with a local conservation organization @saltslandtrust to highlight the province’s rugged beauty and outdoor apparel to match.
THE UNINVITED INVITATIONAL April 13-16 @woodwardtahoe 😱 $40,000 cash prize purse and a whole lotta spotlight on a group of riders whose time has finally come!! Presented by @jess.kimura and @thenorthface and supported by @yeti @capitasupercorp @slushthemagazine @unionbindingco @smithoptics @sunbum @coalheadwear @fattire 🫡 watch the finals in person Saturday April 15 and join the crew + @btbounds for a public ride day Sunday April 16 @borealmtn. Time to make some history!!! #linkinbio to learn more!
Close your eyes and, for a moment, imagine yourself deep in the polar regions aboard an expedition ship stuck in the ice. The white pack-ice is dazzling, and the immobile vessel seems frozen in time and space. That experience piques your curiosity, doesn't it? Without having to go all the way to Antarctica, you can experience these icy sensations 30 minutes from Quebec City in one of Bora Boréal 's two floating cottages.
@acmg.ca /IFMGA Mountain Guide and  @parks.canada Visitor Safety Specialist Steve Holeczi discusses the role of chance in mountain adventures and how to assess the unknown.
Slopes in the morning, peddles in the afternoon = balance. #mountainlifer
That’s one way to kick off the weekend 🤿❄️
You know it’s Friday when we’ve got a new Flick for you!
From The Gear Shed: ML staff and partners pick the latest splitboards, trail-ready snacks, handcrafted skis, sustainable hand-warmers, locally-designed powerbank-flashlights and badass T-shirts.
Follow

Subscribe

Subscribe now to our newsletter

Do Not Disturb mode activated ✅ #mountainlifer
Conceived by superhuman snowboarder @travisrice, the @naturalselection Tour highlights earth’s premier riders, from big-mountain mavens to Olympians, all competing on the most stoketastic—and unpredictable—terrain known to humankind.
Built upon a shared desire to enjoy, respect, and advocate for Alberta’s incredible landscapes, it was a natural fit for @elementsoutfitters to work with a local conservation organization @saltslandtrust to highlight the province’s rugged beauty and outdoor apparel to match.
THE UNINVITED INVITATIONAL April 13-16 @woodwardtahoe 😱 $40,000 cash prize purse and a whole lotta spotlight on a group of riders whose time has finally come!! Presented by @jess.kimura and @thenorthface and supported by @yeti @capitasupercorp @slushthemagazine @unionbindingco @smithoptics @sunbum @coalheadwear @fattire 🫡 watch the finals in person Saturday April 15 and join the crew + @btbounds for a public ride day Sunday April 16 @borealmtn. Time to make some history!!! #linkinbio to learn more!
Close your eyes and, for a moment, imagine yourself deep in the polar regions aboard an expedition ship stuck in the ice. The white pack-ice is dazzling, and the immobile vessel seems frozen in time and space. That experience piques your curiosity, doesn't it? Without having to go all the way to Antarctica, you can experience these icy sensations 30 minutes from Quebec City in one of Bora Boréal 's two floating cottages.
@acmg.ca /IFMGA Mountain Guide and  @parks.canada Visitor Safety Specialist Steve Holeczi discusses the role of chance in mountain adventures and how to assess the unknown.
Mountain Life
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Advertising

Input your search keywords and press Enter.