Meet William Bender | Bicycle Frame Builder

We had the good fortune of connecting with William Bender and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi William, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
My motivation for starting Bender Bicycle Co. was for the challenge of building a business from the ground up, and creating something that will not only provide a paycheck, but creative fulfillment. ​​With a background in design, and a life long propensity to make and tinker, I started Bender Bicycle Co. with the goal to create functional, purposeful, and beautiful bikes.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My approach to designing bicycles is to put function and simplicity first. I believe that form and character can be a byproduct of highly functional design. Throughout my career I have been exposed to many different design philosophies, and forms of modern design tools, such as 3D printing. This has given me a great tool kit when approaching bicycle design. I love to use these technologies and techniques to both speed up my production as well as add style and function to my bikes. The bikes I build mostly focus around dirt-centric riding. These are the types of bikes I ride personally, so they are what I know and understand the most.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We obviously would have to be riding some bikes. Fort Collins is a super bike friendly city and all the fun places to eat and drink are only a short ride apart. We would start with a coffee and pastry at Bindle Coffee, then jump on some singletrack for a mountain bike ride followed by a dip in the lake or river. Then Music City Hot Chicken for some lunch, followed by a brewery or two for some beers. For the evening Little on Mountain for dinner followed by the bike-in movie at New Belgium. That’s a hard to beat day in Fort Collins.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There have been too many people to count that have helped me get where I am. It all started with my dad who taught me the value of fixing over buying, and how important problem solving is. Since then friends and family have been my backbone of support. I am very fortunate to be surrounded by so many people who are alway there to lend a hand or push me forward. A huge shoutout has to go to my lovely wife. She has pushed me towards success in this business since before day one and has never wavered in her confidence in me.

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Website: https://www.benderbicycles.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benderbicycles/