Supporting the Little Guy
Starlight Bicycles is a small shop in Roanoke, VA, named for the Mill Mountain star. While there are other shops in town that are great in their own ways, this is the shop with the vibe that I am drawn to. The shop itself can only be described as tiny, but in every corner are reminders that these guys are enthusiasts.
They make their own line of steel road bikes. You gotta like a company that builds up a race-worthy, Molteni orange Columbus Zona steel frame with Campagnolo. I'm not a Campy guy myself, but you have to respect a company that wants to do it right.
This trip I stopped in and casually asked about the sister company, Starlight Apparel. They make custom cycling kit, and I have been pretty impressed with what I had seen before on their clothing racks. They use Italian fabrics because, like with their bikes, they want to do it right.
My team has used Sugoi for the last couple years, and before that was Pactimo. We weren't looking for a new supplier, but since Starlight didn't have minimum required orders I figured we'd get a couple pieces of kit made up and see how people liked them. It also gave me a chance to get speedsuits made up, since my MTB-heavy team doesn't have a lot of riders that want one. I threw the word out to the team, and we put in a fairly healthy test run order.
I've found their pricing to be comparable or lower than most of the companies I've worked with in the past. The quality is there, as is the willingness to work with the customer. Adjusting and finalizing artwork was extremely fast. Turnaround is also pretty quick.
While I don't think any of the custom cycling kit manufacturers are exactly blue chip stocks, I like supporting a company that has a face. And a funky little shop. And Molteni orange steel bikes.
The next time your team/event/group needs new kit, give them a look.
They make their own line of steel road bikes. You gotta like a company that builds up a race-worthy, Molteni orange Columbus Zona steel frame with Campagnolo. I'm not a Campy guy myself, but you have to respect a company that wants to do it right.
This trip I stopped in and casually asked about the sister company, Starlight Apparel. They make custom cycling kit, and I have been pretty impressed with what I had seen before on their clothing racks. They use Italian fabrics because, like with their bikes, they want to do it right.
My team has used Sugoi for the last couple years, and before that was Pactimo. We weren't looking for a new supplier, but since Starlight didn't have minimum required orders I figured we'd get a couple pieces of kit made up and see how people liked them. It also gave me a chance to get speedsuits made up, since my MTB-heavy team doesn't have a lot of riders that want one. I threw the word out to the team, and we put in a fairly healthy test run order.
I've found their pricing to be comparable or lower than most of the companies I've worked with in the past. The quality is there, as is the willingness to work with the customer. Adjusting and finalizing artwork was extremely fast. Turnaround is also pretty quick.
While I don't think any of the custom cycling kit manufacturers are exactly blue chip stocks, I like supporting a company that has a face. And a funky little shop. And Molteni orange steel bikes.
The next time your team/event/group needs new kit, give them a look.
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