I do lots of thinking about what makes a brand a brand. The thoughts and the ethos behind the brand that influence every decision of the brand and ultimately; the end product. I think if you want to get a good idea of what a brand stands for, you can start from the top. In this interview I talk with SERK co-founder Shannon Bufton about starting a bike brand in China, the pros and cons of working with Titanium and a bunch of other topics.

Shannon is a smart guy and has been living in China for a long time. He's one of the people at the core of Beijing's cycling community. This talk is really interesting, so you can either watch the video or just listen in the background as a podcast.

Hope you enjoy it.

Links:
SERK on Panda Podium: https://www.pandapodium.cc/brand/serk...
SERK website: https://serk.cc
SERK Instagram:   / serktitanium  

Chapters:
00:00 SERK: Frontier Cycling
00:50 Introduction
02:08 Who are you? Who are SERK?
02:35 The SERK Product Line
03:16 Why Titanium?
04:45 History of the brand
06:36 The beginnings
07:57 Bike fitting
10:11 Customization
11:32 Why China?
19:12 Riding in China / Frontier Cycling
21:50 Racing Roots
24:32 Sustainability
27:20 The size of the brand
27:50 SERK owners
29:05 Design Ethos
31:45 If you could ride any bike on any road...
33:00 Getting in touch
34:08 Outro