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Poshbikes of Maidstone is the global ‘custom division’ for Storck of Germany, having been formerly the UK distributor for the high-end road and e-bike brand. The UK distribution of Storck is now run by Storck Raddar of Gateshead. Poshbike’s is now distributing Scapin and Olympia bikes of Italy. Olympia was founded in 1893. Poshbike is the brand’s first UK distributor. Olympia has owned Scapin since 2005.
Andy Wallis of Poshbikes said:
"We came across Scapin at Eurobike two years ago and were totally blown away by their bicycle design and engineering. We had been looking for a true Italian brand, although we were never able to find a ‘made in Italy’ brand that offered the correct balance of style and passion with the advanced engineering, geometry and performance that both ourselves and our customers expected."
Olympia provided Scapin with funding to invest in the latest tooling to continue manufacturing in Italy rather than outsource to the Far East.
"The first Scapin model we brought into the UK was the Hysak carbon monocoque road bike, which won ‘Superbike of the year’ in its first ever test in Cycling Plus magazine, a result that confirmed our expectations," said Wallis.
"Scapin was so impressed that they offered us the opportunity to import the Olympia range, which was a huge honour.
"Olympia is perhaps the best kept secret in the bicycle industry. It was the first company in Europe to produce frames in aluminium and carbon, and also the first company in Italy to produce MTBs. Olympia is also one of the world’s leading authorities on hydro-formed alloy and fluid-moulded carbon frames."
Poshbikes is building a UK dealer network for Scapin and Olympia.
"So far every dealer we have met with and shown the products has taken on both brands," said Wallis. "There’s a huge model range and options."
The model range starts at £400 and tops out at £12,000.
"Olympia and Scapin bicycles are in constant manufacture with no batch production or down time, therefore we do not require pre-orders or forecasts," said Wallis.
Each bicycle is assembled in Olympia’s facility in Italy to order and delivered within 7-10 days.
"Due to this way of working we only require our dealers to carry a small demo stock to help their customers create their order from these examples, the brochure, website and price list," said Wallis.
Olympia models are usually available in six sizes, three or four colours, and between eight or ten build options.
