Visit to Revlrevlcycles Burgdorf, Switzerland.

Last Friday I had the opportunity to visit Reto Trachsel, the founder and creator of Revlrevl Bikes, in his workshop. Behind an unassuming door in an industrial area of Burgdorf in the canton of Bern in Switzerland, Reto welcomed me. We made our way past a few offices and various other tenant companies until we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a small but perfectly equipped workshop. A lathe, a milling machine, storage racks, and right in front of the large window a massive welding table, clearly the heart of the room.

The drawers were well stocked with drill bits, tools, dropouts, and head tubes for future projects. Fresh Reynolds down tubes had just arrived, worth several thousand francs, waiting to be cut and welded into frames. Reto mentioned he was still feeling a bit tired, as he had just returned from the Tuscany Trail with his Ultraromance-inspired steel gravel bike. The dust and dirt from Italy was still clearly visible, giving the orange paint an interesting patina, and the bags from @ovejanegrabikepacking were still mounted.

As I turned around, I had to catch my breath. Lying there was a Yeti C26 rear triangle, visibly reworked, the carbon tubes already removed. The head tube was only still identifiable by the head badge that hinted at what it once belonged to. This guy has guts.

Besides building custom frames, Revlrevl also restores 30-year-old Yeti bikes on request. While Cycleworks handles the paint, Reto takes care of the technical restoration. Tools and forms for bending tubes are found everywhere in the workshop, in every corner and shelf, nearly all of them handmade. Just for the Reti Ultimate and FRGO models, so many tools had to be built that buying them would not have been financially feasible. Reto is not just any framebuilder. He is a perfectionist who works with tolerances smaller than a sheet of paper. Not cardboard, thin paper. Between the frame tubes, at the dropouts, and especially at the brake mounts, the precision becomes even more evident.

The next two orders from me are already placed and we are excited to see what comes next. I have mentioned to him more than once that he should exhibit at Bespoked.cc in Dresden. He would no doubt set new standards in precision. Calm and modest, he serves his niche with dedication. He does not avoid the public but prefers not to stand in the spotlight. The real focus is, without question, the bike.

Proudly made in Burgdorf, Switzerland.