"Ben Serotta is a bona fide giant of the American bicycle industry"
Ben Serotta
When the history of The American Bicycle is written, Ben will rightfully occupy an outsized chapter. Ben is a bona fide giant of the American bicycle industry - he is the author of so much original thinking and drive toward design and construction exceptionalism. We used to speak to Ben on an almost daily basis, but this tailed off a little after Serotta Bicycles closed in 2013.
Serotta Legend T9. Welded by Andy Keech and Painted by Jordan Low
The Wrong American
I reached out to Ben more recently ago when I was researching aspects of the infamous 1986 Tour de France for a chapter of a new book, The Cycling Addiction (out Feb '26). In 1986 Serotta was building bicycles for the tiny Team 7-Eleven team - which was due to ride Le Tour de France for the first time. In a moment when the world was captivated by the predicted internecine between Greg LeMond and Bernard Hinault, 7-Eleven and Ben Serotta came to the race low on budget but high on creativity and possibility. Myself, Ben and anti-hero personified, Alex Stieda, over many weeks and interviews, shared thoughts about the incredible start to the '86 Tour de France. You can read The wrong American on my Substack. Our interviews also form a sliding doors counter-factual in the new book.
Ben's notebook from 1986 & Alex Stieda on his way to becoming the first (North) American to wear TdF Yellow
Cut to Present Day - Serotta & Cyclefit
It was so much fun re-connecting with Ben. Everyone I spoke to when researching the book, holds him in such high regard. By the end of 1986 Serotta had built all the bikes for the 1984 USA Olympic team, 1985 Giro with 7-Eleven and the 1986 Tour de France. And Ben was barely thirty years old. His restless design creativity and views on bike-fit were re-shaping both the professional peloton and high-end consumer race-bikes.
Serotta 2025
Ben is currently making reassuringly tiny quantities of custom bicycles in Upstate New York with some of his favourite people in the world - Andy Keech (Serotta Bicycles lead welder), Frank Wadelton (machinest/welder) and Jordan Low (artist/painter). The four of them work together to make beautiful bicycles for folk who know better. Ben's restless creativity pre-determines that Serotta tubes and frames don't look like anything else in the titanium universe.
We are very proud to report that Cyclefit will once again be representing Serotta in the UK. We will be detailing: design, tubing, build-process and options in our next newsletter. Please register your early interest below.
