Video: We visit PYGA Bikes | Behind The Brand
New owners, new factory & what’s next for South Africa’s iconic PYGA Bikes?
If there’s one homegrown mountain bike brand that’s earned cult status among South African riders, it’s PYGA. From its roots in Morewood Bikes to World Cup race tracks and countless local trails, the brand has built a reputation for bikes that favour innovation over trends.
Last year marked the start of a new chapter. With new ownership, a new Cape Town HQ and a fresh team behind the scenes, we visited PYGA to find out where the brand is headed – and whether it can stay true to the values that made it one of South Africa’s best-known bike manufacturers.
At the centre of it all is Mark Hopkins, a familiar face in the local bike industry whose history with Patrick Morewood (and myself) goes back years. After leaving PYGA to focus on cSixx, an opportunity arose to take complete ownership of PYGA (with new business partners) bringing him full circle and giving him the chance to shape the future of a brand he knows inside out.
Walking through the new premises, one thing becomes immediately clear: this isn’t a corporate operation driven by shareholders, spreadsheets or marketing mambo-jumbo. It’s a small team of passionate riders, engineers and designers who still obsess over every detail, from frame design to suspension kinematics and ride feel.
That passion is already finding its way into the next generation of bikes. The recently launched MoBu Gen 2 is just the beginning, while ideas like a Gravel bike, a new manufacturing technique and even a 32-inch platform are actively being explored. Every concept is developed and refined through extensive in-house prototyping and real-world testing, with feedback coming from riders including Mark himself and a crew of champions including Keira Duncan, Zak Jones, Phil Buys and Michael Foster – riding everything from local trails to the Absa Cape Epic and World Cup events.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from our visit wasn’t a new bike or future product teaser – it was the people behind the brand. PYGA remains proudly South African owned, with local manufacturing still at the heart of the business. In an industry increasingly dominated by global corporations, that’s something worth celebrating. For riders, it means the next chapter of PYGA isn’t about reinventing the brand – it’s about building on a legacy with the same passion that started it all. //
pygaindustries.com
| Visuals: Ray Cox |