New Reynolds Cycling boss Montgomery to make off road growth a priority

New Reynolds Cycling boss Scott Montgomery has told CI.N that his priority as the firm’s new CEO will be to drive the brand deeper into the off-road segment.

With a reputation for producing high-quality carbon wheelsets for the tarmac, Montgomery highlights the firm’s accomplishments elsewhere as he tilts the firm’s development and sales focus toward MTB and cyclocross.

“Our director of product development Todd Tanner has spent three years in development on our downhill wheels. Our riders used to be able to smash them up pretty quickly, but we’ve achieved no breakages all season on the downhill circuit this past year. That’s unheard of,” said Montgomery.

Reynolds is backing its faith in the wheels with a lifetime warranty now on offer for original purchasers.

Originally expecting to act as a consultant for Reynolds, as he has for many others, Montgomery is now relishing the opportunity to lead a brand once more. Having formerly brought Scott Bicycles back to the U.S. in 2004, as well as driven forward the Cannondale and Nutcase businesses, Montgomery takes the reigns as former CFO Mike Dufner and Dean Gestal step into background roles.

“It’s nice to be back with a technical brand, i’ve missed that and i love performance parts” says Montgomery. “The opportunity to grow the business is strong too. The industry’s move to disc and 1x drivetrains has helped us rethink the product and given us great new sales opportunities. It’s the perfect time to shift our focus to the off road segment.”

Though conceding that the market for wheels is saturated, Montgomery says that dealers should place immense faith in the Reynolds brand, which warranty aside, backs up its brand with six full-time engineers working on product, as well as the experience of aerospace engineer Sue Rich.

“It’s never as simple as creating a mold and throwing things together, wheels are a lot more technical than that,” concludes Montgomery. “We’re debating moving more of our production to the U.S. where we already build our R2R wheels in Salt Lake City. Our marketing too is about to become more aggressive to push sell through.”

Reynolds had prototype wheelsets stolen from its booth at Eurobike and is now offering a €2,000 reward for information leading to their recovery.