This trans-coloured bike custom built in Montreal took top prize in major trade show
It's got curves, it's got colour, it's got style and it's got a message.
"The Heart" is a custom-built bicycle from a Montreal framebuilding shop that just took home the Peoples Choice Award at one of North America's biggest bike shows: The Philly Bike Expo.
"It was really a big deal for us, since we're pretty young as a company - we've been in the business for two years and a half - so it was a lot of pressure to go there," said Memento Cycles co-owner Eliane Trudeau. "It was our first bike show ever, too."
The ride that took home the prize was a true passion project for Trudeau.
"It was also sending a message, the whole bike, with the colour scheme based on the trans flag," said Trudeau.
The Philly Bike Show called the bike "an Ode to Joy" with its curves and style and show-stopping front rack that is "elegantly bent into a heart shape."
Trudeau did the welding while her partner Ronny Perez Jaramillo bent and mitered the tubing.
"That was meant to represent the love for LGBTQ people in the cycling industry, which were never really put in sight," said Trudeau. "It's always been hard for those people to have the same chances in this industry, so it was a big step and a big occasion for us to be able to maybe win it with that bike and have a good message with it."
The custom welded heart rack on the front of the Memento Cycles ride was a hit at the Philly Bike Expo. (Philly Bike Expo)
For Memento, the message is important.
"Not everybody's going to like it, but that's not the point," said Jaramillo. "I think if everybody likes you, you're not being authentic, and for us, it was more important to be authentic and to maybe pass this message forward... We didn't really care how it would be received; we were just hoping that the right people would like it."
The Peoples Choice Award gold medal-winning bike 'The Heart' from Memento Cycles was designed and built in Montreal and proudly represents the trans colours. (Philly Bike Expo)
Broadening representation is at the heart of Memento Cycles.
"The bike industry has always been dominated by men in general," said Trudeau. "For years it's been hard for women frame-builders and people in the LGBTQ community to have the same chances in the industry in bike shows to actually be put up front."
High school best friends start building
Trudeau and Jaramillo have been best friends since high school.
While completing an engineering degree, Jaramillo had an idea for a business.
"I think I must have busted Eliane's ear so much because she came up with this idea of building cargo bikes," he said. "And I wanted to start a company where it would have an impact, not just like, build a startup company to have a company."
Best friends Ronny Perez Jaramillo and Eliane Trudeau founded Memento Cycles in 2021, and are already making a name for themselves in the industry. (CTV News)
The idea to build cargo bikes "felt like the perfect match" for the two friends, who had been bike messengers for over around a decade.
Cargo bikes involve a longer frame with a smaller front wheel which is closer to the ground, so it can carry more weight. They are being used more and more for deliveries, but also many parents use them to transport their children or do grocery or other types of shopping and avoid driving.
Cargo bikes, like the one designed and built by Memento Cycles, are becoming more popular as people are trying to look for ways to avoid driving and use active transport. (Philly Bike Expo)
For a city like Montreal, the potential to expand bike options is huge, Jaramillo said.
"With the infrastructure growing, I really felt like this could be like a next Amsterdam where people go mostly around by bikes," he said. "Every day I'm hoping like, we slowly inch by inch, get towards that."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
3 injured after man with knife enters Montreal-area mosque
Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.
Police arrest 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole Porsche and ran over its owner
Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.
Woman nearly shut out of mother's estate sues brother in B.C. Supreme Court – and wins
Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.
Teen arrested in New Brunswick after emergency alert; 5 people in custody
A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.
Kamala Harris tells Oprah any intruder to her home is 'getting shot'
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris on Thursday issued a warning to any potential home intruder: 'If somebody breaks in my house, they're getting shot.'
On the trail of the mystery woman whose company licensed exploding pagers
What Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, 49, the Italian-Hungarian CEO and owner of Hungary-based BAC Consulting, says she hasn't done is make the exploding pagers that killed 12 people and wounded more than 2,000 in Lebanon this week.
Woman shot by B.C. police was Colombian refugee with young daughter, advocate says
Advocates have identified the woman who died this week after being shot by police in Surrey, B.C., as a South American refugee who was raising a young daughter.
'We're still pushing hard': Search for missing Manitoba boy continues, RCMP find tracks
The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.
Video released of person of interest after cat is allegedly set on fire in Orillia, Ont.
Provincial police investigating the death of a cat that was allegedly set on fire in Orillia earlier this week released surveillance video of a person of interest in the case.