Pic: Yorick Carroux (carroux.com)

Top: Richie Schley; Bottom: Rotwild’s RFC0.4

It’s not much of an exaggeration to describe Richie Schley as one of the founding fathers of modern MTB freeriding. Shots of Schley, Wade Simmons and Brett Tippie riding the monster steeps of Kamloops, BC in US magazine Bike were something of a turning point in mountain biking. Since then, Schley has become one of the most successful and most photographed MTB pros in the world, and ten years on he’s still a regular feature in freeride films.

For most of his career, the 37 year old Canadian has been riding Rocky Mountain bikes, so news that he’s changed sponsor is somewhat surprising. Perhaps more surprising is that he’ll be riding for a European manufacturer – Germany’s Rotwild.

“After ten years with Rocky Mountain, I am very excited to align with Rotwild because of their size and commitment to engineering quality”, he says. “The bikes are unique and very light. I can’t wait to have a new ride that is much lighter. They are very interested in my ideas and should be able to implement them quickly because of the size of their business.”

The move to Rotwild marks a bit of a shift in emphasis for Schley. “Hopefully, I will learn more about designing bikes, a different market place and possibly importing bikes into North America. My long term goals are to continue to be involved in the biking as a rider on some level and to spread the bike love to as many people as possible. Mountain biking has given me a very fulfilling, healthy lifestyle and I would like to share that with others.”

Schley’s weapon of choice from the Rotwild range will be the 180mm travel RFC0.4, recently voted first in the Freeride category of German magazine MountainBIKE’s reader poll.

“We are proud that Richie has decided in favour of Rotwild”, said Peter Schlitt, managing director of Rotwild parent company ADP Engineering. “For us this strategic partnership is the start of a new era. This year we celebrate our tenth anniversary and the freeride segment has always been an integral part of our business. Our partnership with Richie goes far beyond classic athlete sponsoring. Richie will bring in many years of his experience into our development process and we will launch new products together so that in the end the Rotwild customer will benefit from this partnership.”

Find out more at www.rotwild.de.