History

The history of the RB Company dates back to 1991 when Roman Bartosz found
a workroom in rented spaces of a local school in Strakonice. The failures of his
employer ČZ Strakonice in the 90s inspired Roman and his wife to turn their
interest in bikes into their life’s work. By doing so they created a successful
business and inspired many other Czech producers.

In the beginning, Roman bought all of his components from various suppliers,
just as all the other bike producers did. From those components he built and
sold complete bikes. Yet, as a skilled engineer with a keen eye for design, he
saw many ways to improve the readily available frames of the time. And so Roman
decided to use his knowledge and education of the Dural elaboration. Despite
the skepticism of his colleagues he launched into welding and developing his
own aluminum frames under the RB logo.

RB first drew the attention of the cycling community in 1993 at the Moto-Velo
exhibition in Prague with the Free-Boy bike, largely because of its well-built
bulky aluminum frame, which were rare at the time. Since then Roman Bartosz
has only used this type of Dural to build his bikes. Despite the bankruptcies of
many similar companies, as well as the reluctance of banks to finance his work
Roman persisted and grew his young company. He did not have to wait long for
his first success to come. In 1998 René Andrle finished the fifth at the
World Championship riding an RB bike.

In 1997 RB moved from Strakonice to Jezdkovice u Opavy where it found a perfect
background for further expansion in the building of a primary castle. Another chapter in the history of the company began when Roman met with Petr Heiník who was then riding downhill and was not satisfied with hisCannondale bike. The two decided to collaborate and the first downhill RB frame was born. With this frame, Petr Heiník took seventh at the European Championship in 1998 and seventh at the World Championship in 1999. Petr’s achievements grew people’s interest in RB frames and orders increased, including some from Austria and Switzerland. Petr became a co-partner and the company continued to grow.

The producer of Hayes Brakes took notice of RB, had few bikes made and presented Hayes products on RB bikes at exhibitions all over the world.
In 2000, Autor, wanted to sell fully suspended frames so they called on RB.
After successfully selling their initial 90 RB bikes, Autor bought a license and
began selling the Funn and Bandit models, from which the Sovereign and A Zone
types were later developed.

Today, people throughout the world trust the RB frame, evidenced by increased
sales volume every year. Race Bike has had much success in foreign markets, such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Finland, Sweden, Great Britain, the
United States and others.

Even though the RB bikes can bear the highest demands for load and firmness,
many customers want to own them for their beauty. A bike was made for Škoda,
a Czech car company, in the company’s colors to help introduce its new Fabia and
Octavia models at automobile shows. Additionally, KIA ordered bikes to match its
Sorento car model.

RB bikes are manufactured in the Czech Republic using materials manufactured
here at home. This highlights the company’s most valuable asset, its exceptional welders.

One of only six company’s to do so in the world, Race Bike Company develops new
suspension systems and novel gear boxes. This successful technology was patented after only two years of testing in serial production.