London has rain, Rome has ruins, Bavaria has beer – and Girona? That’s right. Girona has bikes. Few places have done a better job of branding themselves as the ultimate cycling lifestyle hub than this medieval gem tucked between the Pyrenees and the Costa Brava. First came the pros, then the influencers, and soon after, everyone else. Whether it’s MTB, road or gravel, from early spring to late autumn, Girona’s cobbled alleyways echo with the buzz of high-end drivetrains and the chatter of the international cycling elite. Tan lines, beige bibs and a matcha latte in hand – it’s where the finer points of custom paint jobs are passionately debated.
The scene revolves around local pilgrimage spots like Communa (a very hip café), La Fabrica (an even hipper café), Espresso Mafia (you guessed it), and the latest addition: Velodrom. Tucked beneath the weathered dome of an old theatre, Velodrom is a temple of bike couture that blurs the line between immersive cycling experience and global Instagram aesthetics – and it works. Even those who hung up their bikes along with their Sachs Torpedo hubs find themselves wide-eyed in front of rainbow-anodised 12-speed cassettes. The density of emotionally charged cycling experiences in this city is overwhelming. Here, cycling culture isn’t niche. It’s mainstream.
But Girona is more than just the style icon of the cycling world. With Sea Otter Europe and The Traka, the city plays host to two of the most exciting events in the entire industry. It’s where brands, suppliers, engineers, pros and everyday riders all come together – and most people wear more than one of those hats. The lines between community and commerce are blurred, and that’s exactly where ideas are born. Some of them go on to become the next big thing. Gravel, for instance. The dusty tracks inland from the Costa Brava gave the discipline a proper stage – and helped shape a unique European identity around it. Girona became the epicentre of a whole new, seriously exciting bike scene.
Over in Vilablareix, things might seem a little less exciting at first glance. It’s a suburb, an industrial estate, and a big warehouse. Soon there’ll be two – but more on that later. The building bears a bold MEGAMO sign. This is the headquarters of the Catalan brand that has been skyrocketing in recent years. At first glance, MEGAMO seems to embody everything that makes Girona so irresistible: a touch of heritage, loads of style and plenty of attitude. But style alone doesn’t cut it.
We sit down with Oriol Gil Olivé, Principal Product Manager and the driving force behind the brand, to talk bikes, branding, the meaning of speed and how to grow big without losing your balance.
Grow-up, Yes. Grow-dull? Never.
“Ride different, stay true” is splashed across the showroom wall. Staying true to yourself – a bold statement that comes with plenty of risk. But who exactly are MEGAMO, and what are the Catalans trying to stay true to?
It all began back in 1987, long before Girona became the cycling hotspot it is today. In short: a group of engineers from the Enduro and Trial motorbike manufacturer GasGas wanted to do “crazy stuff” on two wheels – without an engine. The first MÉGAMO (back then still spelled with an accent) was a trial bike. Not long after, mountain bikes followed, and with their MEGAMO LIBERTO TEAM, the Catalans racked up a string of national and international titles. The early days were wild, unconventional, and loud. Even the first paint jobs and designs had a skateboard-freestyle, almost punk-rock edge. MÉGAMO was bold, bright and rebellious. And today?
Cross-country bikes, trail bikes, hardtails, climbing race bikes, aero race bikes, race gravel, adventure gravel, and all sorts of eMTBs… MEGAMO have grown into a full-range brand. With growth comes new processes, production cycles and internal structures. Even the brand itself is being managed differently now. A brand design manual translates the MEGAMO vibe into colour palettes, visual language and tone of voice. The bikes are shot in their own in-house photo studio and shown off in a sleek, purpose-built showroom. Instinct has given way to intention. What started out as play has become a style of its own.
What hasn’t changed is the brand’s close connection to Girona and its riding scene. Most of the team here jump straight from the office onto the trails. The local hotspots are just minutes away, and the “Made in Girona” stamp is proudly displayed on every frame.
Mega-Agile – MEGAMO has mastered the art of quick decision-making
The frames are built and painted in Asia, then assembled in Girona. In the showroom, we come face to face with the entire MEGAMO bike family. The shared design DNA is impossible to miss. Clean lines, minimalist forms and sharp edges – these bikes stand tall and confident. “We have edges,” Oriol says with a grin. “As engineers, we want to be able to recognise the function of a part just by its shape.” So, to reduce MEGAMO to just style and Girona vibes would be missing the point. Spend even a few minutes watching Oriol dart through the workshop and it’s clear: these are tinkerers at heart. A spontaneous meeting by a set of wheels here, a focused look at a new rear linkage there, and a quick check-in at the prototype lab in between. The teams work side by side, the distances are short, and the interest in fine details and clever solutions is real.
Oriol charges up the stairs to the first floor, past world champion jerseys and plastic flowers. The entire development, design, marketing and sales crew share one large open-plan space. Bike parts are scattered across the floor, artwork hangs from the walls, and in the centre of the room stands a table. But not just any table. It’s both a tribute to MEGAMO’s roots and a symbol of where they’re heading. When the company moved into its new HQ, the table was one of the few pieces of furniture that came along. It’s the table where decisions get made – quickly.
Tube profiles are approved here, new designs signed off, and sales strategies put into place. All of it out in the open, visible and accessible. No closed-door meetings. No heavy leather chairs. Just slim stools and flat hierarchies. Agility is baked into MEGAMO’s DNA, and it’s one of the key reasons behind their success in recent years. New ideas don’t get stuck in limbo – they’re turned into prototypes, fast. And when Oriol and the team believe in something, they go for it. In the bike business, speed is a game-changer. Especially for a player that, despite their rapid growth, is still relatively small compared to the giants. But what happens to that agility when a brand starts scaling up?
Where is MEGAMO heading?
Right next to the freshly built headquarters, a second, nearly-identical building is already going up. At the moment, MEGAMO run two production lines, each capable of turning out up to 150 bikes a day. Once the new facility is complete, that number could rise to six lines. In other words, MEGAMO are tripling their production capacity. The word “crisis” doesn’t seem to exist in Catalan. MEGAMO are growing — in every direction.
Up until now, the Iberian Peninsula has been their strongest market. But the Catalans are rapidly expanding beyond their home turf: into Italy, France, the Benelux countries and especially Germany. With a dedicated sales team, after-sales support and already 80 dealers on board, MEGAMO have stormed into new markets at breakneck speed, bringing plenty of new staff along for the ride.
Of course, none of this would work if the bikes didn’t deliver. MEGAMO offer attractive models at competitive prices, and they handle their line-up with genuine care – constantly refining, updating and developing. The MEGAMO RAISE is a brand-new climbing-focused road bike, the MEGAMO PULSE is their freshly launched aero race machine, and the MEGAMO WEST takes aim at the adventure gravel crowd. That’s a lot of launches for a brand where most decisions are still made standing around a single table. But there’s more to come:
The Reason is called REASON – MEGAMO are on the rise
The real reason for the buzz in Vilablareix goes by the name REASON. MEGAMO were one of the first brands to strike a deal with DJI, and within just a few months, they’d built a complete bike around the powerful new AVINOX motor. In our test, the MEGAMO REASON already proved why this motor has the potential to shake up the e-mountainbike market. 1000 watts of peak power. Up to 120 Nm of torque. And when you hit Boost mode, red asteroids shoot across the integrated OLED touch display. It’s a fitting metaphor — the Catalans are flying high.
For manufacturers who manage to bring AVINOX-powered bikes to market fast and in volume, there are golden opportunities up for grabs. And MEGAMO look set to do just that. Alongside the carbon REASON, they’re also launching a strategically crucial aluminium version – priced to stay just below the all-important € 5,000 leasing threshold in the German market. But how are MEGAMO managing to move so fast?
Over lunch at a local bar, I sit down with Oriol and Gonzalo García de Salazar, tucking into mushroom cannelloni – because apparently, Catalans don’t just know how to integrate motors, they also know their way around a good lunch. Gonzalo, a friend of the brand, now works with them as an external advisor. “People, products and processes,” he says, sipping his cortado. “The people here are great, the products are amazing – it’s the processes we need to work on.” I glance at Oriol. He nods with a guilty smile.
MEGAMO have grown so quickly that the systems and routines that once worked are now starting to show their limits. So I ask: how much growth can MEGAMO handle? “We want to grow a bit more, but we don’t want to be too big,” Oriol says with a smile. Right now, everyone still more or less knows what everyone else is working on. But every step up the ladder adds a bit of instability to the system. Processes begin to take centre stage, and the people? Risk fading into the background? Oriol shakes his head firmly. That’s not how they want to grow. Stay true – that’s the point.
They’ve Got No Time For Grey – MEGAMO Go Bold With Their Paintwork
Back at the office, things get a little more surface-level – or fundamental, depending on how you look at it. Because alongside sharp lines and clever engineering, there’s something else that makes MEGAMO bikes stand out: style and colour. Take a look around the roadie crowd outside your local gelato stop in summer and you’ll notice something a bit depressing – some brands seem to approach paintwork with all the imagination of a tax return template. White, grey, black – and that’s your lot.
Yes, MEGAMO can do black and white too. But somehow, even that looks different. Maybe it’s the soft light of a Catalan October morning. Maybe it’s the fact that here, it’s riders deciding the colour, not market research panels. The MEGAMO PULSE in White Ice with its shimmering violet decals sparkles so seductively in the early sun, you’d need serious self-control not to sink your teeth into the top tube. And I quickly discover I’m not the only one with a White Ice obsession. The next day, while descending from the Mare de Déu de Mont monastery, I get held up by two Canadians who simply have to know what bike – or rather, what paint job – I’m riding.
The man behind these and other eye-catching creations is Juan Moreno. Next to him, frame samples are propped against the wall. Paint swatches are spread across his desk. And on the screen? Sorry – that’s top secret.
The colour selection for each MEGAMO season starts with one key ingredient: sales data from the previous year. Each model gets three to four colour options per season. Ideally, each finish should appeal equally – a tough balance to strike. Like most brands, MEGAMO’s top sellers in the high-end range are the understated ones. Anthracite and black are still widely seen as premium. Especially in Germany, it seems, customers want their drop-bar bikes to blend in seamlessly with the November sky. Some Teutonic dealers even found the colourful fork legs on the otherwise grey PULSE a bit too avant-garde.
Colour? Yes, please!
And that’s exactly why MEGAMO are on a mission to push boundaries when it comes to paint. Colour is a fascinating topic – and from a brand like MEGAMO, customers expect boldness. They want striking, daring, sometimes playful designs. It’s the paintwork that often pulls potential buyers into the shop in the first place. Once there, though, many still lose their nerve and go for the safer option. Which means the colour range has to cover everything from eye-catching to understated.
At the same time, the options can’t sit too close together on the colour spectrum. If they do, customers might end up paralyzed by indecision – and leave with an entirely different bike instead. A successful paint job might be the one that sells best – but it can also be the one hanging in the shop window, turning heads and drawing attention to the brand. Either way, paint planning at MEGAMO is holistic. The colour palette has to work as a whole, and ideally, sales performance should be at least partly predictable. After all, production volumes for each size and finish need to be locked in well in advance.
Beyond colour itself, MEGAMO are also experimenting with special finishes and unusual techniques. On my White Ice frame, for example, someone actually sat down and hand-painted those delicate crackle lines into the lacquer. That takes time – and money. So while MEGAMO are clearly passionate about style and bike couture, they still have to strike a balance: between the good vibes of their rebellious roots and the business realities of a fast-growing brand.
In real terms, this means that other categories have long overtaken the classic analogue flat-bar mountain bike. Gravel, road and especially eMTBs are now the segments with real growth potential. For a brand like MEGAMO, with its playful, trial-MTB roots, that’s a bittersweet realisation. You can sense how hard it is for Oriol to talk about – that budgets are being reallocated, and future developments will need to focus elsewhere.
So is that still “stay true”? Or is it already a break from the past?
When it comes to brands, it’s not always easy to tell the difference between lived identity and carefully crafted image. But to MEGAMO’s credit, they’re not hiding behind buzzwords. Internally, there’s open and honest discussion about the challenges ahead – and about just how exciting this next chapter could be. Growth matters, but it’s not a goal in itself.
Then the office starts to empty. Most of the team jump on their bikes. Because that matters too.
MEGAMO have evolved. They’ve stepped out of their niche and into the mainstream. The brand’s direction has shifted, and the product line has changed with it. What’s stayed the same is their commitment to defining their own focus — and choosing their own path.The wild child has grown up. But it hasn’t lost its urge to roam.
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Words & Photos: Nils Hofmeister