Italian Simone Toso (CEO) and American Wyatt Wees (Digital Marketing WingedStore SRL) founded Wingedstore.com together in October 2013. Up to today they both run the company. On the question why they picked Cinelli products Wyatt replies “Simone Toso began producing official merchandise for Cinelli and Columbus in 2009. In 2013, Simone brought me in to do some copywriting work. With an extensive background in Information Technology I saw an opportunity to create an innovate web platform that could make Cinelli products available to people from all over the world. Along with Simone’s knowledge of the brand and strong marketing background the team had all the components necessary for success.”

Today, Wingedstore is a company owned by Cinelli President Antonio Colombo. However, up until 2016 they were independent from Cinelli. “Since the beginning the growth has been strong, there really wasn’t anything quite like Wingedstore at the time of it’s debut and and people that are passionate about Cinelli immediately embraced the concept. Cinelli is truly unique in the cycling world with it’s history of innovation and design oriented products therefore a single point of reference to showcase the full range of bicycles, components, and merchandise was an immediate success. After several years of growth Cinelli President Antonio Colombo began to take notice of the savvy upstart company that was selling truckloads of Cinelli caps, shirts, and components on the internet. In 2016 Colombo acquired a majority stake in the company and turned Wingedstore into the Official Cinelli online store.”

Wyatt on the aims of Wingedstore, “In the 80s and 90s Cinelli owned and operated a series of cycling stores under the name ‘Gran Ciclismo’ based in Milan. These stores, originally conceived by Antonio Colombo, were revolutionary and a forerunner in what would eventually become high-end sports retail. The cutting edge ‘Concept Store’ format dedicated almost entirely to a single brand was unheard of at the time. Wingedstore is the evolution of this idea, a single point of reference in a truly expressive environment available for the world to experience. Wingedstore was initially dedicated to the Merchandise range but over the years but has progessed to encomass the entire Cinelli line including a brief time as the official store of the Red Hook Crit (2014/2015). Wingedstore.com is now the Official Cinelli Online Store that sells the entire product range including frames, components, merchandise, and even spare parts.”

On the future goals Wyatt is clear “To make Cinelli and Columbus available to the widest possibile audience. These are truly global brands and Wingedstore aims to make them available to any rider, anywhere on the planet.”

On bike caps “All of the caps are designed along side the Cinelli design team and produced locally in Italy. One of the first projects that we did as wingedstore.com was the Rider Collection series. The Rider Collection allowed riders to create their Cinelli cap design interpretation. Some of the highlights include: 1984 Track Gold medalist Nelson Vails, Lucas Brunelle, Chas Christiansen, and Alfred Bobè Jr. My personal top 3 cap designs that we had are Chas Christiansen, Red Hook Milano 2013, and Ana Benaroya Eye of the Storm.”

Our FGC cap design, by Sue van Gageldonk, is currently completely sold out but should become available in limited numbers soon on the Wingedstore shop and will also become available in our own webshop to be opened as of 2018!

Name: Bombtrack FGC Needle
Frame: Bombtrack Needle
The Needle is one of the first and few fixed gear crit specific bikes meaning that the geometry is tweaked for fixed gear crit racing. Olaf Wit from Wit Industries was responsible for the geometry, in cooperation with the Bombtrack Bicycle Company. In comparison with a track bike geometry roughly one can say that this results in a less aggressive fork angle, a sloping top tube, and a higher bottom bracket to avoid pedal strokes as much as possible.

Measurements Brian Megens

“I will be racing fixed gear crits mainly because I just love racing and riding my fixed gear bike so much. Besides that, I think I am still in a pretty good shape and able to get some good results. However, the most important reason to be in the fixed gear peloton this season is to stay connected with the riders, I feel that by being one of them I pick-up the needs of the community better, I get to know the riders in a different way, and I will be able to write about races in which I competed myself. Other reasons for riding for Fixedgearcrit are that I see it as an opportunity to promote the platform, connect with brands from the cycling industry from which some hopefully grow into partners of the initiative. Furthermore, by riding solo and not being part of an established team I, and the platform, stay away from politics as much as can be.”

The bike, was officially presented during the Berlin Bike Convention, it is a custom FGC Bombtrack Needle. The Bombtrack Needle is one of the first fixed gear crit specific bikes designed by Bombtrack & Olaf Wit, the latter is famous in the fixed gear crit racing scene for inventing the famous crit lean. The bike will be finished by parts from the brands: FFWD Wheels, Vittoria, Brooks (provided by BrooksNL), Rotor, Kappstein, and KMC. Other supplies to make sure Brian is equipped with the best materials are: Poc, Lake Cycling, Scicon Bags, Baaq, Solosportsnl, and Duursportnl.