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Vroomen and Wiertz Acquire 3T

It was announced today that former co-owner of Cervélo, Gerard Vroomen, has partnered with 3T CEO René Wiertz to acquire all shares of 3T.

“It gives me great pleasure to tell the world that Gerard has agreed to join me as a partner in 3T,” explains Wiertz. “We’ve grown into a very successful company in the last few years and Gerard will support us to continue on this path.”

Vroomen has partnered with 3T in the past as a customer during his days at Cervélo. The brand used many items from the component maker, including handlebars, stems, seat posts, aero bars and forks. Wiertz is understandably excited to bring the Dutch engineer’s experience into the fold to continue to drive innovation at the Italian brand.

“He will help us to develop even more original high-end bicycle components and he will inspire and coach our young engineers to do even better. His experience in building Cervélo and as a long-time 3T customer will also ensure we address the needs of our OEM and aftermarket customers even better.”

Gerard_VroomenVroomen, who will continue as CEO at OPEN, a boutique mountain bike company he founded with ex-BMC CEO Andy Kessler, looks forward to the new partnership.

“3T is one of the true originals of the bike industry, its inventions and designs have shaped our sport for more than 50 years. 3T has always been on my very short list of favorite companies, so I was thrilled when this opportunity arose.”

3T Cycling was founded in 1961 in Torino, Italy. Originally known as 3TTT, or Tecnologia del Tubo Torino (Turin Tube Technology), the brand has a history of pushing the boundaries of lightweight and aerodynamic components, while collecting many wins along the way. Mario Dedioniggi started crafting lightweight steel handlebars for riders, and was one of the first to move to aluminium alloys to lighten his components. 3T was also one of the first component makers to embrace the new threadless headset standard with their innovative ForgeAhead stems, one of the first forged stems on the market. By the late 1990’s, the brand re-engineered many of their components to join the latest trend of the times, carbon fiber.

3T AERONOVA, ONE OF THE LATEST SUCCESS PRODUCTS OF 3TThe brand went into a period of stagnation until the mid 2000’s when Wiertz took over the brand. Since then, the brand relaunched with a new identity, new branding, and a renewed drive for light weight and aerodynamic components. Some of their latest products, the Aeronova and Aerotundo, embodies the brand’s commitment to lightweight, aerodynamic, and dependable components to give their races a competitive edge. Riders also have the ability to customize select bars, stems, seat posts, and wheel sets with custom colors, beyond the brands traditional white (Pro), red (Team), stealth black (Team), and grey (LTD) branding. New wheels sets and a versatile Vola aerobar are set to be released early in 2015.

“Furthermore, I’ve known René since he resurrected 3T in 2007 and I really like his professionalism and work ethic,” explains Vroomen. “He’s done an exceptional job, starting from zero and rebuilding 3T into one of the leading component brands globally. At Crevélo, we were his very first customer and he became one of our most reliable suppliers. That’s not easy in the industry and I know that with René at the helm, 3T will continue to excel in the years to come.”

Tags: 3T, 3T Cycling, aerodynamic, Articles, bars, bicycle, Bicycle handlebar, BMC, Brand, carbon, carbon fiber, Cervelo, cycling, Gerard Vroomen, handlebars, Headset, Italy, light, Lightweight, mountain, mountain bike, Musical groups, OPEN, Rene Wiertz, seat post, stem, wheel, wheels
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