Produced in association with Polymer Workshop
If you look out of Polymer Workshop’s window you can see the Kartoffelrækkerne directly opposite. The 11 straight streets of tall, brick houses are so called because they’re laid out like potato beds between the old ramparts of Østre Anlæg park and Sortedam lake. They were built as cheap housing for workers when industrialisation forced many people to move from the countryside to the capital city and were rammed with multiple families. But now, Kartoffelrækkerne is one of the most prestigious and exclusive neighbourhoods in Copenhagen.
Opening their office right here could be seen as a statement of intent for the young component brand. Unlike the potato-row houses, Polymer Workshop isn’t planning to wait almost 200 years to become prestigious and exclusive. The founder, Kasper Anker, and Sebastian Tøttrup, worked for Pas Normal Studios, the Danish apparel brand that blended high fashion with racing performance in a way that hadn’t been seen since Rapha 20 years ago. They’ve done it with clothing and now they’re planning to do the same for components with Polymer Workshop.
Why? As riders themselves they’ve watched the options for bike buyers narrow to either a proprietary system and wheels from the in-house component brand or uninspiring, workaday finishing kit from brands who Anker and Tøttrup call “dinosaurs”. That’s what they aim to change, and it’s already happening. Less than two years after launching in September 2023, Polymer Workshop has just signed a partnership to supply original equipment for Berlin-based Standert, one of the most progressive bike companies out there. They already partner with Repete, makers of exquisite handmade steel frames from Prague.
“We looked at our competitors,” Anker says, “and we were not impressed. There are a lot of different brands out there – wheel brands, handlebar brands, seatpost brands... But we felt that over the last 10 years no one has taken on the full spectrum of high-end components; there’s nobody who can be that genuine upgrade.”
Tøttrup continues: “In Denmark people really care about how they build their bike. They don’t want something that’s off the shelf. We all used to change out the components to customise our bikes to be exactly how we wanted them. But now it’s getting harder with the proprietary systems and Enve has been the only company desirable enough to upgrade with. We want to be that upgrade kit for when you want to do something special. If there’s a big vision for this brand it’s to make really high-quality products that people prefer over the stand- ard stuff. Because it changes everything, the whole look. When you see a bike with a full Polymer build it looks faster, it feels faster and it is faster.”
There’s no argument from me. Even though I won’t get to have a ride on it this time, the Polymer Workshop-equipped Officine Mattio Lemma RT standing in the window of Polymer HQ looks rapid. This was the first collaboration, a limited run of 20 exclusive bikes from the boutique Italian framebuilder finished with Polymer’s Venture wheels, Sculpture handlebar and Obelisk seatpost plus CeramicSpeed’s OSPW pulley wheel system, bottom bracket and headset bearings.
That was the first collaboration and the Venture 38:38 and the Enhance 50:52 wheelsets were Polymer Workshop’s first products, developed with Danish aerodynamics engineers and manufactured using their own moulds with their manufacturing partner in China. Earlier, when we were chatting, Anker had laughed slightly bitterly about a thread on the techy Weight Weenies forum dating back to 2023 that pops up in a Google search. In it, Anker’s brand is assumed to be buying open-mould wheels from China, sticking Polymer Workshop decals on them and selling them at a premium price point. “There seems to be a misunderstanding or a lack of information about whether it’s even possible to make your own components,” he says. “It is in fact possible. The timeline is quite short and it’s actually quite cheap to do a mould nowadays. You can even modify it in many ways so that you don’t have to buy a certain quantity from one mould. So the rim moulds are ours, completely made to our specifications by our manufacturing partner in China, who also happens to make carbon rims for much bigger European and American brands. This is something we want to be transparent about from the start.”
However, Anker concedes that his and Tøttrup’s experience in the cycle industry did enable them to transfer from apparel to hardware fairly seamlessly. “I was able to develop relationships in Asia and spent a lot of time researching production. Through that we made acquaintances with manufacturers out there. On the other hand we did still have to take the hard road – we are designing our products from the bottom up.”
Tøttrup explains: “With us being cyclists ourselves it’s not so much knowing about carbon engineering but knowing what we want to ride, what we see working and what is not working right now in the market.”
The new Sculpture integrated cockpit is a case in point, and also represents a significant move towards the full portfolio of components for Polymer. It is, says Tøttrup, the flagship product in terms of fulfilling a demand for something that doesn’t already exist, but that is very much wanted and needed.
With a 36cm width at the hoods, a 90mm reach and -10° stem, it’s for getting narrow, low, long and aggressive for sustained periods of time and weighs a super-light 320g. The longer reach creates the extra support for the forearms, taking the load off the upper core and enabling the rider to hold the most aerodynamic position for longer on the hoods. “We don’t have to play by the rules,” says Anker. “Again, this started with, ‘What do we see missing?’ and, ‘What do we want to ride?’ This is where we can carve ourselves into that space and make some noise.”
The Roval Rapide – frequently regarded as the yardstick against which other integrated cockpits should be measured and which comes with the S-Works Tarmac SL8 – is available in a minimum width of 38cm. “A 36cm bar sounds crazy but it makes sense. Most of us are not that wide even if we’re tall, and now it’s well known that narrower is more aerodynamic and also ergonomically superior. We know that the young people want this, and it’s also much more interesting for women’s racing.” How certain was Anker that Polymer’s Sculpture handlebar would be faster than competitor cockpits? “It doesn’t take a wind tunnel to know that it’s faster because there’s nobody else offering these measurements. When we have a Sculpture 2.0 or 3.0 we can make it more aerodynamically optimised but right now we don’t need to.”
A week earlier, despite not having aero tested it at design stage, Polymer proved the Sculpture cockpit was faster than a 40cm Roval Rapide by putting them head to head at the Ballerup velodrome with independent aerodynamicists SWUNG. The protocol, which covered three positions (aggressive hoods, relaxed hoods and drops), found that the Sculpture on average was 10-16 watts faster at 45kph. Interestingly, in the ‘relaxed hoods’ position, which is more upright, the Roval handlebar was slightly more efficient. Which validates the Polymer design – it’s not for upright relaxed riding. “And,” says Anker, “if we were to do this test in a real race over four or five hours, then you would be a whole lot faster than 16 watts because you can hold the position for much longer than with the standard handlebars out there.”
Constructed as a true monocoque with no bonding, the Sculpture is also super stiff and, says the brand, offers a dynamic riding experience, offering optimal control. It’s compatible with race bikes from Specialized (it was aero tested fitted to a Tarmac SL8), Cervélo, Colnago, Trek and Pinarello, and comes with specific spacers for each model it’s purchased for.
With the pattern of repeating Polymer logos on the tops and a larger gloss logo on top of the stem, it has an incredibly premium look. But, intriguingly, there’s no obvious sign that Polymer Workshop are Danish and there’s no Danish flag anywhere in their branding. I need to ask them about this – how is it that for example CeramicSpeed and Pas Normal – and now Polymer Workshop – leverage being Danish without being obvious about it? What is it about Danish cycling products? Should they shout more about being Danish since Denmark has that reputation for design, precision and quality? Other cycling nations don’t hesitate to sticker up their handiwork with their national identity.
“People should like the product for what it is and not because we sit here in a fancy little office in Copenhagen,” laughs Tøttrup. “Also the company is global, the Sculpture handlebar is designed to fit many bikes from international brands. But everything we do does have our vibe, our look and feel. It’s our way of complementing whichever frame our products are on. Is there a Danish aesthetic? Obviously we’re very good friends with the guys at CeramicSpeed, we want to make sure we showcase each other and we want to continue the rich legacy of Danish cycling history. There were a lot of Danish steel framebuilders in the seventies and eighties and obviously our pro riders speak for themselves.”
Additionally, Anker and Tøttrup explain that being humble is an important part of Danish culture. The topic crops up several times when I’m trying to find out what Polymer Workshop is all about. Almost the moment I arrived, they told me that the “fancy little office” was only possible thanks to the adjoining bike shop Byman Cykler, which has owned the ground floor since before the area was gentrified, giving them mates’ rates. “Without them we would not be right here opposite Kartoffelrækkerne,” says Tøttrup. He continues: “There’s a long list of people who have believed in what we are doing and have helped us get our vision out. That’s been insanely valuable and still is.”
Before we head out for lunch I get to examine a prototype of the new Polymer Workshop bottle cage. An ultra-minimal, super-light carbon construction as you’d expect, it is the next step in completing their finishing kit portfolio and isn’t just any old carbon bottle cage. Tøttrup rotates the CAD drawing on his Mac screen and points out the features of the early iteration. The ‘floor’ section of carbon that the bottom of the bottle sits on has three straight sides like the top of an octagon – or the ‘P’ in the Polymer Workshop logo. It’s very subtle, one of those ‘if you know, you know’ details.
And plenty of people already do know. This young brand has already come a long way since 2023. They’ve done collaborations, they now have OEM partnerships in place with progressive bike brands and there’s a lot more in the pipeline. At the time of writing, Magnus Bak Klaris has just won the overall classification at the Santa Vall gravel stage race in Girona on Polymer Workshop Enhance wheels and the Sculpture handlebar. They’re disruptors, challenging the status quo with meticulously designed products that threaten to perform better and look better. At the same time they’re reinventing an older tradition, turning back the clock to a time when racing cyclists built up their own bikes, customising them with the very finest components rather than settling for a stock build off the shelf. And finally, whether they want to promote it or not, they have that Danish cachet and it’s obvious. With Polymer Workshop now in town, you can bet house prices in Kartoffelrækkerne are set to go up even more.
