About
Madrone Cycles - Ashland, Oregon
Madrone Cycles is an independent and rider-owned company dedicated to keeping your drivetrain running smooth and looking great.
The goal of every Madrone product is to be rebuildable, precise, widely compatible and made from premium recyclable materials.
Madrone actively participates in the right-to-repair movement by making products that solve compatibility issues between common drivetrain components, last a long time, and are repairable and upgradable as rider needs change.
Everything Madrone makes is tested and proven in a wide range of riding and racing conditions, and manufactured with tight tolerances for exceptional performance.
Our specialty tools and comprehensive technical guides and support page make rebuilding our Jab derailleur and other manufacturers’ derailleurs a satisfying hands-on experience. We want to share our love of servicing and riding finely tuned bicycles with everyone: but, if you don't want to rebuild your own derailleur you can also ship it to us for a professional rebuild service.
How We Make The Things We Make
Madrone’s small parts are made in Dongguan China at a manufacturer that our founder Aaron has worked with for years on other projects. They have high tech CNC and manufacturing equipment, high quality, and are really cool people. Check them out here.
Parts are then shipped to Madrone in Ashland, Oregon USA, where we build, tune and test our derailleurs, assemble service and upgrade kits and ship orders to our customers all over the world. Here is a recent article about our US operations.
Our Founding Story - Solving Shifting Problems
Madrone Cycles was founded by Mechanical Engineer and lifelong racer and rider Aaron Bland in Ashland, Oregon in 2023 - taking naming inspiration from the iconic local madrone trees (a sturdy hardwood with smooth green and red bark that peels like paper) which symbolize our commitment to durability, aesthetics and unique character.
Once upon a time, Aaron’s battery-powered wireless derailleur stopped working after taking a light thrashing our awesome local MTB trail system. Riding home stuck in a high gear and lamenting his derailleur's vulnerability to basic mountain biking usage, its high replacement cost, and the environmental issues related electronics waste and composite plastics manufacturing… Aaron decided to start a different kind of component maker: a company focused on making drivetrain products durable, rebuildable and compatible across main-stream maker’s standards.
After a season of development and testing of rebuild kits and tools for SRAM derailleurs, Madrone Cycles launched at the 2024 Sea Otter Classic. After tons of additional testing and development, the ultra-compatible, system-agnostic, precision-engineered Jab Derailleur debuted in late 2025.
At Madrone we believe in quality, repair, sustainability, and innovation, and we’re just getting started.
The Madrone Team
Aaron Bland - Founder & Lead Designer & Mechanical Engineer.
Aaron Bailey- Pro Enduro racer, product tester & 2025 USA Cycling Men’s Collegiate Downhill National Champion!
Sarah Eddie Edwards -Marketing, product tester & 2025 Downieville Classic All-Mountan Expert Women’s Podium!
Quinn Daugherty - Assembly, Quality Control
Ian Bagshaw - Assembly, Tuning and Production
Breeze Willis, Britt Hurst, Ola, Andrew Sergent, and Effie Bourgin: Madrone Hype Crew: Marketing, Media and Amateur Race Team
Toby Pew, Wesley Newman, and Marcel Starbird - Assembly, field testing, and kitting team (and future engineers)
Emily Bland and Mara Bland: Aaron’s supporsupport team
Raven: Chief rascal and trail dog.
More About Aaron
Because people keep asking and we think he’s great! Aaron has been mountain biking for 30 years, getting his start in the red hot early 2000s XC racing scene in the Midwest. While racing and riding Aaron studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin and won a collegiate engineering award for a mountain bike suspension design concept.
Aaron transitioned to freeride and downhill racing, and eventually came full circle back to XC, road, and gravel.
Back then...
These days...
Aaron’s engineering background is in battery systems and 2-wheel chassis design. He’s been an integral part of some complex projects such as Brammo electric racing motorcycles and the Amazon Prime Air aerial and terrestrial drone development teams.
