Let’s discover David Folch, founder of DirtySixer, maker of the world’s largest bikes.
Hello David, who are you?
My name is David Folch, I’m 1.98m tall and wear size 14 shoes. I grew up in southern France and went into journalism. I specialised in product journalism in Auto-Moto, Moto Journal, VSD, Paris Match, GQ or FHM magazines. After 10, I switched to big reporting and foreign affairs. I went to the USA in 2007 (NYC for 3 years) and became a US correspondent. Being at the epicentre of innovation in electric cars and motorcycles on the West Coast from 2010, I had the chance to be one of the first journalists to report on Teslas and other electric vehicles with 2 and 4 wheels.
That’s when I got back into cycling, to enjoy the mountain bike trails around San Francisco, the birthplace of Mountain Biking. And ironically, it was a simple cycling accident that sparked the idea for creating DirtySixer. Trying to jump a simple kerb on a San Francisco street, I fell and fractured my ankle. The city hospital presented me with a $25,000 bill to place screws to repair it. The next day I was on a plane to Paris, horrifying the French doctor who received me… This simple accident followed by several months of recovery caused me to lose the freelance contracts I had in the US. And left me, in fact, with plenty of time to think, partly about the reasons for my fall. The explanation was simple: the bike, although ‘made’ for tall people, wasn’t correctly designed for tall people, and the same was true for all bikes for tall people, given the limitations introduced by wheel size and the tubes used in manufacturing.
I found work in other fields and notably joined Google Maps. The idea of making DirtySixer a real business was taking shape even though meetings with bike manufacturers and designers weren’t always very conclusive. Few understood the design flaws in bikes for tall people at the time. But I was making progress. I began to study the matter very closely with reputable engineers and custom bike manufacturers and eventually produced a first prototype. Given the difficulty in producing it in California, I had to turn to a Russian company for its manufacturing! The manufacturer even took the opportunity to come to California with the frame in the hold so he could assemble it on site. It was the first DirtySixer bike and what’s more, in titanium! What followed evolved very quickly.
How was DirtySixer born?
Thanks to my network of local journalists and the American friendliness, I contacted Holland, the manufacturer of bikes for NBA legend Bill Walton, and then the Walton himself. Some time later the meeting was arranged and Bill Walton was able to test the DirtySixer. On my model with 36-inch wheels (compared to the usual 29), the 2.11m giant quickly understood the merit of the DirtySixer. Following this successful trial, Bill proposed showing it to the NBA retired players’ association (NBRPA). And thanks to these new meetings, I was fortunate to discuss with Shaquille O’Neal’s coach, Dale Brown of LSU. I showed him the photo of Bill Walton on the prototype and he grasped the value of my bike model for Shaq. Five months later, Shaquille O’Neal himself sent me an email to arrange delivery of his bike. The adventure (and the troubles were about to begin).
I now had to produce other bikes, which wasn’t guaranteed given the difficulties encountered in manufacturing the first model. Californian frame manufacturers kept pushing back the work and delivery delays continued to drag on. But the bike was eventually manufactured and delivered to Shaq. He loved it. Small series, very high-end production was then set up near Sacramento for a few years. Shortly after, Kevin Durant and LeBron James joined Shaq on the VIP client list. Thanks to introductions from the NBRPA, I also met Rudy Gobert, who was so impressed by the test DirtySixer that he ordered sixteen of them to give to his teammates!
All the bikes from this small Californian production were quickly sold out. The development of the range is now proceeding through a new crowdfunding campaign via Kickstarter, to have the necessary funds to access even more advanced technical solutions. Soon DirtySixer will be manufactured in Taiwan. The Californian models cost between $7,000 and $8,500, but the new range will offer many changes.
Thank you David for this nice account and the energy spent in the service of tall people. You can follow DirtySixer on:
∙ Website: dirtysixer.com
∙ Facebook page: facebook.com/DirtySixerBikes
∙ Instagram account: instagram.com/dirtysixer
∙ Pinterest account: pinterest.fr/dirtysixer/
You’ll find the new models coming soon on pre-order on Wetall!