One of the most rewarding parts about writing about the bicycle industry is meeting folks that are passionate about bicycles and riding them. Two such people are behind what is Siren Bicycles, based out of Idyllwild, California. I caught up with Brendan and Mary Collier at the Sea Otter Classic and found out more about their company.

Siren Bicycles is also unique in several ways that are a bit different in this day and age. In talking with owner Brendan Collier, I was a bit surprised to find out that he also works at Intense Cycles. Normally a employer might frown on an employee that starts up a business that sells the same thing. However; Brendan tells me that this unique situation is mutually beneficial to both companies. “I take a lot of what I learn from Siren and implement it at Intense”. In turn Intense allows Brendan to do what he does at Siren too. It should be no wonder then that the material Brendan chooses to build with is aluminum. It’s also no surprise that Siren is definitely an American built frame, since Intense also does things in house as well.

Using aluminum, building in America, and doing custom work are all not unusual in themselves, but doing all three is a bit unusual. Brendan believes aluminum gets a bad rap. “So many people get the wrong idea about aluminum being harsh from mass produced frames.” Brendan says that with careful tube selection and design an aluminum frame can be every bit as comfortable as any other material used to construct a frame from. Brendan does much of the work like design, selection of tubes, cutting and mitering, jigging up, and initially tacking the frame up. Brendan wanted the best welding possible, so he found a 30 year veteran of aerospace welding and got him to lay down the final welding on his bikes. That’s not the only person that Brendan gets to help out. He also leans on his wife for a bit of help.

Mary Collier is credited by Brendan as the more creative, graphic design part of Siren. In fact, she came up with the name for the company and the logo as well. Not only did she do that, but she also races Brendan’s creations in 24hr and endurance races, coming in as the the third female overall in the recently run 24hrs of Old Pueblo. Mary also chooses Sirens “55″ model as her weapon of choice. I asked her why she liked the “69er” format that the 55 model uses. She stated that the rear wheel could be tucked up underneath her using a shorter chainstay than a 29″er could. The wheel weight was also somewhat of an deciding issue too. Mary said that the benefits of having the 29″er front wheel are huge for her endurance racing. Rolling over the rough terrain more smoothly and keeping her from getting beat up. Overall, she really underlined the proportional feeling she gets when riding her 55. She also pointed out that since Brendan can dictate size specific tubing, the rear end of the bike was very comfortable while still being efficient as a race bike.

Brendan also pointed out that his designs are first and foremost race bikes, but since he can custom design the bike, several accommodations are possible. The other model that rounds out the Siren bikes line up is the Trauco, which is a 29″er. Brendan says the Trauco is currently his best selling model, but he also doesn’t rule out the possibility of a future addition to the two models. The current models are available in six sizes using size specific tubing for each size. Future refinements Brendan is looking at are a new sliding drop out design with a trick tensioner in conjunction with Ahrens Bicycles and other refinements in the frames of the 55 and the Trauco.

Brendan and Mary are super committed to the vision of Siren and riding bicycles. Brendan even told me, “I’m prepared to go down in flames, but I hope it doesn’t come to that.” If passion and determination are worth anything, I doubt Brendan and Mary have anything to worry about!