Welcome to Bike Show-Off, a new series by Colligo Collective celebrating the machines — and the minds — behind our community’s most beloved bikes.

To inaugurate the series, we spoke with our founder, Ringo Fan, about the one bike that continues to capture his imagination. If you’d like your own bike featured, please do not hesitate to join the collective!

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Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m Ringo — born in Hong Kong, raised in Australia, and riding since the age of seven.

Cycling began as something practical: a way to commute. It wasn’t until the stillness of COVID that I truly fell in love with road cycling. What started as a utility evolved into a passion.

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Your bike calling card?

Without hesitation: the J.Laverack R.JACK. It’s my current go-to.

There’s something about the quiet confidence of titanium — the interplay between strength and elegance — that speaks to me. On the road or at rest, the satin finish carries a restrained sophistication. It doesn’t shout. It endures.

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What brief did you give yourself before choosing this bike?

Aesthetics came first.

I firmly believe performance is largely a reflection of one’s fitness. But beauty — beauty is what draws you in. If a bike doesn’t move you visually, you won’t be compelled to go further, to push harder, to grow stronger.

I’ve now had the R.JACK for three years. My tastes may evolve; other bikes may tempt me. But even if I retire it from the road, it will remain with me as an object of design. Some bikes are ridden. Some are kept. This one is both.

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What detail makes it uniquely yours?

The seatstays and chainstays — those signature titanium curves — are quietly sculptural. They hold tension and fluidity in equal measure.

And then there’s the top tube pinch. To many, it’s inconsequential. To me, it’s everything. Subtle design decisions reveal the soul of a bike.

The fork is finished in the green of the Audi R8 Green Hell Edition — a deliberate nod to automotive design. A restrained frame, punctuated by a statement detail.

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How does it ride — and how does it make you feel?

People often fixate on weight. I couldn’t tell you exactly how much my bike weighs — and I don’t particularly care to know.

What I do know is how it feels.

It’s not something easily quantified. There’s a suppleness, a smoothness — a sense of floating momentum. Cliché perhaps, but “magic carpet” is the closest metaphor I can offer.

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Your most memorable ride?

A 12-day journey through Japan, from Nagoya to Osaka, when the bike was still new.

Some thought it reckless to take a new bike on such a demanding trip. I thought the opposite. There’s no better way to form a bond than through immersion.

Long days in the saddle reveal a bike’s true character — its responsiveness, its temperament, its honesty. You learn far more in 12 consecutive days than in a dozen isolated rides.

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Where does the bike live at home?

At the entrance — though my wife would say the exit.

It rests on a slender display stand that lifts the wheel just an inch off the ground, almost imperceptibly. I chose it intentionally: minimal, discreet, allowing the bike to appear suspended. The stand should never compete with the object it holds.

Even at rest, the R.JACK commands presence.

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Your post-ride ritual?

Every ride, whether structured training or leisurely miles, ends socially — with coffee in the morning or wine in the evening.

Cycling, for me, is never purely solitary.

Back home, the bike receives a careful wipe-down. Once a week, a proper wash. Maintenance is part of the relationship.

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What does the future hold for this bike?

It stays.

Ridden or retired, it will remain part of my space — perhaps elevated on a plinth in my office one day.

I don’t chase marginal gains or pure speed. I chase feeling. And whenever I encounter that unmistakable sense of “love at first sight,” I know I’ve found something worth pursuing.

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Quick Fire

White shoes or non-white?
Non-white and rugged for daily rides. Cream for colour harmony. Never bright white.

Frame material?
Metal is real. But occasionally, carbon fibre is like MSG — a sharp hit that enhances the flavour.

Chain lubrication?
Always dry.

Black or tanwall tyres?
Subtle tanwall. My current Continental GP4 Seasons may not be the grippiest or the cheapest, but the tone of that sidewall is perfection.

Tubed or tubeless?
Tubeless is a scam.
(Ringo’s personal opinion — not necessarily that of Colligo Collective.)

Aero or lightweight?
Neither. Aesthetics always win.