“Hey dad, I sanded Tom Boonen’s bike”: sanding specialist Jeremy on taking pride in his work

Every Ridley bike passes through countless hands before it reaches its owner. Behind every frame are skilled people who bring experience, precision and pride to their work. One of them is Jeremy Boschmans, one of our sanding specialists at Belgian Cycling Factory.

Sanding is one of the very first steps in the production process. Before a frame can be painted and assembled, it needs to be prepared to perfection. It's precise, hands-on work that requires experience and a trained eye. Every small detail matters, because quality starts long before a bike is finally assembled.

For Jeremy, that's exactly what makes his job so rewarding. “I come to work with pleasure every day. There’s a lot of variety in my job, and I really enjoy working on the bikes.”

After many years at Belgian Cycling Factory, Jeremy has worked on countless frames. But some bikes are a little more memorable than others. Every now and then, a frame comes through the workshop with a name attached to it that immediately catches your attention. For Jeremy, one of those moments was when he got to work on a bike belonging to Belgian cycling legend Tom Boonen.

“I still remember when even Tom Boonen’s bike passed through here. It’s an honour to work on something like that.” For a cycling fan, there's something special about knowing that your hands have played a small part in preparing the bike of one of Belgium's most iconic riders. “It’s a real wow feeling when you get to sand a bike from Tom Boonen. It’s nice to be able to say: ‘Hey dad, I sanded Tom Boonen’s bike.”

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Every employee counts

It's a simple sentence, but it perfectly captures the pride that can come from working behind the scenes in the cycling industry. You may not see the sanding specialist when you look at a finished Ridley, but their work is part of every frame that leaves our factory.

From the first person to touch a frame to the final quality check before it leaves the factory, every employee plays a role in creating a Ridley. And for Jeremy, that's something worth being proud of — whether it's a bike for a world-class professional or for someone about to take their very first ride on a Ridley.