What Happened to Compass

In February 2019, Compass Cycles changed its name to Rene Herse Cycles

Since Lyli Herse, the daughter and successor of Rene Herse (pronounced reNAY AIRS), asked us to become custodians of the Rene Herse name more than a decade ago, we introduced a number of products under the Rene Herse name, while other components – most notably our ground-breaking all-road and gravel tires – were offered under the Compass brand. We’ve decided to bring our entire program into Rene Herse Cycles to reflect our commitment to René Herse’s values: excellence in design and unwavering pursuit of quality.

Rene Herse Cycles makes the high-performance components and tires that we need for rides that mix gravel and pavement with plenty of adventure. This is the same style of riding that René Herse enjoyed in the 1930s and 40s (below), when he pushed the envelope of what we’d call all-road bikes today. His bikes have inspired us as we developed our own. As Rene Herse Cycles is reborn in the Cascade Mountains, we’ll continue to challenge the accepted limitations of what bicycles can do.