About us
Our Story
BORN IN THE USA, GROWN IN ITALY
There was a moment, in the early 1970s, when a handful of reckless dreamers decided that the confines of asphalt roads were limited them in their quest for thrills in the saddle.
They wanted to create off-road vehicles to immerse themselves in nature and experience its rugged beauty. They set about modifying old “cruiser” bikes with better brakes, motocross handlebars, and wider tires to hit the fire roads of California. These bicycles were called “klunkers”, and “to klunk” also became the verb that indicated the activity of mountain biking, which did not yet exist.
Mr. Lee Katz, a curious and enterprising man of solid Russian origin, was part of the group of enthusiasts that gravitated around the founding fathers of mountain biking.
In 1977 in Evanston, Illinois, he decided to create his own brand through which to market his bikes. From his great passion for cycling an original intuition was born: for his cycling “boutique” shops, he began to develop niche products with cutting-edge technical features.
The Lee Cougan brand was born from the great ingenuity and experience of Mr. Lee Katz.
He personally designed the bicycles and then had the frames produced in Taiwan which he then assembled in the USA, creating high-tech and performance solutions. Mr. Lee Katz went personally to the producers, to supervise the production and ensure the quality of their work.
He chose the name Cougan because it is very similar to cougar, one of the symbolic animals of the North American wilderness. The culture of mountain biking quickly grew beyond US borders.
Meanwhile, in Italy, in the north-eastern triangle where the biggest names in the world “sport system” have developed, Stardue “Active Sport Equipment” was founded, which since the 1980s has been dealing with the marketing of bicycles and bicycle accessories and motorcycles. Initially a distributor of top-of-the-range American and Italian brands, Stardue was looking for something different, more flexible and customizable. So, in 1993, it was thanks to Stardue that Lee Cougan landed in Europe.
After a few years of traveling together with products designed with Mr. Lee Katz and then only imported, the decision was made by mutual agreement to differentiate the two product lines: how Mr. Lee Katz designed and developed the aesthetics and technology of his models for the US market, Stardue, through this collaboration, had the possibility to modify the projects to adapt them to the European market. Lee Cougan thus had access to top-of-the-range components by operating in two different markets. The fact that the products were assembled directly in Europe made them affordable in terms of price to many more enthusiasts.
Since the late 1990s, Stardue had been developing the design of the models in-house and, with the approval of Mr. Lee Katz, the “Lee Cougan Europe” bikes became more and more high-end and performance oriented.
The collaboration with Mr. Lee Katz continued until the end of the last century when the brand changed hands and in the last twenty years Stardue manages Lee Cougan branded products all over the world, making it an Italian brand to all intents and purposes.
Lee Cougan began to develop a wide and transversal range capable of adapting to various markets thanks to a high rate of innovation. In a short time it became a niche brand capable of offering high quality at a competitive price, especially when compared to the giants of American mountain biking.
There, between the ruggedness of the Gobi desert and the icy landscapes of southern Argentina, the bikes of the brand demonstrated their quality made of performance and reliability even in the most extreme conditions.
The company was one of the first, back in 2006, to focus on offering cyclists the ability to customize their bikes right from the time of order, developing the ""Make your Custom Bike"" service. This helped distinguish Lee Cougan for the quality of its store network and customer service. They developed modular bikes that were tailored to the customer's request."
Lee Cougan's bond with the world of competitions strengthened from year to year
2008
They won the World Champions Junior Country with the Colombian Laura Abril who raced for a Spanish team.
2015
Lee Cougan’s Racing Department put Colombian Diego Alfonso Arias Cuervo on his bikes who took part in the Marathon championship becoming national champion.
2018
Lee Cougan’s dedication to racing flows into the Soudal Lee Cougan Racing Team. The brand chose Top Race Team to represent its sporting image in mountain biking, providing the team with its top-of-the-range products that are tested and developed in the demanding marathon races.
VISION / THE DIRECTION FOR THE FUTURE
What about the future? The future is an unpredictable path to be faced with the right means (ride).
Lee Cougan continues to evolve its product range, deriving its Urban, City and versions for younger bikes from its most competitive models of Mountainbike. The desire to create versatile bikes ready for anything is realized by pushing hard on the pedals of innovation.
In the near future the new frames will be presented and the promise of the brand, inherent in its rich and unique history, is to create “things never seen before”, aiming at the niche of cyclists looking for quality products that can be fine-tuned on their specifications.
RESPONSIBLE INNOVATION
Lee Cougan’s history is the story of a continuous contamination between different places, people, ideas and approaches. This is why the brand stands out for its uniqueness, mixing, reinterpreting and bringing together industry excellence from different corners of the planet. It is this wealth of experience that allows the brand to develop unique solutions to literally create “things never seen before”.
Innovation for Lee Cougan rests on the balance between performance, riding comfort, freedom to explore and respect for what is explored, including through the development of technologies to reduce the environmental impact. Innovating yes, but with the right timing to understand its real value and not to pursue market logic.
The constant improvement of the frames is accompanied by the research and development of the best components for a development that enhances the characteristics of each frame and that at the time adapts to the specific characteristics of each cyclist.
DEVOTION TO THE FREEDOM TO EXPLORE
For Lee Cougan, a mountain bike is a tool through which to connect with nature. The experiences in the Camel Trophy have taught the brand that there are no limits to exploration on two wheels and that every challenge can be faced if the right means are available.
For this reason, the brand’s purpose is to create bikes that allow people to venture and explore, with the knowledge that they have a reliable tool. Comfort determines riding pleasure, performance amplifies the freedom to explore.
In every Lee Cougan there is an invitation to take new paths, to get lost, to discover a little more of the boundless beauty of nature.
TRANSVERSAL PERFORMANCE
Lee Cougan works to expand its range through cross-cutting, ultra-high performance products. The motivation comes from passion and is very simple: wanting to create bikes that allow everyone to get on the saddle, both professional athletes and amateurs.
Developing models with high performance aims to amplify everyone’s experience, a way to meet the needs of any cyclist.
Allowing you to feel at ease on any terrain, feel the confidence to challenge your abilities, raise the bar of your performance from time to time, experience more intense emotions. Lee Cougan bikes, thanks to bespoke tuning, are designed to become the perfect bike for every cyclist.
The result is to create bicycles that allow more and more people to approach nature in a non-invasive way, to choose to pedal rather than turn on an engine. One of Lee Cougan’s missions is to reduce emissions one bike at a time, creating products that make those who use them fall in love.
