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David Bradfield and Chris Watson, co-owners of Arundel Bicycle Company, stand inside their offices Jan. 4, 2024. They started their company, which makes water bottle holders for bicycles, in 2000. (Seth Bodine | Fort Worth Report)
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Editor’s note: Made in Tarrant is an occasional Q&A series on small businesses started in Tarrant County. Submit your business here. 

David Bradfield and Chris Watson came up with the idea for their bicycle accessory company on the flight back from Milan, Italy, after attending a trade show. They imagined they would be a wholesale company, but the thought of making their own carbon fiber water bottle holder sparked their inspiration for Arundel Bicycle Company in 2000. They sell their products online and in about 600 bike shops across the country.The Fort Worth Report spoke to Bradfield and Watson about their company, and their advice for entrepreneurs.  

This conversation has been edited for length, grammar and clarity. 

Seth Bodine: When did the inspiration hit to start a business?David Bradfield: I guess that was on the plane trip back from Milan in 2000, when we decided we didn’t want to bring any existing products. On the plane, Chris got a scratch pad. We’re scribbling down ideas. Carbon fiber bottle cages. Nobody’s doing that yet. We’re looking at each other like, oh, yeah, good idea, and got off the plane, you know, and ran over to our friend’s shop.

Chris Watson and David Bradfield used a piece of scrap paper to come up with their business on a flight back from Italy in 2000. (Seth Bodine | Fort Worth Report)Chris Watson: I had this tablet of paper. And so we’re talking and making notes. And we were frustrated because, walking around the trade show, nothing looked really tempting, there was no brand that wasn’t already represented. And, and even if there had been opportunities, we were like, we don’t have any cred.

Bodine: You were thinking that you were going to sell a product that was already made in Italy?

Watson: Yeah, that we would buy the stuff at whatever their distributor price was, and then we would sell it to bike shops.

Bodine: Was there a particularly challenging moment within the business where you’re like, ‘Wow, I might have to give this up?’

Bradfield: When we were trying to make them here in the U.S., I think that was probably the biggest barrier. Had we not found Chris’ contact, who we still work with, we probably would have put it to the dustbin and gone back to something else.

Bodine: Remind me what you were both for doing for jobs before you started the company?

Watson: I had been a sales rep calling on bike shops for about 20 years before we started this. So when you’re a sales rep, getting paid by the brand to go out and represent them, I had plenty of opportunity to see how other companies did it. That background surely helped kind of understand how to navigate this industry. If you plucked us up and dropped us off in the pipe fitting industry, we would fail instantly.

Bradfield: I had been going to college for five years. Working for my brother, and his business partner at the Great Outdoors. 

Bodine: Do you have any advice on finding a business partner?Bradfield: Find somebody who’s way smarter than you. That’s worked for me. (Laughs)Watson: That’s obviously not true.Bodine: What advice would you give someone who wants to start their own business?Bradfield: Be willing to take some risks. Then also take your advice from your friends. 

Watson: Do your homework, too. But if you do too much, then depending upon your personality, you might be intimidated. 

We already kind of had a guidebook of how this business works, how it operates and so it wasn’t that wasn’t mysterious. Where we’ve seen a lot of failures is where there’s a brilliant idea a person thinks up … but doesn’t know how to get it into people’s hands. 

Seth Bodine is a business and economic development reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at seth.bodine@fortworthreport.org and follow on Twitter @sbodine120.

At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.