Designing Tomomi Nishikubo’s trials bike

I am super stoked to be a Canyon rider. It really is my dream brand. The bikes always look elegant, they’re functional and innovative. I’m super happy to ride them!

Myself and Canyon made the design together. At first we tried to put some Japanese graphics on the bike. So, I suggested some Japanese symbols like Cherry Blossom, Ninja or something like that. I also sent some images of my ideas to Canyon’s designer (Christian Hellmann) then a week later he came back with 6 or 7 designs.

All the designs were super cool, but in particular this EN logo stood out. I was really surprised because we never spoke about EN in our first meeting, and I asked Christian how he knew the EN symbol. He said, ‘I just did some research and discovered it myself’. I was like ‘Wow, I respect you!’ - since the Japanese word EN has so many good meanings - such as friendship, relationships. So, I really loved the design concept and its meanings so much.

The reason why I chose this light blue colour is because my name is Tomomi which means ‘friends’ and ‘ocean’ in Japanese.

Once we decided on the design Christian said, “Hey Tomomi, can you write this EN logo and your name in Japanese calligraphy?” And I said, ‘OK I’ll do my best’. To be honest, it took about 5 hours to write this EN circle and my name! I want to say “good job” to myself!

Actually it is a small Ninja logo. I go by the name ‘Ninja Rider’, so there is a small Ninja that is hiding somewhere on this frame. Also, I like the Canyon logo written in Japanese, it’s very cool.

This bike is amazing. When I rode it for the first time I was like, “Oh my God!” I feel like I am riding on the moon. It is 1.5kg lighter than my old bike and this makes all tricks easier, higher or longer. So, I am sure this is a revolution for trials bikes.