One of the most popular mountain biking portals on the web has announced it’s making Squamish its corporate home.
For most mountain bike enthusiasts, pinkbike.com is a frequently used website. The web portal for all things mountain biking attracts 73 million page views a month. Pinkbike has more than 250,000 likes on Facebook and more than 64,000 on Twitter.
Pinkbike CEO Karl Burkat has worked with the District of Squamish for months to open an office in Squamish.
“The welcome has been awesome and the local bike community here is tight,” said Burkat. “We can’t wait to ramp things up here.”
His plans in Squamish include expansion. Pinkbike currently employs 20 full-time workers and an additional 100 contractors who work for the company on a part-time basis.
“We are looking to hire local people right away, particularly on the software development side and also on the GIS side for the new Trailforks.com project we are working on,” said Pinkbike founder Radek Burkat, the company’s chief technology officer.
Squamish Off Road Cycling Association president Jeff Cooke said the Internet company will bring many positive economic benefits.
“The move of Pinkbike here lends a lot of credibility to Squamish as a mountain bike destination,” said Cooke. “I think a lot of people have known that for a very long time. Squamish has got an awesome trail network but its nice to see businesses particularly involved in mountain biking actually recognizing that by moving here.”
Through a news release, Mayor Patricia Heintzman said Squamish is excited to have the Pinkbike headquarters in the community.
“They are a perfect fit for our mountain bike-crazed community and I know they will be embraced enthusiastically by our citizens and business community,” Heintzman said in the release.
Dan McRae, the district’s economic development officer, suggested Pinkbike will fit in well with the other established recreation technology businesses already established in the area.
“Pinkbike is a big deal for the development of the rec tech industry cluster in Squamish,” McRae said in the joint district-Pinkbike news release. “The owners and staff of this company are very well connected to the key players in the industry. I have no doubt that they will serve as an influential role in attracting additional further investment and employment from other rec tech brands to Squamish.”
The local mountain biking community has continued to grow in recent years with the emergence of the Test of Metal race series, and this past January, Pedal magazine named Squamish as the best place to ride in Canada.
Pinkbike executives are encouraging Squamish residents interested in working for the company to send resumes to [email protected].
