Root Designs was started in 2022 by Jim Boud and Jamie Cameron. At that time Jim was the main builder at Birchwood Trails and Jamie was a regular at many local trail spots whilst taking photos for his Shapes in the Woods books.
Jim was overflowing with ideas for a new type of bike company and Jamie had enough industry experience to at least try to make that happen.
The duo agreed there was a lack of choice over larger sized sprockets (favoured by trail riders) and found a machine shop in Farnham, Surrey that were willing and able to make them. At the same time plans were afoot for a pedal, and a redesign of the pad sets that first became popular in the first BMX boom on the 1980’s.
Since the inception of Root both Jim and Jamie agreed that both BMX and MTB pedals had room for improvement. Jim learned how to design 3d products and together they set about designing the ultimate pedal the way it should be. They designed the best pedal possible and then set about finding a vendor willing and able to make it to the exact specifications demanded. After encountering many dead ends there was no choice but to look East for production of their pedal. Evenutally the pedals became a reality and were immediately acclaimed by almost everyone that tried them.
Next on the agenda was frames. Once again fed by the immediate needs of their friends within the trail community. 24″ DJ had become obsolete, despite being the first choice of the most committed trail riders in the country. Once again Jim and Jamie drew their perfect design and once these ideas were cemented (by speaking directly to the riders in question), set about finding a vendor capable of delivering both the 24″ DJ frame and an equally specific 20″ BMX frame.