Riva del Garda 2014: The year the Ice Bucket Challenge went viral, Germany demolished host Brazil 7-1 at the World Cup, and a certain Helene Fischer sang her way breathlessly into the charts. Yes, it's been that long! An Ergon employee is winding down after a strenuous day at the bike festival and arranges to meet an Austrian couple he's friends with for dinner. Bine and Walter Höll are passionate mountain bikers themselves. In their slipstream, a still somewhat shy blonde girl of just twelve years has already developed into a successful and promising young athlete. We're talking about their daughter, Valentina, who accompanies her parents to said dinner, still relatively quiet and reserved. On the bike, however, the young downhiller shows no trace of shyness or quietness, already blazing past much older talents and even the boys.

That this fearless girl would one day become the world's best downhill rider of her time could only be sensed despite all her talent. From being just twelve or thirteen years old to becoming a world elite is a long way, with many stumbling blocks along the path. Nevertheless, it was essential to Ergon even then to support the female youth. "Want to try our grips?" – that's how unspectacularly the partnership between multiple world champion Vali Höll and Ergon began – an extraordinarily successful and friendly connection! After dozens of titles, hundreds of thousands of vertical meters, and millions of roots, berms, and drops, she is the flagship of the ergonomics experts from Koblenz. And not only that – she also provides valuable input for the development of new products and improvement of existing ones with her feedback and expertise.

Such a long-term partnership is always about give and take. But at the latest, after the world championship title number three in 2024, her grip and saddle sponsor was knee-deep in Vali's debt. The reserved but lightning-fast teenager had not only developed into the fastest woman in downhill, but with her down-to-earth and positive attitude, she had also become a premium brand ambassador. No show-off, no pop star with corresponding airs, no otherworldly figure – but a reflective and enthusiastic athlete who knows how to assess herself, her sport realistically, and life outside her downhill bubble – jackpot for any equipment supplier.

To work off the supposed "debt" a bit, Ergon got the project of a signature collection rolling. Vali's expertise and experience on the world's toughest courses have already been incorporated into the technical development of her competition grip, the Ergon GDH Team, anyway. But she should also recognize herself in the appearance of her Ergon parts. To be completely truthful, the Saalbach native had already mentioned the topic of "individual custom design" here and there before, but sometimes you just need a concrete trigger to start a project. That was world championship title number three.

The kickoff of the development process for the signature parts then went more like a ramp start – both the Ergon people and Vali Höll herself were in with 1,000 percent motivation from the first meter. And getting product designers excited about a special edition is like shooting fish in a barrel anyway.

"The icons don't have any deep psychological meaning." Although the resulting signature design, featuring her favorite symbols, establishes a connection to Vali, her homeland, her passions, and her attitude toward life, the meaning of the stylized pictograms isn't quite as profound as amateur psychologists might suspect. Lightning bolt, flower, chain, fir tree, or the cheerful coffee cup – Vali brought these pictograms into the corporation. Ergon designer Julia Kolb conceived the idea of incorporating the Höll symbols in a poppy collage style – this fits well with the unbound lifestyle of the downhill community and the young athlete, yet somehow seems tidy and balanced. The base colors gold and white also come from the champion's spirit, or rather taste, but the designers were immediately fired up about the combination. "Our first golden rail and matching clamp ring make a strong visual statement. Combined with white, it creates a look that appears noble, airy, and at the same time valuable and reliable," designer Julia Kolb summarizes the joint product.

Relaxed and reliable at the same time? That's probably how friends and colleagues would characterize Vali Höll herself. In that respect, the collaboration between the athlete and Ergon development has borne fruit. And with gold and white, this fruitful liaison wasn't finished yet. To give every speed freak, every bike design lover, and every Höll fan the opportunity to bolt a visually cohesive Vali Höll special edition to their bike, a dark variant with light prints was also brought to series production. The gold on the rails and grip clamp remained unchanged – it is, after all, the color of a championess.

Besides the gold tone, the smiley is omnipresent in the design as a core symbol. Especially in the somewhat punkier style, it has now become the trademark of Vali's way, both on and off the bike. For the handlebar end plug with the smiley, Ergon had to build a new injection molding tool specifically. So that you can kiss the ground without immediately losing the decor in the gravel, the motifs are not just printed on but integrated directly into the material. When you crash and the bike is lying on its side, according to the multiple world champion, the smiling face on the plug immediately shows you how to handle the situation. Laugh and keep going!

Between a downhill athlete and their bike, there's something like a bond of trust, built not least through their contact points with each other. These are the pedals, the bike saddle, and the bike grips. Two of these come from Koblenz in Höll's case: Vali's SM Downhill Comp saddle on one hand, and her GDH Team grips on the other, whose technical features are also based on feedback from the fast Austrian, as mentioned. Not only for this reason, there was technically nothing really to change in the special edition.

The shaping and positioning of the clamp, end plugs, and the grip itself emerged from years of development between bike professionals and ergonomics specialists at Ergon. The goal was, and is, not only to create the best compromise between damping and grip, as well as control, but also to offer the rider and their hands perfect orientation about where and in which position on the grip their hands are currently located. Particularly through subdivision into a very sensitive (slim), an extra comfortable (fat), and an all-round model (regular), all with the typical Ergon stops on the inner hand and the boxes for the fingertips below, every downhill rider should find the ideal contact point on the handlebar. Freeriders also appreciate these features, especially since the fat variant doesn't feel spongy.

With the saddle, the Ergon developers invested their expertise primarily in providing good bike handling and ample tire clearance, rather than focusing on sitting comfort over long distances, as usual. The SM Downhill Comp even helps a multiple world champion always maintain control over her bike’s angle. The surrounding padding keeps comfortable contact with the leg while protecting it as much as possible from bruises when control doesn't quite work out. Due to the extra stylish seat surface of the Vali Höll Edition, you may prefer not to use the non-slip zone at all, but it's simply part of a perfect competition saddle.

Even though Vali Höll, at the latest after her fourth title, is the most successful of all Ergon athletes, such individualized series would also look good on other athletes on products from Koblenz. The development and design departments would have a lot of fun with it. For Ergon as a brand and for the community, such special editions are always cool, says designer Julia Kolb. Her enthusiasm after the current Höll Edition project is not only due to its success but also to the uncomplicated collaboration with the world champion. "She knew very specifically where she wanted to go and could communicate that well," says the creative force, "nevertheless, she was open to suggestions from our side and fully trusted us during development." The process wouldn't have worked over many correction cycles anyway – the two young women were pretty much on the same wavelength. Vali Höll and Ergon – that just seems to fit, not only in free fall downhill!