CEEPO CP Mamba Road Bike

Regardless of how obscure a bike brand may be, seldom does one escape our "nautilus". However, in the case of CEEPO, we must admit, this one was completely unknown to us.  

In any case, from what we can glean from the company’s website, the brand’s name has a folkloric context to it, wherein the name CEEPO is an extrapolation of ancient Japanese word CEEPHO – used to describe a great Samurai warrior.

According to the founder, Joe Tanaka, after being disappointed by triathlon bikes of the day, he set out to design his own bike. And, in 1993, he produced his first custom bike made out of lightweight aluminum.

When the new bike was put to the test, according to Tanaka, the results were staggering. He saw a 90 minute improvement over his previous triathlon results.

From there, with the help of some Japanese triathlon specialty stores, Tanaka went on to create the CEEPO brand, focussing exclusively on triathlon bikes and expanding into new materials contemporaneous with the times. 

This year, CEEPO increased it’s range of bikes to include a couple of road specific models,  the CP Stinger and CP Mamba – albeit with "triathlon geometry" still the main focus. 

While the bikes are still designed with triathlon duties in mind (particularly draft-legal events), they do pose an interesting choice for "roadies" who like a very aggressive position involving a steep seat angle and a "planted" front end effect.  Here’s a glimpse at the CP Mamba.