It was my pleasure last night, and that of young Dave Arthur, to dine at one of Brighton’s finer eateries with the chaps from Upgrade and the founder of one of that distribution company’s most enticing brands.

Lezyne was started in late 2007 by Micki Kozuschek when the three-year non-compete deal he signed with SRAM when he sold Truvativ ran out. Instead of offering cranks, however, Micki turned to the world of cycle accessories and kicked off with a selection of mini tools, hand pumps, saddle bags, hydration packs and so on.

House style was immediately appreciated for its elegant simplicity and, in the case of the pumps especially, innovation. The latest Lezyne products more than live up to their predecessors.

Perhaps the most interesting points made by Kozuschek, a former triathlete from Germany who moved to the US some 16 years ago, concerned quality control or, more exactly, how to juggle the factors that contribute to the performance of the finished product.

Most of us, when thinking of buying cycle accessories or anything else, probably look at aesthetics and function and expect durability while considering cost only inasmuch as it determines whether a desired item is affordable. Not so Kozuschek, who obviously has an eye for design but who is is clearly on top of the stuff that might be regarded as mundane: which stainless steel alloy to use for the tool bits, given that the higher carbon content needed for hardness might reduce corrosion resistance and make forging more difficult and therefore expensive.

I ventured a suggestion that got short shrift: “The stuff you guys ask for never sells.” True, no doubt, and as good a reason to leave the design and manufacture of cycle components to those who, like Micki Kozuschek, know what they are doing. Me? I just like using them.