In the heart of Tokyo, a road bike unlike any we’d seen before appeared.
Through the ever-shifting density of the city’s busiest streets, two beautifully polished machines cut their lines. They carry the silhouette of a road bike, yet something about them clearly sets them apart from any industrial product — the quiet of the hand-built, the precision of the materials, an overwhelming presence.
This is the SWI Aequus, a luxury bicycle built in a workshop in northern Italy, where artisans lay up its carbon one ply at a time.
For this project, LOVE CYCLIST was commissioned by SWI to produce a brand film and still photography under the title SWI Tokyo Project. This isn’t simply a story about shooting a bicycle in Tokyo.
text & photo / Tats（@tats_lovecyclist）
Contents
SWI ── The Brand That Turns Precision Into Aesthetics
SWI is a high-end carbon bicycle brand that fuses Swiss precision engineering with the highest levels of Italian craftsmanship. Founded in 2014 by Stefano Cenere, the company designs its bikes in Ticino, Switzerland, while frames are built by hand in Bassano del Grappa, in Italy’s Veneto region.
What truly defines the brand traces back to Stefano’s background as a master craftsman of fine gold jewellery. He recognised deep parallels between the techniques used to shape precise hollow gold work and the molding processes behind a carbon frame, and brought that expertise directly into bicycle making. After testing by top-tier professionals — Olympic gold medallist and world champion Paolo Bettini, and classics legend Luca Paolini — and eight years spent refining more than 50 prototypes, SWI established its own proprietary “Unishell Monocoque” (single-piece molding) process.
The lineup consists of two models: the Aequus, an all-rounder that takes everything from climbing to high-speed cruising in its stride, and the Leve, a pure climber that pushes lightness to the front.
SWI works from a clear philosophy: there is no such thing as a universal frame that fits everyone. Using a proprietary algorithm, the optimal carbon layup is calculated for each rider’s weight, power output, and riding style — a customisation that runs down to the molecular level. Each frame is the product of more than 120 hours of meticulous handwork, weighing between 640 and 790 grams while keeping structural consistency and an ideal ride feel in perfect balance. Swiss precision measured in microns, the traditional craftsmanship of the Veneto region, and innovation in materials science all crystallise into a single, uncompromising machine.
Customer service is an extension of that same philosophy. Before purchase, you either visit the factory in Zug, Switzerland, or SWI’s staff come to you. Through private or small-group test rides, 3D Dynamic Fit measurement, and direct dialogue with the technical team, the frame that’s truly yours takes shape. From the very foundation of its design thinking, this is a different kind of brand from those that consider a bike sold and done.
Aequus ── The Apex of Unishell Monocoque
“99% of monocoques aren’t actually monocoques.” That’s SWI’s position, stated without hedging.
Most carbon frames on the market are built by joining multiple tubes and parts together. The Aequus works differently. NTPT (Thin Ply Technology) — the same high-performance carbon textile trusted in F1 and MotoGP — is laid up by hand, one ply at a time, in up to 29 layers tuned to the rider’s weight and power, then molded in a single mold in a single shot. No seams, no joints. The completed frame is then cured for six hours in an autoclave at 125°C and 6 atmospheres. The “true Unishell Monocoque” born from this process is lighter than its joined counterparts, uniform in stiffness, and built to extraordinary precision. Its outer layer is finished in beautiful 3K herringbone-weave carbon textile, putting that structural beauty fully on display.
Aequus Specs
| Frame construction | Unishell monocoque (true single-piece molding) |
| Carbon material | NTPT high-performance carbon textile (up to 29 plies) |
| Manufacturing | Hand-laid, autoclave-cured (125°C / 6 bar / 6 hours) |
| Frameset price | From €10,900 |
| Complete bike price | From €21,000 (depending on spec) |
Aequus details (official site)
SWI Tokyo Project ── Resonating with the City
The project name: SWI Tokyo – Experience It.
Staged across the restless, ever-shifting cityscape from Shibuya to Shinjuku, the shoot was conceived to produce both a brand film and hero visuals. Creative lead was Mark Milburn, who heads SWI’s marketing. The core principle he set for the project went like this:
“Wherever you are in the world, the only way to experience SWI is to ride it. It responds. It lives in your hands. It is, like Tokyo, an art form ── layered, refined, historical, and precise.“
Tokyo isn’t a backdrop. It’s a character in its own right.
Neon overflowing the streets, elevated rails running overhead, thousands of people crossing the scramble in disciplined order ── that precision and density overlaps, strikingly, with the architecture of the SWI Aequus. “Architectural, mechanical, layered, intentional, precise, with stillness inside its density.” This visual brief described Tokyo and the bike itself in the same breath.
What we chased wasn’t the noise, but the stillness inside the noise.
“I wanted to show Tokyo to the world through the SWI lens. Not just the scale of business and traffic, but the quiet inside it ── the small, precise moments between intersections. Order. Discipline. The beauty of a society built on precision. SWI moves through all of it, absorbing the energy, revealing the structure, finding clarity within the complexity.“
Cycling doesn’t escape Tokyo; it transforms it. That single concept runs through every frame of the project.
Team
A team of five was assembled for the project. To deliver the brand film and hero visuals at the level SWI wants to send out into the world, top-tier models and creators came together. Across Tokyo, each individual’s professionalism crystallized into a single body of work.
Model  Atsushi | Model  Mochidome |
Producer / Photographer  Tats | Videographer  Large |
Shooting Assistant  Shuichi |
1. The Brand Film — Go Ride in Toyo
Tokyo, framed and reassembled through the SWI by videographer Large.
※ From the liner notes accompanying the film
Who could have imagined that Tokyo would be such an incredible city to ride a bike in? We traveled to Japan and spent a day with Atsushi — to see for ourselves what it’s really like to thread through the city on the SWI Aequus.
You wake up bracing for overwhelming crowds, but to our surprise, the city is almost eerily quiet. The pavement is unbelievably smooth, and drivers treat cyclists with genuine respect. A megacity that’s painted as pure chaos turned out to be moving in perfect order.
But don’t get so caught up in the morning calm that you miss the energy of the evening. As the sights and sounds of the Shibuya Scramble prove, evening is when Japan truly comes alive.
A huge thank you to the Japanese team for bringing this beautiful piece together. We can’t wait to come back and spend another perfect day with you all.
2. Photography – Tokyo through the Lens of SWI.
text & photo / Tats（@tats_lovecyclist）
