Diamondback
Drupal and Magento: A Custom Website Integration
Diamondback Bicycles was initially founded in 1977, and has since become an internationally recognized cycling brand. In addition to their innovative racing models, Diamondback is a producer of all things cycling, manufacturing a wide range of bicycles, individual parts, and accessories for any enthusiastic cyclist. Diamondback promotes the cycling lifestyle to anyone at any level of experience. Diamondback is taking big steps to grow their online presence. Requesting the assistance of a team of developers who could support them across a wide range of ambitious web marketing and eCommerce projects, we stepped forward.
The Benefits of an Integrated Digital Presence
Originally, Diamondback had been maintaining their website through a Magento® eCommerce platform and a legacy CMS called mojoPortal. They immediately presented us with a backlog of items they needed our assistance with, including a full migration to a new server, as well as new hosting environments. We saw an immediate win by putting a more modern Drupal CMS platform in place, and that recommendation became the second project in the roadmap (after switching managed hosting). To preserve the integrity, appearance, and style of their content, the migration was done manually with the help of a content manager.
Integrating CMS and eCommerce Platforms
Diamondback had a static catalog, and a separate eCommerce store. We integrated all bikes and accessories under shop–some are for sale direct, some via retailer partners–so that all are managed as a single set of inventory in one spot, Magento. Having the catalog in Magento also allowed us to build a more clear primary navigation structure for Diamondback users.
Once Diamondback’s Drupal CMS was in place, we also built out a new section for their website, “Let’s Ride with Bill Nye.” We used Drupal’s modular system to quickly build out pages for them that would help promote their content, and easily allow them to create new content for their “Let’s Ride with Bill Nye” campaign without needing IT assistance.
The Andean Bike Customizer
Fall of 2016, Diamondback launched their Andean Triathlon bike, the result of a collaboration with aerodynamics expert Kevin Quan and physicist Dr. Philippe Lavoie. After creating a bicycle model that could fit itself to the speed and wind resistance demands of the sport, Diamondback wanted to give cyclists an opportunity to modify the Andean for their own individual needs. Each custom Andean bike is individually assembled to order (from dozens of components) by Diamondback.
In order to support this level of personalization, we developed the Andean Bike Customizer tool that allows cyclists to specify their bike’s color, gear shift, wheels, base bars, tires, frame size, and crank length. The customizer tool also includes a fit calculator created by Quan Studios that refines the optimal frame size and crank length based on the individual measurements of each cyclist. The system draws the component information from Diamondback’s Magento platform. It uses Angular as the communication layer between Magento and the front-end user experience.
As a user makes selections on the front-end UX, we dynamically change the product image to include a visual of the personalized bike. This is accomplished through an integration with Adobe Scene 7.
Once a customer has customized their bike to suit, they can click the “buy now” button and the full bill of materials is passed through to the Magento checkout.
Updates
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Migration from a legacy portal to Drupal 8.
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Consolidation of catalogue data into Magento.
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Updated navigation and website layouts for browsing.
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Custom Drupal modules for the creation and management of new marketing campaigns.
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Bike customizer tool that allows users to shop and visually actualize their custom bike.
Collaborating With the Diamondback Team
Throughout updating the functionality of their website and migrating their CMS to Drupal, we've worked closely together with the Diamondback marketing and design teams. Our team continues to provide ongoing support to Diamondback, regularly setting aside time to work through a backlog of tasks that is continually being added to. With quite a few competitive cyclists on the Bear Group team, we’ve greatly enjoyed our work with Diamondback and look forward to developing future projects with them.