It may seem impossible that Australia or any other country with similar ‘first world’ wage levels could ever hope to compete in the global bicycle market place against China and other low wage Asian countries.
But there are still many examples of successful manufacturing in high wage countries, one of them being UK brand Hope Technology.
Best known for their aluminium CNC machined components, particularly hydraulic disc brakes, Hope is currently undergoing a massive expansion adding carbon fibre production and even working on its own carbon bicycle frames.
“We’ve had a pretty amazing year with demand for our product growing both nationally and internationally,” said Hope’s Sales and Marketing Manager Alan Weatherill. “We’re currently running at around 20% year on year growth. Given the outlook in much of the bike trade this is phenomenal.
“We’re now up to 130 staff all based at our Barnoldswick factory, with more needed as our carbon production expands.
“The largest investment recently has been funding our move into carbon fibre production. As well as employing more staff we have also built a new 10,000 sq. ft. (1,000 square metre) extension on the back of our existing factory. This investment is now starting to pay off with sales of our seat post building steadily and the handlebar available later this spring. The most significant product to come out of the new facility is the HB211 bike.
“We haven’t missed out on investment in our aluminium production either, around £1,500,000 (A$2.55 million) has been spent on new CNC machines in the past six months.”
Most of this story is part of a more extensive interview first published in Cycling Industry News.
