World-champion mountain-bikers Dan, Gee and Rachel Atherton have combined their passion and know-how with Additive Manufacturing technology to launch a personalised-fit, World Cup winning mountain-bike brand, Atherton Bikes. The team is aiming to disrupt the global mountain-bike market and are ready to scale up and expand the business.
They have raised around €1.6 million from angel investors including a highly successful crowdfunding raise on Crowdcube with pledges from over 2,400 investors in less than a week, smashing their original target by 250%. The family work with entrepreneur Piers Linney (formerly of BBC Dragons’ Den) and a hand-picked team of engineers from aerospace and F1.
Piers Linney said: “As a rider myself I’m extremely excited to be a co-founder of Atherton Bikes, working to deliver a new product range that meshes my enjoyment of mountain-biking with my passion for new technologies. Manufacturing technology is evolving really quickly and large companies find it hard to move with the times, recent events have generated a huge new interest in cycling and we’re launching into a 36 billion global bike market with an expected CAGR of 6.1% post COVID-19.”
Dan, Gee and Rachel Atherton have achieved astonishing success in Downhill Mountain-bike racing. Between them, the family have 8 World Championships, 49 World Cups and 19 National titles. They launched Atherton Bikes 18 months ago and in the bike’s first season of racing it earned three World Cup wins and six podiums for the Continental/Atherton race team.
Double World Champion and middle sibling Gee Atherton said: “We believe that a high quality, correctly fitted bike will make you feel safer, more comfortable and more connected to the trail – so you can ride faster. Today’s high-end bike industry is generally committed to Far-East production based on carbon moulds. Sizes are limited and design changes can take two years to reach production. Stock holdings are high, waste huge and distances vast.
“Our bikes are UK made by joining carbon tubes with additive manufactured lugs (3D printing in titanium). This innovative use of technology means that every bike can be fitted to its rider and we can offer more stock sizes than our competitors. Stock holding and waste are greatly reduced and our learnings can be in production within days.”
The young company will use the additional funding to launch their e-commerce website, move into a larger facility and bring their own additive manufacturing machine in house. They plan to accelerate some of their key R&D projects and take a more aggressive approach to sales and marketing including a calendar of pop up shop events.
