THE LONDON BIKE SHOW – DRIVEN BY SEAT
The six-time Olympic champion has swapped his training programme for the drawing board with his new bike range. He talks testing, MAMILs and Scotland’s medal chances at the 2014 Commenwealth Games
HOY Chris Sir
How’s life treating you now you’ve hung up your professional helmet? It’s been great – it’s been very busy and very different to what I was doing before. I used to be in a very structured programme where I knew exactly what I was doing every day – I’d plan weeks in advance, whereas now there’s no typical week. The one consistent thing is the Hoy Bikes project, which is probably taking up about half my time. It’s been really good fun and just great to have something to get my teeth into, and it keeps me on the bike as I’m testing them.
What else is taking up your time? I’ve been doing a bit of motor racing – it’s just a hobby but it’s amazing how the same competitive instincts kick in that I used when I was cycling. I’m also working on various charity projects, plus have been doing stuff for the Commonwealth Games in my ambassadorial role, as well as being an ambassador for the Air Cadets.
What was the inspiration behind launching your own range of bikes? Back in 2010 I didn’t know exactly when I was going to retire but I knew that regardless of whether I stopped after London or after Glasgow, my
professional career was coming to an end and it was just a matter of finding something to capture my imagination and really give me a motivation for getting up in the morning. To make your own bikes and to design them, test them, choose the componentry, geometry, everything – it’s a fantastic thing to be able to do, and I guess I’ve always wanted to be able to do it. Ever since I was a kid when I was racing BMXs I would work my part time job when I was at school and save up the money to try to put together the best possible bike for my budget. I’d be buying second-hand components and was working in a bike shop so I’d get discount on new ones. Essentially it’s the same project now, just done on a much bigger scale. It’s quite mental to be able to do it and hugely satisfying when I see people out on the bikes.
What’s the best part of the process? I’m still a bit of a sucker for the test riding – I love getting a prototype, one that I’ve designed, and it arrives looking very innocuous as it’s not yet painted and you set it up and get a nervous feeling about if it’s going to work or not. When the track bike arrived, which to be fair is based pretty closely on my race bike, it was bang on and while that was exciting I was also disappointed that there was nothing I could say – they’d nailed it first time.
Tell me about the range – is there something for everyone? Yes, we’re trying to make it accessible to people so we came up with some mid-range road bikes and hybrid bikes plus a track bike that range in price from £550 up to £1,300, and the range is set to expand both ways. We’ve also got the 650c, the kids’ track bike. There aren’t many track bikes around for kids – with new velodromes opening up all over the country they want to have a go but they tend to get fobbed off with fairly average components and heavy frames which aren’t much fun to ride. We’ve really put a lot of work and effort into it and they’ve been well received by the three younger test pilots we have.
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thelondonbikeshow.co.uk
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