RETAILERS
“I don’t mind spending money on developing frames and designing frames, but wheel profiles just don’t excite me,” said Whiten.
“The idea of taking the decision was it would free up resources for us to plough into frame design.” Step forward Parcours and Walker Brothers, two of Britain’s leading manufacturers of wheels. “Dov [Tate, the founder of Parcours] is like us but with wheel profiles,” said Whiten.
“He brought these wheels in and I said ‘this rear wheel is never going to work’, but he explained how the aerodynamics are different to the front wheel, and no one else had ever told me that before.
“Then I rode the wheels and they were absolutely
awesome, and he [Tate] was right.” It was a similar story when Whiten met with Brian
Walker of Walker Brothers. Whiten said: “You look at the track disc and it is unlike any carbon fiber disc you have seen before, and you think ‘this can’t work’, and then you ride it and it’s absolutely brilliant.
“They’re the sort of people we want, who are innovative and they get excited by wheels.”
Looking forward Handsling has big plans for the future. This includes the TSTRevo time trial frame, the TR2evo
sprint and pursuit model, the A1R0evoS all-road, and a new gravel spec, with all four in testing ahead of UCI-approval. “The core of our business is always going to be the performance side,” said Whiten. “We want to maintain that but also move into more mainstream, hence launching a more generic gravel frame that will appeal to a broader market.”
As part of that growth, Handsling is also exploring the option of e-bikes, with two models prototyped. One thing that will remain for the foreseeable future is the brand’s use of carbon fibre. “What I’m waiting for is the next big material to come out,” said Whiten. “There’s going to be some advanced material that is
going to appear in the future and that is what we will wait for.”
The importance of local bike shops As a rule, the brand encourages its customers to utilise its local IBD to service and maintain their Handsling. “We are trying to put business back to them,” said
Whiten. “One of the most important things for us is customer service, so if anybody comes back with a problem they’ve got, or if anybody’s taking their bike to a bike shop and they want to part, we get it straight away, no questions asked. “That way, I feel like we are supporting the bike shops.” Although Handsling utilises a direct to consumer model, Whiten is aware of the crucial role that local bike shops play in the ecosystem of the industry.
“The first company that ever sponsored me was a local bike shop, and if I had any problems with one of my bikes I would take them to the shop,” said Whiten. “I used to hang out there, have coffees, get in the way of the mechanics and so on, so it’s really important for me that we still support them because I’m not totally removed from that.”
www.bikebiz.com June 2023 | 17
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