BIG INTERVIEW
reason they started in the first place. “I feel a bit guilty about saying it, and I know that obviously
I’m saying it to you a journalist, and you might write about it, but I get bored.
“It’s not that I’m not still interested in the product development. I’m enjoying still working with the [Islabikes] product team, I love it more now than I when I was there in the later years, but my experience running a business was absolutely relentless. “You have to get most of the big calls, and a lot of the small ones, right most of the time.
“It wears you out, and some people seem to manage it for decades.” The final factor in Rowntree’s decision to take more of a back seat with her company is the isolation that many entrepreneurs face at the top of their organisation. “You’ve got to have this amazing drive to create something,
but often there’s a psychological tension around the responsibility you’ve created for yourself.”
Bike building
While she is no longer the face of Islabikes, Rowntree does still have some involvement with the company she founded, as a minority shareholder, attending board meetings and still working with the product development team to help deliver new bikes to the market.
So what has she been doing in the past two years?
“It’s a really hard question to answer because I do lots of bits and bobs,” Rowntree told BikeBiz. “The adaptation to a much less structured life and the pressures were quite challenging in itself, especially in the lockdown environment, because getting out and about was much more difficult. “[I’ve spent more time] cycling, although I was never not
cycling. I do every kind of cycling, even though I’m known for my racing history, but actually I ride a bike for transport, I ride bikes to explore the countryside, and when I’m on holiday.
“I had a period of feeling a little bit disconnected and not quite knowing what I wanted to do, but in the last six months I’ve really found my love for the more practical end of bicycles.”
Since semi-retirement, Rowntree has started building her own custom frames from a workshop in her garage, purely for her own enjoyment and curiosity, utilising her knowledge of ergonomics and physiology to inform her designs.
Changing market During more than a decade in the kids’ market, Rowntree has seen the market change and mature significantly, as children’s bikes have become more sophisticated, and prices have increased dramatically. “The most expensive bike for a four-year-old in the market at the time [2006] was about £50,” she said.
www.bikebiz.com
May 2023 | 23
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
