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TECH NEWS

Sir Chris Hoy launches HOY Bikes brand with seven models

Four city bikes and three road bikes will be sold at Evans Cycles from next spring

Six time Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy today unveiled plans for a range of own-brand road and city bikes in collaboration with Evans Cycles, to be called HOY Bikes.

Following in the footsteps of Victoria Pendleton and Chris Boardman who both launched their own signature bike ranges with that other large cycle retailer, Halfords, Sir Chris Hoy today revealed the first details of a range that will include three road and four city bikes, and which will launch late May 2013. They haven't released any details on the actual bikes yet, today was simply an annoucement of their plans.

Chris Hoy has been involved in the design process. We even saw him doing some 'homework' at Eurobike back in September in the company of the chief designer from Evans Cycles. The brand has ambitions to develop bikes for all cyclists, not just those that want to emulate him. Track bikes are definitely on the drawing board, it would be great to see an affordable replica of the bike Chris Hoy used so convincingly this summer for young hopefuls wanting to follow in his footsteps.

Apparently the brand has been several years in the process but it’s only in the last 18 months that Chris has been more heavily involved, juggling the demands of competing at London 2012 with those of designing a range of bikes.

Announcing the launch of the new brand Sir Chris says he wants the brand to make cycling more accessible to people of all ages: “Cycling has been a central part of my life from an early age and has helped me achieve so much. I want to help more people experience the power and enjoyment of cycling, as well as demystifying it and making it accessible to all. That's why I decided to create a brand that embodies this vision and my passion.”

We’ve no word on pricing of the bikes yet but the three road bikes are being aimed at recreational and sports cyclist, so expect them to be reasonably affordable. And there will be four bikes designed for city commuters and leisure cyclists. Sizing will include youth bikes, getting kids into cycling is clearly an important part of producing a range of bicycles for Chris.

Chris has been involved in the design of the bikes putting his considerable experience of racing and cycling at the very highest level to good use, giving input on the many technical aspects from simple things like how they look to more complex geometry and tubing details. He’s been road testing the bikes himself.

“I’m really enjoying building my brand from scratch,” he said. “There are so many aspects that need to mesh perfectly and finding that balance has been very exciting and rewarding. I’ve been working very hard on developing the brand values as well as the visual features, which will appear on all of the bikes.”

Nick Wilkinson, Evans Cycles CEO, added: “This partnership is the perfect opportunity to bring together Britain’s most successful Olympian and the UK’s leading specialist bike retailer. We have experience of building bikes since 1921 and share Sir Chris’ passion for cycling, with the belief that it should be fun and accessible for all. This is a perfect way to build on the success of the Olympic Games and inspire more people to get into cycling.”

www.evanscycles.com

Photo credit: Bryn Lennon / Getty

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

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31 comments

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American tifosi | 11 years ago
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Stay tuned cycling neophytes, you'll have a new Wiggo Cycle in your stable by next year...  3

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Littlesox | 11 years ago
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Agree some, but there is a lot of cynicsm here.

If it gets more people cycling, and Sir Chris earns a few quid, what the hell ?

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sorebones | 11 years ago
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I think we're entitled to be cynical when you see the input Victoria Pendleton had with he Halfords bikes!

I am genuinely interested to see how these Hoy bikes turn out.

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monty dog | 11 years ago
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FWIW there were cheap Eddy Merckx branded bikes sold in the UK (made by Coventry Eagle) long before Eddy set-up his own operation in the 1980s. I see no difference between this and any other 'licensed' product - very few 'branded' products are made by the same company - even the majority of Trek, Specialized and Cannondale's products are sub-cpntract manufactured - the only big brand who doesn't is Giant.

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james-o | 11 years ago
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I think there's more to be said on this by Chris and others, but a quick 2p from someone involved on the product side of things -

"If there was a track bike being launched amongst this lot I could perhaps buy into the Hoy input, but this does indeed just smack of a marketing opportunity for Evans and a money maker for Hoy."

There are track bikes in the plan, laid out to some exact specs and to be tested properly before being produced. It was mentioned in the launch, but the other bikes that have been made for testing got the headline. No reason to limit the range to the bikes Chris wins on though - we know first-hand that he's fast on an MTB and I expect much quicker than most of us on a road bike too.

"that would be foolish given the reputation and competitive pricing Boardman has established." - plenty of other brands already compete with CB at that level.

"It would be nice to see him produce something which is market leading in design and quality, but I don't think that it will happen."

Such cycnicism! ) It's OK, I'm as much a marketing cycnic as anyone, I understand it. But really, why not? There's not much, if anything, being done by most other brands that cannot be done under Chris Hoy's direction. It has to start somewhere. Being sold via one channel with focus means we can do things that are trickier logistically for other brands but benefit the rider - more on that in due course.
He's not so focussed on the real exclusive / high-price bikes initially though, more interested in seeing young riders supported to follow in his tyre tracks and getting people on bikes for the enjoyment of it. The whole idea from Chris was about how he started out, where the inspiration came from and the opportunities it has given him in life. I believe in that - and there's more expensive carbon out there than all we really need, the industry has an imbalance in focus on high-end performace bikes compared to youth and sports-practical use cross-over kind of bikes*

*the big kid in all of us means there's still going to be some nice toys coming out of all this I think ..

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fjgadget replied to james-o | 11 years ago
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What no track bike!

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alotronic | 11 years ago
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I'm not expecting great shakes but who knows? Boardman got it about right and the number of cycling brands started by ex racers and champions is.... huge.

The old way was hire a frame builder to do it to your numbers or do it white-label, the new way is rent some layup line and do it white label to your numbers. Nothing much has changed has it?

Can the UK take another brand? Who knows? Lets see!

I'm sure we can add to this list of ex rider brands(please do): Merckx, Bontrager, Le Mond, Coppi

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jollygoodvelo replied to alotronic | 11 years ago
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alotronic wrote:

...Bontrager...

You know, until right now I didn't realise Bontrager was a person... oops.

In my defence, it sounds exactly like the sort of pseudo-French word that gets used a lot for 'branding': "Bon trajet" means pretty much the same as "Bon voyage", i.e. have a nice journey.

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emilyobyrne | 11 years ago
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Give the man a chance. So long as he puts his name to decent bikes that might conceivably be used for the activities he's famous for ie some form of cycle sport, what's not to like? Especially if they turn out to be good looking and affordable too - I have no idea why cheaper bikes tend to look so horrible. Pretty paint isn't more expensive than ugly paint, is it?

Of course, the bikes might turn out to be cheap Pashley clones or ugly hybrids like the Pendleton range for Halfords. But somehow I doubt it.

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sorebones | 11 years ago
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I share a lot of the scepticism expressed here. If there was a track bike being launched amongst this lot I could perhaps buy into the Hoy input, but this does indeed just smack of a marketing opportunity for Evans and a money maker for Hoy.

Fair enough to both of them but I suspect this will be aimed at the cycle to work scheme market rather than competing head on with upper level Boardman bikes - that would be foolish given the reputation and competitive pricing Boardman has established.

Interesting to see them anyway...

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Colin Peyresourde | 11 years ago
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Let's give Hoy and Evans a chance to prove themselves. A lot of conjuncture here based on little information.

That said, in my opinion (  4 ), the likelihood is that Hoy and Evans will probably create a line of bicycles in a similar vein to that with of the Pendleton/Halfords collaboration. Though I think we will see some 'trendy' fixie bikes, and some proper track bikes.

Evans and Hoy know that they will not have international recognition for his track cycling, so his audience is domestic. If Evans and Hoy are looking to go global and high end they will need to do something impressive with the range (which is ambitious and unlikely in this climate).

This is a nice way for Hoy to make some money out of his success and reputation. It would be nice to see him produce something which is market leading in design and quality, but I don't think that it will happen. To this extent the comments above appear to show the palpable disappointment and acknowledgement of this.

It would be nice to see a cyclist putting his name to either components or clothing. The latter I think is a market which could easily be broken into with good design and style elements as I think Endura, Altura and Gore offer a poor deal on this, and Castelli, Mavic and Assos are too expensive for many budgets.

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trek7000 | 11 years ago
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No different to Vicky P or that Louis bloke being on strictly cum whatsit and avertising subway sarnies! Good luck to him if it helps bring in the coffers and top up his pension, lets face it in 20 years time it will be Chris Who?

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bikeandy61 | 11 years ago
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Or he could whore himself out on I'm a Celebrity etc (god forbid this ever comes back to bite me in the arse). He is like all of us trying to make a living. Admittedly his image has good value at the moment, but how long will that last and what income level will it generate as the years pass? I suspect that he is a long way behind a lot of "top flight" football players in the money he has earned to date. Good luck to him I say.  4

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james-o | 11 years ago
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David, Mitsubishi are certainly one of the suppliers, saw many boxes of their raw fibre sheet in a frame factory.

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jollygoodvelo | 11 years ago
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What on earth is that location? It looks like a warehouse used for dog fighting.

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Dog72 replied to jollygoodvelo | 11 years ago
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I think its part of set from the 90's action flick "The Rock" The bit when the Seals get shredded in hail of bullets. Very sad, Ed Harris didn't want to but they gave him no choice.

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David Portland | 11 years ago
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AFAIK Giant doesn't make "raw carbon fibre". That would be the likes of Toray and Mitsubishi Rayon. Giant does make an awful lot of frames, though  1

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Graham Howell replied to David Portland | 11 years ago
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Toray is not as widly used as the composites Giant make and sell.

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Chris James | 11 years ago
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Let's be honest, building a bike isn't that complicated. the technology is very mature. It's a double trinagle of tubes with an off the shelf groupset bolted on.

Beyond deciding what types of bikes you want to pffer then there is a limit to how much input anyone is going to put in. If I recall correctly, Chris boardman's bikes were built by Terry Dolan, and I am sure Terry will have had at least some input into the process too.

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Gkam84 replied to Chris James | 11 years ago
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Chris James wrote:

Let's be honest, building a bike isn't that complicated. the technology is very mature. It's a double trinagle of tubes with an off the shelf groupset bolted on.

Beyond deciding what types of bikes you want to pffer then there is a limit to how much input anyone is going to put in. If I recall correctly, Chris boardman's bikes were built by Terry Dolan, and I am sure Terry will have had at least some input into the process too.

Tell that to Dave  3 http://road.cc/content/blog/71231-bicycle-academy-day-two

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james-o | 11 years ago
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"(just to clear up, when I say built their own, I meant started a company that built bikes, where Hoy is just a branding tool for Evans bikes?)"

None of the bike brands you mention above actually make their own bikes - I see their proucts in the same factories as other brands. I could (but won't as it's not my place to) tell you who makes their frames and who assembles their bikes. So whether Hoy bikes are in partnership with Evans or if it was a seperate company entirely, the product has the same route to market. What counts is the design from the brand at the start and the manufacturing quality.

Chris Hoy is as passionate about the detail of a bike and about riding any kind of bike as anyone. His success came on the track, but he trains hard on the road and he's pretty quick on a mountain bike too, probably from BMX and MTB racing in the past.

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Graham Howell replied to james-o | 11 years ago
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james-o wrote:

I could (but won't as it's not my place to) tell you who makes their frames and who assembles their bikes.

How very gentlemanly of you. Does that mean I can tell everyone? The worlds biggest manufacturer of raw Carbon Fibre is Giant, its not a secret, they do it well and it keeps cost lower for everyone else. Odds are if you've ridden a carbon frame its come out of the Giant factory somewhere in its life time

The larger scale production lines of all the big brands actually rent out floor space within the factory. I've heard recently that the new Boardman Elite range comes off the line next door to Cervelo. This isnt to say they are all exactly the same bike. They are both R&D'd by totally different teams a built to different spec.

Giant are in a unique position to make the cycling industry a more profitable place to work, so to be honest Hoy may as well own the name to a line of bikes, I really cant think of something that would provide a better retirement package.

Nice one Hoy.

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obutterwick | 11 years ago
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Money-making at its best. Road and city bikes bearing the name of a track cyclist. Good luck to them but I won't be buying one.

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Gkam84 | 11 years ago
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Really seanie? I knew an investment company called Sobradis turned their loan into capital (shares) and that Merckx still retains 15% of his company, but I'm pretty sure that Pinarello have nothing to do with it.

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charliemac74 | 11 years ago
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Main photo also on the Daily Mail site:
"On your bike: Hoy poses with one of his new bikes"
Nice to see some good old fashioned Daily Mail research still exists.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2239255/Sir-Chris-H...

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Gkam84 | 11 years ago
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I totally get what PaulVWatts means. I think that might be why he's basically just putting his name on the bike built by someone else.

Where as Boardman and Merckx built their own from the start and as far as I'm aware still do. A bit like Lemond did until Trek bought him over  3

(just to clear up, when I say built their own, I meant started a company that built bikes, where Hoy is just a branding tool for Evans bikes?)

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seanieh66 replied to Gkam84 | 11 years ago
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Gkam84 wrote:

I totally get what PaulVWatts means. I think that might be why he's basically just putting his name on the bike built by someone else.

Where as Boardman and Merckx built their own from the start and as far as I'm aware still do. A bit like Lemond did until Trek bought him over  3

(just to clear up, when I say built their own, I meant started a company that built bikes, where Hoy is just a branding tool for Evans bikes?)

Merckx has long since parted ways with the bike making business since has company was bought out by the people behind Pinarello. He retains his name on the bikes.

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antonio | 11 years ago
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'What if any input as he had as a rider into bike design?'
Plenty I would imagine, a guy his size would have to know what he wants to throw about the track at warp speeds. As a sprinter of great power he would know just what he wants technically in much the same way as Cavendish.

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headfirst | 11 years ago
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Looking forward to seeing one in the flesh so that I can point a shout "A Hoy!"  4

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therevokid replied to headfirst | 11 years ago
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headfirst wrote:

Looking forward to seeing one in the flesh so that I can point a shout "A Hoy!"  4

Groan  4

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