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Former star of Dragons’ Den Piers Linney has come on board as co-founder of the mountain bike brand Atherton Bikes.
Linney has partnered with mountain bike world champion siblings Dan, Gee and Rachel Atherton to launch a new ‘ultimate’ range of bikes which will make use of Formula 1 and aerospace technology. Atherton Bikes is also partnering with suspension designer Dave Weagle.
Linney said: “This new project combines two of my passions, mountain biking and technology and I’m looking forward to working closely with the Atherton family to deliver some fantastic new products to the industry.
“There is an exciting opportunity to leverage new manufacturing technologies combined with the know-how of the Athertons to capture a significant share in a market that is poised for growth.”
Initially the brand will focus on its downhill bike range, which will be raced by Atherton Racing. The first bikes off the production line will be downhill bikes for Atherton Racing’s 2019 World Campaign, followed by an initial range aimed at experienced mountain bikers.
Linney added: “I love mountain biking – both the joy of riding in the mountains or the woods and gravity fuelled riding. New power-train and battery technologies for e-bikes means that mountain biking is opened up to almost everybody.”
Rachel Atherton said: “Our dream has always been to race bikes that we have created, so we’re all mega excited to launch Atherton Bikes. We’ve always been passionate about supporting the next generation of riders and being able to do that with our own products and knowledge is fantastic.
“Bringing our bikes to market will be a massive challenge for us, especially as we are still 100% focused on racing but with Piers’ business expertise we have all the bases covered and the future’s looking very exciting.”
The Atherton Bikes range is scheduled for sale later this year.
