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SwiftCarbon has opened new offices at the Silverstone Sports Engineering Hub (SSEH).
With this move, the brand is ‘bolstering its R&D endeavours’, collaborating directly with the sports research facility. The SwiftCarbon UK team also aims to grow its presence in the UK and to offer customers and its growing network of retailers dedicated support within its hybrid direct-online/retailer sales model.
“The aim of Silverstone Sports Engineering Hub is to create a unique innovation facility for companies in sports engineering products and services,” said SSEH managing director Rob Lewis. “We are delighted to welcome SwiftCarbon and look forward to working with them to facilitate innovation and product development of their brand.”
Head of product Pierre de Tarde added: “SwiftCarbon has always been about our bikes’ ‘exceptional ride’ and using the technology available to make sure all our bikes have it. Now we are positioned to take this to the next level, and with these facilities, we can explore the ideas that till now have only existed on paper. With us being right here, with such close access to the ‘brains trust’ at the SSEH, it closes the gap. It’s that day to day dialogue which is often where the magic happens.”
SwiftCarbon now falls under the parent company S2 Bike Industries stable, which includes the Brazil-based Sense brand that features mountain bike, urban and gravel platforms, including high-end carbon full-suspension models and premium e-MTBs.
“We have seen good support of the brand here so far and are very excited to now have access to such R&D, plus a solid base in the UK to better serve our customers and create new ones,” said CEO Henrique Ribeiro. “The bike market here is highly developed of course, yet the global figures suggest there is still so much potential, especially in the mountain bike and e-bike segments.”
S2 Industries has a wide range of platforms in its stable and SwiftCarbon will access this to add to its carbon road range, expanding its offering to the UK market. “As our range develops on the road side, we’re really happy to be bringing back mountain bikes,” said head of marketing Neil Gardiner.
“We’ve had success in the MTB realm already — like two national championship titles (Portugal elite, and South Africa under 23) — and in fact, our carbon MTB range was the catalyst that led to our collaboration with Sense and ultimately the brand’s acquisition. We’ve shared resources ever since and there’s some next-generation thinking that’s gone into the new MTB range, along with the other categories, which feature some nice surprises.”
A preview of the new range will be shown at The Cycle Show at Alexandra Palace in April 2021.
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