Dan Stanton launched his namesake company back in 2012, with the aim of making hardtails fun again. Taking design cues from 4X and dirt jump frames, the original Stanton Slackline was well received, particularly by downhillers who wanted a simple, tough bike that could crank out some miles. Wheel sizes grew, and Stanton in 2015 followed the Slackline up with the Switchback, which boasted the sort of progressive geometry that was only just starting to catch on back then. I still remember seeing my mate piloting his through the big set of doubles at our local downhill trails, and feeling decidedly impressed that he was bossing them on what looked, to the untrained eye anyway, like a skinny steel cross-country bike.
At this point, Stanton was still following the tried and tested UK bike company model of designing the frames in the UK and getting them made in the Far East. Then the EU referendum happened, the value of the pound nosedived, and Dan saw his business model starting to unravel. So he brought in a business advisor, and began developing the capacity to manufacture frames in the UK. Fast forward a couple of years, and Stanton is now able to offer a full range of hardtails, and its first full suspension model, all fabricated and painted in Derbyshire. What’s more, UK and Taiwan-made frames are currently the same price, making the base model of Switch9er the most affordable frame in the test by quite some margin.