Ultimately where a bike is manufactured may be of zero importance to you. Even if it is an important consideration though, it’d pretty hard for you to get up on your high horse about it without looking like a hypocrite. After all, a quick glance at my own personal riding kit reveals Cambodianmade shoes, a backpack made in Indonesia, and a jersey from Romania. Oh, and then there’s that made-in-China smartphone.
So why should we care about where our bike comes from?That’s potentially a very politically charged discussion that is worthy of its own dedicated feature. But what I can say from undertaking this test is that buying a UK-manufactured bike isn’t just about supporting local manufacturing so you can feel warm and fuzzy. Sure, as someone who’s still new to the UK, I think it’s pretty damn cool that you can pick up a phone in this country and speak to someone on the end of the line who has either designed, fabricated or assembled your bike. But it’s also about getting something that is genuinely different. A bike that is specifically designed to perform in our local conditions, and with a level of engineering detail that you’re unlikely to find on the big department store brands.