Win-Win – that is the objective of the Cycling for Growth Initiative. It brings together advocacy to promote more cycling together with advocacy to sustain a strong European bicycle manufacturing sector.

As the UK’s largest bicycle manufacturer and exporter, Brompton Bicycles is an outstanding example of how cycling can help generate real economic growth. The west London-based folding bike manufacturer is now actively planning for further strategic growth in everyday cycling that, according to CEO, Will Butler-Adams, can be achieved only through a combination of a significant increase in public investment in cycling infrastructure and the provision of intermodal transport choices, together with smart business innovation, such as e-bikes.

As part of the Cycling for Growth Initiative Phillip Darnton (Director of Bicycle Association of GB (a CONEBI member), Kevin Mayne (Director of ECF’s Cycling Industry Club) and Nicolas Urien (Director of Cycling for Growth Initiative) were recently invited to visit the Brompton factory in London to meet Will Butler-Adams.

Revenue multiplied by 17 in 7 years

Although the Brompton bike was first created by Andrew Ritchie in 1976, mass-production only started 10 years later at the Brentford Arches, moving to its current factory at Kew Bridge in 1998. Will Butler-Adams became Managing Director in 2008, since when Brompton’s turnover has exploded from £1.7m to £30m (2015) and the company now employs 230 people ( up from 25 in 2002). This success story is the direct result of a long-term market expansion strategy, underpinned by a constant and obsessive commitment to high quality production standards.

Addressing 21st Century urban mobility challenges…

William Butler-Adams explains Brompton’s unique corporate vision in these terms: “Brompton is not a bike company. Rather, it offers a flexible transport solution to address the huge urban mobility challenges of the 21st century”. According to him, the rapid increase in urban population density throughout the world would, in principle, require such significant investment in transport infrastructure, and a consequent massive level of debt, that it cannot be sustainable for national governments in the future. This is where folding bikes can, and will, play a major role.

To this end, and as part of its innovative strategy to address this challenge, Brompton has introduced an entirely novel cycle rental scheme (“Brompton Bike Hire”).This offers members the possibility to hire and return bikes to any Brompton Dock up and down the country, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with no limit on hire duration- and at a very economical rate (£2,50 per day). The first hire scheme was launched in 2011 at Guildford railway station, following a successful trial at Waterloo in London. “We have had a direct impact on London’s mobility” said Butler-Adams. Brompton Bike Hire is now expanding rapidly across the UK, with an interconnected network of some 40 docking stations. Furthermore the capital and installation costs for the Brompton Dock are less than one-tenth of those for conventional bike hire schemes.

Photo credit: Brompton

…with a high quality Made-in-Europe product!

Brompton defy the general assumption that all the bikes sold in the UK are made overseas. Every 3:30 minutes a new Brompton bicycle leaves the production line in Kew; and every one is hand-made in England, including the frame.

With an R&D team of 15 people, the company is constantly seeking to improve the quality of the 1,200 parts which make up one folding bike, and to explore the use of new materials, such as titanium. “What we sell to our consumers is honesty and integrity” says Butler-Adams. “We are working non-stop, obsessed both about our bike and about our customers”. He firmly believes that this approach is the ‘glue’ that will ensure the success of the European cycle industry. “I am convinced that there is an opportunity for Europe to make the difference by selling brands of high integrity, based on innovation. Real innovation and sophisticated manufacturing techniques drive real performance – and our industry can do this every bit as well as the most advanced automobile companies”.

Brompton has therefore launched a new development project together with Williams Advanced Engineering, a subsidiary of Williams Formula One Company. The aim is to design and manufacture an entirely revolutionary, lightweight folding electric bike. As Butler-Adams puts it: “This our next decisive step towards the next generation of ‘mobility solution’.”

An export champion

In 2015, the company won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade, in recognition of its achievements in export sales over the last five years. No less than 80% of Brompton production is exported annually. Since 2010 the company has grown to sell in 43 export markets, including countries in South America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Doubling production by 2021

To meet continued accelerating demand, Brompton plans to double its U.K. production by 2021. To achieve such an objective, Brompton will move its production to an 86,000 sq ft plant in Greenford, West London, which is nearly twice the size of its current base in Brentford. The move to Greenford is scheduled for the spring of 2016.

Will Butler-Adams is adamant that the development of appropriate cycling infrastructure hand in hand with real innovation are the keys to achieving such growth. There is no doubt that Brompton is well set on its determined course to sell more and more bikes Made-in London, and to its contribution to solving future urban mobility challenges in its own unique way.

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The Cycling Industry Club (CIC) and CONEBI have recently launched the Cycling for Growth Initiative to extend the influence of the cycling industry as a recognized voice at the EU level. New Project Director Nicolas Urien has been appointed to lead the project on behalf of both organizations. The main objective of the Cycling for Growth Initiative is to show how the cycling industry will deliver growth within the European Union and create the conditions to unlock funding in European public expenditure on cycling and e-cycling.