He says things like: “I’m 5ft 10in and weigh 75kg so I went for the medium bib shorts and the large jersey.” I ordered two tops and both fitted at the first time of asking. Two other things worth noting: if you have a big head (like me) the cycling cap will actually fit you and, secondly, the size chart features a man called Bill. From the finest merino base layers to warm thermal jerseys and winter gloves, Chapeau has everything you’ll need to get you through the winter. There is a real sense that this is gear made by cyclists for cyclists. The brand has its own inhouse designers and the attention to detail is remarkable. Having some of Britain’s finest cycling routes on your doortstep is both inspiring and also the perfect testing ground. So, when I stumbled across the cycle clothing company Chapeau, I had to take my hat off to them: Chapeau! The firm is based in Crediton in Devon, almost exactly halfway between Dartmoor and Exmoor. I recently took part in a race in which the winner won not the yellow jersey but “ un grand fromage”. Now British riders have started getting in on the act by giving our own expressions a French accent. And nothing beats hearing cheers of “ Allez, allez, allez” as you buzz along the flat in a tight group – even if we are closer to Portsmouth than Paris. When we are grinding up a long hill, a muttered “ Courage” from a fellow rider always spurs us on. Our obsession with Le Tour lends a welcome touch of French flair to all things bike related.
We’ll have to wait and see whether the release of the new Raleigh Chopper will stimulate further success across the different sides of the business.Food stop: Chapeau riders refuel in the traditional manner for the hills ahead Kidger says the electric bike market isn’t growing at the rate Raleigh would like it to, but it’s still double the size it was in 2019, and Raleigh has seen “some real successes over the last five or six years in that market”.Īs an indicator of this success, the Financial Times reports Kidger estimates Raleigh’s share of the UK’s electric bike market to be around 5 per cent and that Raleigh made a pre-tax profit of £2.82m on sales of £74.5m in 2020. Recently, it released the Raleigh Modum, a folding e-cargo bike. It has been adapting to the cargo and electric bike market for a number of years, with ebikes becoming a core part of its business in 2018. The brand was bought in 2012 by the Accell Group, one of the biggest electric bike manufacturers and brand owners in Europe.
Kidger says ebikes provide an opportunity for Raleigh to expand: “We’ve identified that as a real growth area for the business, and we’ve pivoted Raleigh into that emerging market,” says Kidger. Kidger hopes the Chopper will appeal to people’s hearts and minds. “Electric bikes are the single biggest benefit to a lot of the challenges the UK faces at the moment, in terms of congestion charges, and net zero and sustainability targets that have come in,” he says. In turn, Raleigh’s electric bikes provide practical solutions to facilitate this move to more frequent cycling, and Kidger suggests they could help people take kids to school, replace a second car and help with wider issues. Kidger says this is where releasing heritage models joins up with the more modern side of Raleigh’s business: electric bikes.īy pulling on the hearts and minds of people in evoking the heritage of the brand through bikes such as the Chopper, Kidger hopes Raleigh will convince people to cycle more. Kidger says the Raleigh Chopper created a “movement” in the 1970s, with the bike encapsulating a sense of joy, freedom and fun.ĭesigning a new Chopper, which so closely resembles Choppers of old, is a way for Raleigh to help people rediscover what Kidger calls the “contagious joy of cycling”. Lee Kidger says Raleigh wants people to rediscover the “contagious joy of cycling”.
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