@loadedbikes
Scotland
May 2024
Load up: Roll out! (A guest blog by @loadedbikes INSTAGRAM)
Meet Loaded Bikes
If you’ve been to The Ply Guys farmhouse to have your vehicle fitted out, or have been following them for a while, you may already have heard of us, you might even have bought some of our products (thank you!), but who are Loaded Bikes?
It might surprise you to learn that we’re a pretty small outfit, consisting of co-founders Helen & Dom, Jack “the CAD”, our technical designer who takes all our design concepts and refines them to become beautiful and functional products and Jules, Helen’s mum who is hands on with prepping, picking and packing with a little light courier work thrown in every now and then.
We sometimes refer to Loaded Bikes as our accidental business. Now you might be asking yourself how do you accidentally start a business? Well, for us, it all started when we bought our current van back in 2019. The SWB VW T6 Transporter panel van was a blank canvas in which we would somehow need to accommodate all the kit for our various outdoor pursuits.
It was asking a lot when you’ve got to put a motorbike in the van one weekend, three mountain bikes the next and a camping bed and all the paraphernalia that goes with it the weekend after that we already knew from playing the game of Van Tetris® in our previous van that we couldn’t go for a standard, “rock ‘n’ roll” bed/kitchenette/pop-top type fit out as this would be far too compromising. So we began the search for products that could be installed and removed from the van quickly and easily, without leaving unsightly holes all over the place and soon came to the conclusion that there was nothing out there that worked quite the way we would like it to.
Dom’s background in aerospace and automotive engineering came in to it’s own at this point as he set about working on concepts for a couple of things that had all the functionality and features we were looking for and then having them made up test out.
Though quite different to what you would see today the seeds of the products you would now know as our bicycle Fork Mount and our Van Bike Rack were there. The more we used them, the more we thought we can’t be the only ones who’s van needs to adapt to various uses like ours, so with the help of Jack “the CAD”, we decided to build on the principles of our original designs and develop them for sale.
Fast forward to March 2020 (yes, we really did launch the business then), and Loaded Bikes was born and the bike fork mounts for vans and our van bike racks became a reality. Partnering with The Ply Guys was a natural progression for us, since their popular Torridon system addressed so many of our seating, sleeping and storage needs in one neat little product and the fact it just works so well alongside our products, continuing to work together was a no-brainer.
When we’re not running the business, you’ll find us out on our bikes with locations like Innerleithen’s the Golfie being high on our list of favourite places to ride. If we’re on our bikes, you will almost certainly find our Head of Public Relations, Ripley, a Hungarian Vizsla running along with us. He’s faster up and down the hills than we could ever be and we take him along to as many rides and events as we can.
During the warmer months we also like to head out on to the river with our paddleboards. Ripley comes too, but that’s more of a work in progress as he’s still a little nervous on the board!
Dom also has a track bike, so he’s now getting to ride some of the circuits we visit when attending British Superbike rounds with another of our partners, OMG Yamaha Racing during the race season.
Wherever you may see us, we’re always more than happy to chat, whether that’s on the trails, trackside or mooching about on a lake or river. We look forward to seeing you out there grabbing whatever adventure you’ve woken up to.
Load up: Roll out!
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