Full Circle

Airdrop has come a long way from humble beginnings. We've still got a long way to go, but it's good to look back and see how far we've come.

I've been running Airdrop for ten years now, more if you count all the time it took to get it launched. In some ways it's become routine. Dare I say it, I take it for granted, or maybe its more that I'm just tied up in the detail all the time. Either way, I need reminding how far we've come, how much we've achieved, or just how cool it is to have my own mountain bike brand, and work with the people I do. Every now and then, something happens that helps me get that perspective. We had one of those this week, when a customer from my home village ordered a bike.

This is me, aged 16. I'm sitting on the floor of my dad's shed, trying to fit my first set of suspension forks to my first mountain bike. Using the wrong tools, with no experience* (see footnote). The year is 1997 - as evidenced by the Glastonbury '97 t-shirt I'm wearing - and the bike is a '92 Orange Clockwork. I bought it second-hand for £120 from an ad in the local newspaper. The place is a little village near Birmingham called Clent. You won't have heard of it, unless you live in that part of the world, in which case it's probably your local mtb spot. It's a lot like Malvern or Kinver, but smaller.

What you can't see in the picture is that the kid you see there absolutely loves mountain biking. He loves mountain bikes. He loves the design, the technology, the culture. He rides that bike to the local shop just to gawp at the Santa Cruz, Mountain Cycle and Spooky frames hanging from the ceiling - even though he never has money to buy anything. MBUK is the bible, to be followed by Dirt, when it comes out.

He has no idea yet how much of his life is going to revolve around bikes. He doesn't know that eventually he'll set up his own mountain bike brand in another garage, not much different to the old shed.

Kids like me come into Airdrop now. Airdrop doesn't have a shop yet, as much as I'd like it to, but visitors to the workshop are always welcome. It's a bit of a mess at times, and maybe not quite how I'd like it to be, but that doesn't matter at all. You can see the stoke on their faces. Whether it's me, James or Craig, we always try to make time to show them the ropes, get the demo bikes out, and make a brew.

I'm bringing all this up now, because we just shipped a bike to a customer in Clent. Not someone I know, but someone who lives no more than 100 metres from the spot that photo was taken. And that fact has blown my mind. It's also absolutely made my day. To think that there are people out there buying, riding and enjoying Airdrop bikes is still something that I don't fully appreciate, even after ten years. We've sold 3,200 bikes in total, to 51 countries of the world. But it's still rare to see one out in the wild, unless you're looking. Every now and then, something like this happens and it reminds me how far Airdrop has come. So far, apparently, that it's come full-circle.

Hopefully we're also doing our bit, in our own small way, to inspire another generation. When I see how young riders are keeping the sport alive, it gives me hope for the future.