STANTON BIKES
Stanton came about when avid rider Dan Stanton couldn’t quite find what he was looking for in a bike. He explains: “I was passionate about riding, ever since I was a boy. All I did in any spare time I had was mess about on bikes. It was street trials, dirt jumps and playing around in the woods, and, as I got older, I started going to trail centres. I was a hardtail fan, and there were a few bikes that were OK, but nothing that really enabled what I wanted to do on a bike. So, I set about designing one.”
His first creation, the Slackline, hit the mark with our testers – who said it offered “a magical combo of snappy steel acceleration and a hardtail’s lightweight manoeuvrability” – and we weren’t the only ones who liked it. “The first frame I ordered got a spot in the Dirt 100 [the gravity-riding mag’s annual round-up of top products] and I held that for four years,” Dan recalls. “As far as I’m aware, I developed the first proper long-travel, aggressive hardtail frame. It was touted as being able to race a 4X World Cup (it did!) and compete in the Bontrager 24/12 [endurance race]. It hit that gap in the market and cemented Stanton as a leading hardtail brand, offering something different.”
After a couple of decades of aluminium domination, followed by the arrival of carbon fibre, many younger riders had never ridden a quality steel bike before, but times were changing. Dan tells us: “I think people have become educated on materials over time. Obviously, carbon is the lightest, but the amount of vibration that feeds through the frame, people feel it and it doesn’t take long for them to hear that there are better materials out there.
Once people ride those, they realise the value of it. If they want the power transfer, they can get that from a welldesigned hardtail, and they can also find all the comfort they want.”
Stanton went on to create the Sherpa 29er and the even rowdier Switchback, before branching out into titanium and, in 2018, full suspension, with the Switch9er FS. The brand seemed to be very much on the up, but it’s no secret things turned sour, with the business going into administration in 2022 and Dan buying it back. “The crazy thing is that I would never have stopped what was happening,” he says. It wasn’t my choice to bring the company to a grinding halt – it was the other director and investor, who wanted his money back.”
It all worked out for the best, though. “The way it’s fallen has shaken the rug and given me what I wanted,” says Dan. “I can keep the business smaller, have more time with my family, be more consumer- and product-orientated, and actually get out riding again!” With the main man back at the helm, Stanton feels like it did in the early days. “It’s the same business. We still fabricate hardtails here in the UK, but rather than having everybody on staff, we’ll bring in the welder when I’ve processed a load of frames for him.”
After creating so many great bikes, is there one that stands out for Dan? “Probably the titanium/carbon fullsuspension frame, which was the most complex product I’ve ever brought to market, and I’m very proud of that. But also, the Switch9er and Sherpa Ti are really great to ride – I think I really hit the nail on the head with them.” Dan is now back at the drawing board, working on designs he’s had in mind for a while, so stay tuned for more innovations from Stanton Bikes in the near future.
“CARBON IS THE LIGHTEST, BUT THE AMOUNT OF VIBRATION... PEOPLE FEEL IT AND HEAR THERE ARE BETTER MATERIALS OUT THERE”