Welcome inside Evotech Performance
Meet the guys at this high-class British parts and accessories firm
Evotech Performance stands as a shining example of the synergy between old school British engineering and modern hi-tech production methods – a combination that’s helped them to become a paragon of high-quality aftermarket motorcycle accessories. Renowned for tail tidies, radiator guards and crash protection kits, the Lincolnshire company can attribute much of its success to a genuine passion for the products it offers along with a relentless attention to detail that runs throughout the manufacturing process. The firm was established in 2003, but can trace its roots back to the mid-1970s when Rob Drury founded parent company Drury Precision Engineering Ltd to produce replica vintage motorcycle parts. All work was done in sheet metal by traditional methods, and it was there that current directors Chris Vines and Dan Rack cut their engineering teeth. “It was a very different place to this,” says Chris, who started with the firm as an apprentice in 1986. “The work was very manual, with a constant smell of grinding and lots of welding going on, but it was a great place to dial in your skills.” Investment in CNC tooling during the 1990s saw Drury’s move away from motorcycle parts to more lucrative contract work. However, it was Chris’s decision to buy a brandnew Honda CBR900RR FireBlade in 2003 that brought the two-wheeled world sharply back into focus. “I’d
‘The firm’s roots date back to the 70s’
ordered a tail tidy for it,” says Chris. “But what I received looked no better than a cheap farmyard rat trap. I knew we could make one much better ourselves.”
Chris started designing and producing tail tidies in his own time and it wasn’t long before a huge demand for his precisionbuilt bolt-on accessories became a tide of orders. And so Evotech was born. The name is a contraction of Evolution in Technology, a term which can also be used to describe the company’s progress in the ensuing years. On the design front, 3D modelling was introduced in 2005, followed by 3D printing in 2008 and 3D scanning in 2012, plus there’s been a constant ‘improve and upgrade’ ethos to working practices and plant machinery. “We certainly don’t rest on our laurels,” says Dan. Despite the state-of-the-art production processes, there’s a traditional feel to the shop floor. “Although Chris and I are the directors and the longest serving people here, Evotech Performance is all about the collective team,” explains Dan. “Of our 23 staff, most have been here over 10 years and some as long as 20. We all get on and even take our tea breaks together!”