BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Customers at UK-based bike manufacturer Handsling can now personally design and spec their dream machine ahead of new bike day.
Handsling has launched a new and improved web-based builder for their UCI-approved A1R0evo road bike, allowing cyclicts to get creative with frame colours, groupsets, saddles, wheels and much more.
As a direct-to-consumer brand that offers 15 limited edition colours and a wide choice of spec, the ability to see a bike come to life on desktop or mobile is a key development.
The move comes at a time when customers are demanding ever more personalisation of their bikes.
Simon Whiten, Handsling director, said: “Handsling is all about manufacturing high-quality bikes and offering the best possible customer experience. This is reflected in our five-star rating on Trustpilot, Google and Facebook.
“Now we have a five-star custom bike builder that allows customers to design and spec every aspect of their Handsling before buying. No two people are the same, and their bikes shouldn’t be either.
“We’ve put Handsling’s unrivalled bike personalisation into the hands of the cyclists themselves.”
Handsling says it has “painstakingly” replicated its range of frame colours into the bike builder, ensuring accuracy with real-world frame appearance. Even ‘flip’ colours that change tone with light level and angle are represented accurately.
When offering options, only items that have been personally tested by the Handsling team for performance and reliability have been made available on the builder.
For wheels, these range from Handsling’s own alloy tubeless-ready hoops to the Parcours Monuments range of carbon fibre wheelsets. Other available brands include Zipp, Shimano and Walker Brothers, among others.
Groupset choices include mechanical and electronic offerings from Shimano, SRAM and Campagnolo, with L-Twoo to be added in the future as an entry-level option.
There are optional add-ons, including power meters, computer mounts, Handsling’s own Integrated Race Tri Bar, and the Classified Powershift wirelessly-operated hub shifter.
Once customers have checked out, the Handsling team contacts them to provide support on bike sizing and to confirm aspects of the build including component choices and gear ratios.
The next step is the build, when a Cytech-qualified bike technician hand assembles the bike at Handsling’s UK workshop, keeping the customer up-to-date throughout.
With the A1R0evo builder now live, Handsling plans to roll out the service across its two other frame models – the CEXevo for cyclocross and gravel and the TR3evo for track.
As new frames are launched across time trial, track and gravel disciplines, the builder will be expanded to offer the same personalisation service.
The bike builder comes soon after Handsling’s introduction of Splitit, which allows customers to place a 25% deposit on a Handsling bike using their existing credit card and spread the remaining balance into equal instalments with no additional interest or charges.
It means customers can now design their one-of-a-kind bike and spread the payments into bite-sized chunks.
For more information, visit www.handslingbikes.com
