Singletrack

Into China.
A bleary, jet-lagged state is rarely conducive to smooth
Customs formalities – especially in China, where you need
a visa for entry and a sponsoring company to vouch for you.
Luckily my papers were in order and, after a silent look up
and down, the young customs officer let me through and into
mainland China.
China these days is falling over itself to modernise and
westernise, sometimes at the expense of quality over quantity.
Our first stop was Huizhou, a city you won’t have heard
of, but one which has rocketed from a couple of million
residents to over five million in half a dozen years, such is the
concentration of industry and the self-perpetuating nature of
a growing city that needs builders, who need homes, that need
builders…
While the city didn’t feel too foreign, there was a certain
Wild West air to everything, as the explosion of people and
building and industry still hadn’t erased all the old China
underneath. Every now and then a glimmer of that old China
would show through from underneath the smart concrete
covering.
My companions for the trip would be Simon Wild, the
brand’s coordinator and both its biggest critic and biggest
fan, and Ryan Carroll, responsible for most of the suspension
and 3D design for the brand. Both strong characters, they
work well together in a married-couple kind of way. Bickering
endlessly some days and wordlessly communicating great ideas
the next. Ryan lives in Taiwan, which gives him great access to
the factories for both feedback and quality checking.
A lot is made of ‘QC’ for manufacturing in China. It
seems that there are literally Chinese whispers, and instructions
passed down the line can result in well-meant mistakes as
designs are lost in translation. This trip was just one of several
that Simon and Ryan make during the year to make sure that
things are on track.
First timers.
Stepping into Hua Chin, my first Chinese bike factory, I was
aware of the public perception of what I might see: the terrible
working conditions, the miserable young workers sticking
things together with barely enough competence to get the job
done for the lowest price possible.
Obviously, this wasn’t the case. And how! The long factory
building, lit by sweeping windows, was clean and orderly and a
lot less grimy than many similar factories I’ve seen in the UK.
Linda, one of the owners showed Simon, Ryan and me round
in the rough order that bike building would go. We started
with crates of shiny alloy tubes, all cut and mitred ready for
making into Saracen’s new alloy Kili Flyer.
‘This one seems to be made of plastic’.
‘Really? I think this one’s metal’.
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