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Echelon Sports Pty Ltd |
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For over two decades, the UK-based brand has been making some of the coolest looking, and best functioning, MTB gear anywhere on the planet.
Royal Racing was started by a pair of mates — Nick Bayliss and some bloke called Steve Peat.
The brand’s early success was largely generated by two key ingredients: Peaty’s flair on a bike and Nick’s skill on a sewing machine!
Of course, since then Royal has gone onto to become one of the most respected brands in all of MTB with countless loyal fans right around the globe.
We recently caught up with Nick and Martin who run the show at Royal these days for a chat about their journey up to this point.
Gents, thank you for taking the time to chat with us today about the brand. Let’s start by setting the scene with a snapshot of the brand’s history and proud English heritage?
Martin: Sure. Royal was originally created by Nick Bayliss and Steve Peat in 1999.
At the time they weren’t happy with the offer from the predominantly MX-orientated, typically American brands on the market so they set about creating their own brand.
It’s a testament to their mutual understanding that both remained involved with the brand for so. It’s insane to list the riders that have worn Royal these past 20 years: Peaty, Brendon Fairclough, Josh Bryceland, Sam Hill, Nicolas Vouilloz, Aaron Gwin, Justin Leov to name but a few have all ridden in Royal. Crazy considering we are a small independently owned brand.
Peaty’s association with Royal goes back to day one. Steve was always the main man, ‘the guvnor’ and his numerous World Cup wins and attempts to win the Worlds are part of MTB folklore. When he finally won it in 2009, I’d say the entire MTB community celebrated his victory.
At the end of 2021 the Santa Cruz Syndicate changed their sponsorship policy and went with a one brand approach and Steve being an integral part of the Syndicate set up reluctantly had to stop wearing Royal. As of January 2022, he’s no longer on the team.
He goes with our blessing and full understanding of the situation, but one thing’s for sure whatever he wears on the outside he’ll always be Royal on the inside.
Legend is a term often overused in our industry, but Steve is simply just that: a MTB legend.
Nick: Yeah, back then the UK MTB scene was pretty small really. We were all riding, racing, ‘living the life’.
Steve had always been a close friend and at the time was on fire, he was winning everything. Steve also had a house out in Huntington Beach, CA and because the weather is always terrible in the UK all the top UK guys would go over there to train and hangout.
We rode MTB all day every day but back then there wasn’t really any cool gear to wear. Most of us were just wearing a mixture of MX and BMX gear, whatever we thought was cool. And then one day we had the idea to start our own brand and create MTB specific ride and race wear that didn’t really exist.
That was the start of Royal, I got on the sewing machines and hand made what we wanted.
How much input do your riders have in the R&D?
Martin: Absolutely! The trick with working with any pro riders is to learn how to extract what it is they want out of their gear.
Their focus is on riding bikes as you’d expect and they push their gear harder than anyone else. I’ve found getting pro rider input is actually more about listening to what they don’t like, when you get no feedback, you’re doing something right.
I remember hearing once that you guys actually had to get permission from the queen of England to use the word Royal in your name — is that a true story?
Martin: Yes, that’s absolutely correct. Nick can elaborate on his ‘taking tea’ with Her Majesty.
Nick: Yes, it’s true. In the UK you can’t just call yourself Royal. We had to file for official permission. Real Royal approval. The ‘Racing’ also needed Royal approval, as the Queen has horse racing teams, so we had to be sure there was no conflict.
Right now it seems on trend for MTB apparel brands to be shifting to a more casual look rather than those loud designs you used to see out on the trails. How would you describe the overall style guide of your latest range across the board?
Martin: Yes, without question this is the trend and we’ve been reflecting this for a number of years. I think it’s fair to say we’ve never been part of the ‘pyjama pack”.
Nick can elaborate on his design ethos, but what I love about the range is that you could go down to the pub in our Apex Jersey which if you wanted to categorise would be our Race Jersey or go racing in our Core range which is our ‘technical yet casual’ range.
There are tons of MTB apparel brands out there, what is it about your gear and the brand’s philosophy that sets Royal apart?
Martin: We’ve always been pedal powered, no MX cross over gear in our range.
Nick knows what he’s doing. He’s a rider, deeply embedded in the UK’s cycling culture. You’d be amazed how many brands have designers that don’t ride and work off secondhand feedback. Nick is his own test dummy.
Whilst we need to make money, we’re not designed by accountants, we won’t cut any corners. It’s about making the best product out there and ensuring we offer great value.
I guess our strap line says it all: Royal’s “all about life on a bike”.
Nick: With Royal the aim has always been the same — make the gear we want to ride in.
We’re always riding. I’m making up prototypes to get out and test on the bike, trying out new fabrics and ideas. Printing up one off gear for teams racers. You know, having fun with it and seeing what we come up with.
And all of that trial and error with creating new pieces is ultimately what gets put into the mix when we create a new range for production. Basically, if we wouldn’t wear it, we won’t make it.
I love the sound of that. What type of rider is the quintessential Royal Racing customer?
Martin: I’d like to think they’re the type of rider who knows his own mind, identifies with the heritage of the Royal brand but also appreciates the technical qualities it offers. Someone that is understated yet has his own style.
Nick: Hopefully it’s the ‘rider’s rider’. He/she doesn’t care what they’re riding as long as they’re riding. Someone who know what they want and loves to ride everything.
Riding apparel that seamlessly transitions from ‘day wear’ to ‘trail wear’ to ‘head to the pub afterwards wear’ is pretty much the ultimate and you guys seem to have really captured that with your new Quantum range. Can you tell us a bit about the ethos of that?
Nick: Yeah, that’s right, our Quantum Line is just like you say.
These days we reckon bike riding gear needs to tick all the boxes. Gear that you can ride in, race in, hang out in, all without needing to get changed. That way you’re always set and ready to ride.
Over the years one of the things that has always stood out to me whenever I’d ride in a set of Royal kit was how comfortable it is. Be it a set of gloves, a jersey or some pants, each item has always had a great ‘cut’. Is that an area of function that you guys place a lot of focus on when designing new gear?
Nick: Yes totally. I do all the pattern making and sample creation, so we don’t leave it to anyone else to guess what we want or what we are trying to achieve with the garments.
Longevity is key too, so we test the hell out of them. We want them to become your favourite ‘go to’ garments that you can rely on year in year out!
To wrap this up on a light note guys. Is it challenging to design and create riding gear that is suited to Australia’s hot climate when you’re often knee deep in snow at the brand’s UK headquarters?
Martin: Hold on JT I’m not sure I understand the question... Are you dissing the UK’s weather? Haha!
Chris at Echelon Sports, our distributor, is always banging on about the hardships he faces living in Australia. The tough daily life defining decisions he has to make on a daily basis beach or pool, shrimp or steak on the barbie, an iced Mojito or a chilled IPA, YOU GUYS HAVE IT TOUGH!
Let it be said: we are not remotely envious of the perfect climate, beaches, seafood etc you have, in fact nothing makes us happier than to go out for a spin in the miserable British climate wrapped up in our Storm jacket and pants.
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Originally appeared in Revolution Mountain Bike Magazine, issue 65.
