Inside the British Motorcycle Industry: R&G

In 2001 aerospace engineer Richard Taylor looked at some crash protectors a mate of his had bought and said he could improve the design. Early protectors had many faults. The plastic could be too hard, generating enough friction to make a sliding bike flip over. They could too soft, wearing through and letting the tarmac get to parts that were meant to be protected. They were usually poorly mounted, either on flimsy retainers, which meant they parted company with he bike before they could do their job; or they were too rigid, causing frame damage.

Richard's parts were better. He was asked for more by friends of the original mate. He made a batch and set them out on a trestle table at a local bike meet and sold out. At the time, with his business partner Gene, Richard was running a business making parts for the aerospace industry. He decided to take a risk and switch to making crash protectors full time. Gene disagreed, they parted company and, with a deep breath, plenty of passion and expertise Richard started R&G, catering for racers and the growing band of track day enthusiasts.

The hobby became a business. Simon Hughes (pictured), now the Managing Director of R&G, was tempted away from his secure and well paid job with Yamaha Europe to become the Sales and Marketing Director.

"I loved the Yamaha job," he told me. "It was safe and rewarding. Most people told me I was mad to consider it," he said. "And I think that helped me make my mind up."

R&G manufacture in three countries; the UK, Taiwan and the Czech Republic. Simon Hughes explains: "When I joined, we were making everything in Farnborough. It was not practical to continue with that if we wanted to expand. It was a difficult decision and it wasn't all about price," he said. In 2003 they made the switch and from then on were able to cope with both the increases and fluctuations in demand.

On the other hand, all product development, both design and prototyping, is done at their Hampshire premises. They have three dedicated areas for this with a full time team of four, soon to be made up to five. Three engineers work with a prototype manager and all have different backgrounds, a CNC specialist, a 3D computer modeling expert and a former motorcycle mechanic. With such diversity of experience, they are able to support each other across a wide range of tasks.

The design area has two 3D printers. There's a workshop next to it where prototype components are fitted to bikes and across the yard is a machine shop with a lathe, a milling machine, a metal folder and all the smaller tools needed to build components from scratch.

While I was there, the team were fitting prototype parts to a Kawasaki Vulcan, including engine bars and a backrest. Both 3D printers were hard at work producing experimental parts. The design and development of new products is at the heart of R&G.

Simon Hughes: "We can market the hell out of anything, but growth only comes through innovation. 

And on that note, I loaded up the RC8 and headed back home; another great British manufacturing concern and another fascinating day learning what makes the British motorcycle industry tick. It points to an encouraging future for us all.

For more information, visit: http://www.rg-racing.com/