Inside Stanton Bikes' Full Suspension UK Manufacturing
Nestled away on the outskirts of Matlock in Derbyshire is a small unit, home of arguably Britain’s most progressive, geometry driven hardtails. Stanton Bikes - the originators of the long, low and slack steel hardtail frame have recently been making waves on the internet with the birth of their new-fangled dual-link full suspension offering.
Stanton Bikes was started by founder and owner Dan Stanton along with another party who no longer plays a role in the business. Stanton came to be, from Dan wanting to satisfy his desires for the perfect ‘cross discipline’ hardtail frame in 2010. The process led him on a quest down the manufacturing wormhole, resulting in the production of a prototype which would go on to be developed into the world-renowned Slackline 853 26". The Slackline 853 really came to light with its success in Dirt Magazine, followed by its award of ‘Best All-Round Hardtail’ in Dirt 100. The original Slackline has since been reborn as the Switchback, a 27.5” version based on exaggerating the aggressive aspects of the Slackline. This bike soon became a world-renowned hardtail ideal and has been a platform for the progression of hardtail geometry in the industry.
The full suspension bikes come in the form of the Switch9er FS (29er) and Switchback FS (650b). With the predecessor being the latter this piece will focus on the Switch9er FS. This bike is a 29” wheeled 140mm rear travel, 160mm front travel trail monster. As quoted by their website the aim ‘was to design and manufacture in-house the most well engineered, playful natured, confidence inspiring, aggressive 29” full-suspension frame.’
With the bike being manufactured in house, this Tech Insider takes a trip to Matlock to take a look inside the home of Stanton Bikes, meet founder Dan Stanton, his tight-knit seven-man team, and follow the process of manufacturing their new bike.
Stantons tight-knit seven man crew.
Dan critiques his first ever frame with painter Si (left) and proudly presents the first production Slackline 853 (right)
The first ever 26" Slackline 853 production frame (red) which broke the brand into Dirt 100.
Off cuts from frame production, the Reynolds tubing is cut so it sits flush with the other components in the jig.
 | As all of these first 100 are custom we used the Belt Notcher, made up of a corse belt and rollers to the diameters of the tubes. Later we will use a multi-axis tube cutting machine called a Marchetti, shown below, this will greatly reduce the number of man hours required for the process. Custom tubing for both hardtails and FS bikes will still be produced on the belt notcher. Customers are able to customize reach, seat tube length and stack height to better fit a frame to their bodily proportions without sacrificing any of the much-loved ride characteristics of a Stanton. |
Stanton are currently tooling up for a UK frame production line, of both their hardtail and full suspension frames. This includes the Marchetti which automates the tubing cutting process with the ability to cut tubing on multiple planes
A box of CNC-machined 'eggs' for the first production run.
The 'egg' in cross section, makes up the bottom bracket shell. The egg also provides the housing for one of the axle assemblies, which braces both halves of the rear end.
Eggs ready to fire on all cylinders.
Top linkage mount - the CNC-machined components are produced by an anonymous friend of Dan's in the UK.
The steel tubes are prepared for thermal drilling with a spray marker to allow accurate positioning for the down tube shock mount and top tube bottle bosses without irreversibly marking the tubing.
The friction drill is prepped with cutting fluid.
Thermal drilling pushes the material back into the tube, allowing threads to be tapped. It is a clean process, producing very little waste.
Cable routing is aligned using a metal rod before being brazed onto the top tube.
The end product: raw top tubes now with bottle bosses and cable routing.
A line of union jack darts awaits the next set of frame manifests in the pig pen (welding bay).
Jord prepares the upper linkage axle mounts for tack welding in the jig.
Gav gets started tack welding once the components have been positioned in the jig.
Tack welding is a means of positioning all the components, allowing the frame to be removed from the jig. This gives Gav better access to any tight spots otherwise inaccessible in the jig.
Owner Dan Stanton keeps a keen eye on the production of his masterpieces
The seat tube - top tube junction is welded before the top linkage mount can be positioned.
The frame is placed back in the jig to tack weld the top shock linkage in situ.
Steel is a beautiful raw material, with the rainbow heat stains surrounding the welds
Bottle bosses ready to go
Fine detail around the egg
The pre-order front ends are racking up in a range of sizes. Gav and Jord focus on doing a run of front triangles before following up with some rear triangles.
The raw aluminum tubing is cut to the correct dimensions using a pre-set cutting guide
The alloy CNC-machined dog legs are cleaned prior to being tacked up
The tubing and machined components are set in the jig
The drop out section, including removable axle threads
Angles are checked before the assembly is clamped before being tack welded
Once tacked the rear end will need to be fully welded before proceeding to the next step.
The finished frames are prepped before being sent off in batches to be ED coated for rust protection.
Once protected, frames are dealt with by Si in paint.
A selection of the 'standard' colours on offer.
The selection of Elite colors.
And endless choices of custom RAL colours.
Powder coat before application.
Whats cookin Si?
Si talks through his freshly baked goods'
Frames hot out of the oven are inspected by Si'
Decals printed in house are peeled.
Frames are masked for custom painted decals, an option for a small additional premium.
Si builds layers on a custom silver painted heritage decal.
Silver powder coat being laid on.
The Stanton seal of approval is added to the top tube.
The finished result, painted silver decals.
Sheets of Reynolds logos await their rightful tubes.
Once painted the FS frames are lacquered and sent for assembly.
Dan sets to work assembling the rear assembly moving parts of a rear Switch9er FS.
The final rear end assembly minus the frames tubing. The frame uses a dual link design that is laterally stiffened by 3x15mm axles, a 12mm axle and two solid T6 alloy, CNC-machined 'Dog-Legs' and two machined steel link pivots. These aspects eliminate bottom bracket waver and stiffen up the drive.
Dan Stanton's dreambuild Switch9er FS.
Detail of the black anodized top shock mount, this angulation of the shock dissipates forces along the length of the down tube.
The iridescent black lava finish works well with Kashima and a simple white decal.
Dan and his latest creation.
The original award winning Slackline 853 frame, that hit the public eye in the 'Dirt 100' 2012, and the newly produced Switchback FS, a 27.5” dual-link Trail/Bike Park ripper available in 140mm and 160mm travel.
A built up second-gen Switchback hardtail head to head with the Switchback FS.
Learn more at stantonbikes.com
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If you do think of a way of blagging this, be sure to let me know though. Cheers.
Very absorbing article and pics. Thanks Tristan!
Easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.
Not sure how easy it is to sign divorce papers. One more bike and I might be there.
Stanton Bikes - Taiwan Trip (video)
vimeo.com/166978905
Even more impressive is that Stanton has taken production into it's own hands. These guys are all about producing quality product and doing it right. Not just a marketing machine.
There's been at least one Stanton on the hooks in my garage for the last 6 years,
Divorce that dragon and marry Fata - the muslim girl....
At 95kg I feel my findings may be able to offer you some insight in to how the bike will perform. Check it out
Beautiful work done here. Would buy and rub.
Go try your hand at TIG welding then come back and eat your words.
Tools, not jewels. Bikes (like other things) are meant to be used, not just looked at.
Bead width and undercutting yes.
Could debate all day. It's a bike I would have no problem riding. Hell, I don't know the last time I looked at the welds on one of my bikes anyway.
Oh, I thought it was public knowledge that Superstar CNC Stanton’s frame parts though and not an ‘anonymous friend’
Either way, nice work on the frames.
Most "boutique" brands (Yeti, Transition, Santa Cruz, Evil....the list goes on) source out their framebuilding, so you pay a boutique price for an Asian-built bike with QC that's not as good as Giant or Merida. Nice to see that a small outfit is willing and able to do modern, dual link (and hardtail) frames in-house.
If you're gonna pay extra for a "boutique" brand, might as well get one made by the guys who own/operate their brand.
Domestic production is rad, I fully support it! For us Merikans, REEB,GG and Alchemy seem to be doing a great job at keeping prices reasonable considering their made in the US origins.
Next bike will be either another Giant (they are massively vertically integrated) or a GG. Hoping I have the funds for the GG.
Favorite trail bike ! full suss had stayed inside for most of last year and made me find the love again !
Need to come down to derby and give the FS a rip/look at the workshop/buy a beenie
Keep up the good work gents !
PS. whens the next stanton saturday/demo ride ?
these guys. Top notch bikes and fellas.
Geo is pretty progressive except for the long 445mm chainstays, not my cup o’ tea, but a really nice looking bike overall.
So PB, how about an article like this on a hometown brand like Guerilla Gravity?
Those generic rubber grommets never seem to work particularly well, or sit very flush.
But seeing this step by step makes you appreciate the work that fors into it even more.... amazing.
I want a switchFS
Sadly, no go for me. I would need a "pro" color. Standard and Elite colors would not cut it.
J/K, these look amazing! Looking forward to reviews.
Maybe exclude it from the BOM
Item 22 & 23 have arrows rather than a dot.
I would have kind of expected to see v-notches for the welds where two pieces of aluminium are joint?
cassette and a m8000 derailleur and a 4 year old 140mm pike with at least 500 hours on it (i've rebuilt the damper twice), it's Frankenstein's bride and she's beautiful. My go to rig for mud, snow, rain, and the quick after work rip, can't beat it