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.
Dan critiques his first ever frame with painter Si (left) and proudly presents the first production Slackline 853 (right)
| 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.—Dan Stanton, Founder |
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
Eggs ready to fire on all cylinders.
Thermal drilling pushes the material back into the tube, allowing threads to be tapped. It is a clean process, producing very little waste.
A line of union jack darts awaits the next set of frame manifests in the pig pen (welding bay).
Steel is a beautiful raw material, with the rainbow heat stains surrounding the welds
Learn more at
stantonbikes.com
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