Alan has been a lifelong cyclist who has traveled with his bike from the 1970s, initially for his international track and road career, then as a club cyclist to mountain bike and road bike venues.
That experience has proved invaluable in the creation of the Bike Box Alan. Combined with his Engineering Master Craftsman background, Alan has created what is universally considered as the masterclass of airline bike transportation products.
Since the creation of Bike Box Alan in 2005, the box has won every accolade in product comparison reports from cycling and triathlon magazines from around the world.
A testament to the bike box’s reputation for safety and ease of use is how many World, Olympic and Tour de France champions now choose Bike Box Alan as the solution of choice to ensure their bikes always arrive in perfect condition.
Yet it all started from humble beginnings… Alan, in 2003, no longer happy with a cardboard box to transport his bike, bought a damaged second-hand Italian plastic hard case box, that was acknowledged at the time as the market leader in bike cases, yet surprisingly only had 1 year’s guarantee!
The manufacturer sadly was not in the slightest bit interested in providing any parts to fix the box. However that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Alan bought it for just a few pounds and with the knowledge that his plastic engineering skills could be put to good use.
The Italian box had 3 broken (non serviceable) caster wheels, all the plastic catches were broken and 3 of the caster wheels had broken through the wheel arches, on the shell of what seemed a very brittle plastic box. Alan however successfully fixed the box, and used it during 2003.
During that period, word, somehow got out to a local bike shop (J. E. James Cycles) that I had successfully fixed the Italian bike box. They had six similarly broken Italian Bike boxes that they hired out, rendered useless because of the seemingly inherent fault. They too had no luck sourcing parts and a solution to fix them. Alan duly obliged.
What followed was truly amazing. Word spread in the cycle industry fraternity. Before long Alan’s engineering workshop was full of the Faulty Italian bike boxes!
What started as a favour to Alan’s Local bike shop was evolving into a full time profession repairing Italian bike boxes!
It was becoming abundantly clear that the Italians have major generic faults in their bike box.
Alan the entrepreneur saw it as an opportunity to exploit a potential gap in the market. To precede the newly designed box had to be radically different from the Italian. A root and branch design initiative was required, better plastic, individual cushioned straps, for all the loose components, Anti crush pole, customising options, Steel clasps, Strong yet serviceable caster wheels. But most of all a class leading 7 year guarantee instead of the industry standard 1 year guarantee.
The Bike Box Alan was born!