CF: Will you be carrying spares and how hard is it to swap the cables and dials?
Tav: Yes of course, the guys at Boa will also have videos up showing you how to swap out the parts and it’s a real easy job. The less competent individual can always send them back to us and we will happily do the job for them.
CF: A little easier than rebuilding a Reverb! So what’s next in the line up here?
Tav: This is the knee/shin combo, unlike the knee pad we have an open back system, if we find there is a demand for an open back knee guard then that is something we will look at in the future. The knee/shin combo is obviously a longer pad and the open back design allows the rider to put the pad on more easily. We have used the same Boa system to secure the pad and these additional clips hold the lower section in place, these are the same clips they use in the medical industry for braces and so on. We have some additional Velcro straps at the base – it does have its place but we have kept it to a minimum.
CF: I can see you have a similar system and design going on here with the elbow guard, what sort of price is this high-end Tactic gear coming in at?
Tav: We want the product to be up there with the industry leaders Dianese, the Tactic knee/shin combo will be around the £190 mark, knee only about £170 and elbow guards are going to be in the region of £120. It’s a little more expensive but we have sourced and developed technologies to our own spec rather than using off-the-shelf materials. One of the problems manufacturers face in this sector is suppliers not wanting to custom make fabrics, like the neoprene for example, we asked for a certain thickness perforated with 5 mm holes to allow breathability and the suppliers said it could not be done, we had lots of issues and pressured them loads to do a production run to our specifications and eventually they cracked and made it. The results are great, it’s shaved a load of weight and keeps the pads breathable.
CF: You have incorporated anti bacterial technologies into the fabrics?
Tav: Absolutely, all our pads are machine washable and made using anti bacterial products.
Tav continued to tell me about the mid-price pads and how they have made subtle changes using stretch panels and minimal split Velcro where necessary to help keep the price point down, the mid range Control pads come in around £100-£130 for the knee guard and £80-£100 for the elbow guard, they also produce ankle guards and they estimate them to cost £100-£125 for the pair. All pricing is to be confirmed by the UK distributor Decade.
Also in the range they have been developing top body armour, the high-end stuff has been developed to work with the Atlas neck brace and the guys inform me they will work with the leading neck brace manufacturers. Costs are estimated around the £150 mark for the upper armour and slightly cheaper for the soft armour.
Tav showed me a more basic knee guard that is in development, the lighter design and interchangeable pad section will enable a rider to custom tune it to the terrain, a hard insert can be used if your hitting up the rocky stuff and various thickness and density foams can be swapped out for the more forgiving terrain, this pad will definitely appeal to cross country and enduro riders who want something light.
In the background they are also working on women’s specific top armour and separate back plates. I have a lot of admiration for the guys who started the company just 18 months ago, they certainly must have had some sleepless nights in the lead up to Eurobike, grafting away into the night to perfect the product and have these samples ready for the show.
Final tweaks to the design and rider testing will now follow before production starts proper and they estimate the products will be in the shops next spring.
With a combined experience spanning over a century you can expect to see big things from the magnificent 7Seven in years to come.
