In two years’ time, mountain bike component specialist Hope Technology will have expanded its presence in the Lancashire village of Barnoldswick by building an Olympic-size velodrome, just 500m down the road from its headquarters and production facility.

However, this will house more than a 250m-long banked wooden track to be used for racing and cycle development; the space beneath the track will be the new home for the company’s R&D team, thereby releasing much needed production space in its current facility.

The £3.5 million investment will result in the only factory in the world to have its own private velodrome; it will also be the launch pad for Hope to expand its manufacture from parts for off-road cycles to include track and road machines — and significantly increase its £13 million per year turnover.

Hope’s ambitions were ‘cemented’ by the Isle of Man TT star Guy Martin, who made a TV documentary on his successful attempt to break the British speed record for a pedal-powered bike; he reached 112.9mph.

Hope’s engineering skills were called upon to develop a fixed-gear rear-wheel drive operating from the left-hand side rather than the right, special customised cranks with a bottom-bracket shaft to accept cogs on both sides, and a gearing set-up using multiple chain rings that allows 100mph-plus to be reached under pedal power.

Roots in tool-making

Hope Technology was established in the late 1980s as a sub-contract machining operation by two former Rolls-Royce tool-makers and keen mountain bikers, Ian Weatherill and Simon Sharp.

Their aim was to target the aerospace industry, but the pair’s plans changed when they became one of only two companies in the world at that time to see the advantage of disc brakes (as used on motorcycles) being applied to pedal cycles. They developed the idea and began producing disc brakes for the rapidly growing UK market for mountain bikes.

Three factory expansions and the move to the current 90,000ft2 ex-printer’s works have seen some £10 million invested in 55 CNC machine tools (plus process plant and assembly facilities). These include four Citizen CNC sliding-head machines and three of the latest Miyano fixed-head turn-mill centres — supplied by Bushey-based Citizen Machinery UK Ltd (www.citizenmachinery.co.uk).

Hope’s branded-product output includes braking systems, hub assemblies, bottom brackets, bike wheels, pedals, chain wheels, accessories and high-tech lighting systems. They are sold in 40 countries through retailers and a network of 50 distributors.

Hope’s current showroom, development area and production facilities are spacious and pristine, featuring lots of glass and solid-oak doors. Visitors are left with the impression of aircraft precision and a fanatical attention to detail by the company’s 105 employees and three apprentices.

With regard to machine selection, Mr Weatherill says: “We will only install Japanese or Swiss machine tools. Moreover, they must be super accurate and hassle-free — and able to run round-the-clock with only a skeleton crew in support at night.”

Single-cycle operations

The four Citizen CNC sliding head turn-mill centres comprise a C-16, an L32 and two A20s. These four machines are producing a host of small high-specification turned parts in single operations; and as Mr Weatherill points out, a disc brake assembly for a mountain bike has 30 parts, of which half are produced on the Citizens.

When in 2013 Hope needed to increase capacity using similar turn-mill single-cycle operations, the decision was clear-cut in Citizen’s favour — not only because of its established machine reliability, working relationship and support as a supplier, but also because of the ability of each of the four machines to provide high orders of consistency in production.

Two Miyano BNAs — a 42 DHY and a 42 MSY — were ordered; these were followed in 2014 by the latest-generation Miyano BNA-42DHY2. Mr Weatherill says: “Once we install a machine and it is established in production with the right support from the supplier/builder, it becomes our preferred brand.”

Hope does not produce in batches or have JIT delivery targets. Instead, production is geared to day cycles. “We run the Citizens and Miyanos for, say, five days round-the-clock
on one part, then maybe two days on another. This way, we maximise machine optimisation and ensure production consistency and stability. Cycle times vary from under a minute on very small components to around five minutes on very complex parts that require multiple operations in a single cycle. The materials we machine are mainly aircraft-grade 7075 aluminium, 303 stainless steel and brass.

Mr Weatherill says precision is strictly controlled. “We are the only cycle-component manufacturer in the UK that makes everything in-house. Nothing has been produced by sub–contract since 2004 — or sourced from overseas to cut costs.”

Micron tolerances

The setter for the latest Miyano BNA-42DHY2 says sprocket-drive hubs have 26mm-diameter internal bearing housings that are held to a 5µm tolerance. Each part is qualified by 100% inspection following machining — and again after anodising — such is the level of precision and quality control. “We only use precision bearings. If the bore of the hub varies in tolerance, it alters the load on the bearing when it is assembled, significantly shortening its life. That’s why our machine selection is so critical.”

The Miyano BNA-42DHY2 produces the sprocket-drive hub in a third of the time previously taken on a two-spindle twin-turret turning centre — thanks to its ability to simultaneously overlap and combine operations at its main spindle and sub-spindle.

The cycle involves turning from bar, drilling and boring, grooving, producing the high-tolerance internal bearing diameters, machining an internal thread, milling 10 splines and producing the four special cut-outs that create Hope’s four-pawl ratchet system.

The DHY2 machine is the latest generation of the Miyano BNA-42. It offers a 42mm bar capacity and a main spindle powered by a 7.5kW 5,000rev/min drive; the sub-spindle has a 32mm collet capacity and a 3.5kW 5,000rev/min motor. The main eight-station turret has a Y-axis cross-feed and a half-index facility that allows up to 16 tools to be used.

Meanwhile, the second independent sub-turret has six stations and allows simultaneous overlapped back-working in conjunction with the main turret; it accommodates up to three turning tools and three driven tools.