DISTRIBUTOR IN THE SPOTLIGHT

MERIDA UK started in Jan ’95. Tim Buxton was the founder of MERIDA UK. He met Ike Tseng in 1972, when he was selling Sturmey Archer hubs in Taiwan. Sturmey Archer was owned by Raleigh, so the reason MERIDA is based in Nottingham is because Raleigh was in Nottingham. Raleigh bikes were one of the first brands MERIDA made, some of the original photos show the Raleigh logo over the MERIDA factory. Tim originally worked for Raleigh, he then set up Giant UK before setting up MERIDA UK, both based in Nottingham. The legend is that the factory layout in Taiwan is based on the old Raleigh factory layout, which dictates the flow of work.

I think it is fair to say I got into the industry by accident. My dad was a time trialist and dabbled in some road racing. He had his old steel racing bike in the garage that I brought back to life when I was 14, and I started riding. I got the bug time trialling with a local club. This is how I met my best riding buddy, and we have been riding together ever since (for 40 years!).

So, although I was a cyclist, my first job was with Boots a large national pharmacy retailer in the UK, working with sales of hairdryers, shavers and even feminine hygiene products! I then transferred to a retailer called Halfords, which was owned by Boots. Halfords is a huge auto parts retailer selling car paint, accessories etc, but they are also the biggest retailer of bikes in the UK. It was known I was a cyclist as I sometimes cycled into work and walked through reception in my Lycra and clicky road shoes. So, I was offered the position of bike buyer for Halfords because I had an awareness for what cyclists want and what the sport was about.

I am usually first in the office, and my routine is very important for staff morale, I switch the coffee machine on and clean it and prepare it for a hard day’s work! While it is warming up, I empty the dishwasher. I have my first coffee of the day from my personalised ‘I love spreadsheets’ mug, and then I am ready to face whatever the day throws at me. The mug is no joke – I do love a spreadsheet and have one for just about everything. We often joke about what it will say on my gravestone: ‘I didn’t have a spreadsheet for that’.

I like to get out on the road regularly to see our dealers which are planned/structured days. I try to be proactive as much as I can, but I do also spend a lot of time being reactionary to whatever comes across my desk needing my attention. This can be very varied as it includes overseeing our nine members of staff in the office and six area sales managers out on the road.

It definitely helps to be a cyclist as I can understand some of our customer’s motivations. My passion is road riding, so if I am talking about that, I can get quite animated. However, I know my limitations I am often in awe of Andrew, one of our sales team who lives, breathes, and obviously also rides enduro bikes and e-bikes. When he is talking in full flow, it is a force to behold! So, on our bike demonstration days I am very happy being the jet wash man cleaning the bikes as I know my place!

You will occasionally see me on a mountain bike, for specific events such as THE MERIDA EX enduro event in Exmoor every year. We sponsor this fantastic event, and my job (along with Michael Wilkens, the event organiser) is to ride the course after the last rider, taking the tape and signs down. We also used to sponsor the MERIDA Marathons for many years, and again, I would often ride the event myself. But at heart I am really a roadie.

I guess MERIDA UK is significant as it is largely owned by MIC (MERIDA Industry Co.) in Taiwan. To me, MERIDA, the company, has a family feel and I always joke that I am ‘allowed to play with the train set’; so, it is Michael’s (Tseng) money, and I just look after it. This, of course, comes with an awesome responsibility, but I am lucky enough to be running a multi-million-pound business with their support. We are perhaps one of the more data-driven distributors, I try to feedback to the R&D team in Germany and management in Taiwan (on my spreadsheets!) on what the market is doing, where it is heading and what we can do to play our role in it.

The current BIG.TRAIL was almost an accidental invention. It started with a conversation over a few beers between MERIDA UK employees and some dealers discussing what the ideal UK trail bike would look like. Our four key ingredients were 140 mm fork, boost axles, dropper seat post and 1x transmission. The great thing about MERIDA is openness in that the R&D team listened and came back with the first specification. This needed a bit of tweaking, but we got there in the end, hitting the brief at the right price point. BIG.TRAIL is an excellent example of the success that can be achieved by ‘listening to the market’ as it wowed the press, was a huge success in the UK and went on to become a success outside the UK as well.

We don’t sell directly to the public, so our customers are bike shops. One of Ike Tseng’s founding principles was “If someone can do something better or cheaper than you, then work with them”. Our expertise is in distribution, getting the bikes to the dealers, and their expertise is in selling the bikes to the public. We don’t intend to sell directly to the public, our focus is purely on supporting our dealers, so we aim to keep doing what we do now but keep getting better at it. There is huge expense associated with carrying the amount of stock we have but we do this to make life as easy as possible for our dealers. They can order what they need when they need it and have it delivered within 48 hours. The dealers don’t have a crystal ball to know what stock they are likely to need in 18 months’ time. Guessing can be a risky business, so we can cover this uncertainty for them, which gives them security that is invaluable in the current climate. MERIDA is a long-term business, so all about steady growth, MERIDA support me to be able to support my dealers in building and maintaining strong long-term relationships.

The MERIDA MTB Marathons (2005-2009) were our first marketing activity and way more than just a sponsorship, we got so much more out of it than just the exposure to the people taking part in the events. We arrived in the Pro peloton with Lampre MERIDA in 2013 which helped to drive our road bike sales. The 2017 eONE-SIXTY 900e was a game changer. We were late to the e-bike party but when we arrived, we were the best thing at the party. It was the most influential bike in our history, scoring test win after test win. We have the bike on display upstairs that Steve Jones, the journalist from Dirt magazine, tested and famously said, “So, have MERIDA nailed it?” ……. “Too bloody right they have!” This bike brought people to MERIDA and then the rest of the range we had to offer.

The rollercoaster impact of the Covid pandemic set us apart from competitors.  We refused to take on new dealers from June ’20 as we realised people were running out of stock and recognised, we had to protect the people who were loyal to us. We were lucky to be able to cancel some production orders, and we encouraged our dealers to cancel orders too, to protect them from overstocking. Coming out of Covid I think this honesty and loyalty have been recognised by our customers.

We have a little ‘museum’, the eONE-SIXTY 900e we just talked about sits next to a DAKAR 620, the first bike Tim ever imported (in 1995), which he got for his son. Then there is a PC500 Pedcon, a really early e-bike from 1998. One of my first jobs, when I joined MERIDA, was going out on it every day at lunchtimes to test the exact range it could deliver.

After me it would be James our sales manager covering Scotland, he has been with us for 16 years. Then Charlotte, our General Manager, followed by Dave, who you will be talking to shortly, who has been with me ten years.

I hope people stay here a long time as it is a nice place to work! It is a healthy and secure business (especially in the current turbulent times in the industry). We aren’t slaves to sales targets; we work as a team to read the market and make sure we are making the rights decisions. I sent a Christmas message to one of our field sales team thanking him for his hard work in finding new customers in his region. He replied, saying, “MERIDA makes it so easy”, I thought that was a lovely thing to hear.

I am a self-confessed petrolhead, but only driving or watching, as I am not blessed with mechanical talents. In fact, back in my days at Halfords my colleagues banned me from doing anything mechanical on my bikes. As you can see from the photos of my bike, I am also not very good at keeping them clean either! My other passion is footwear, my favourite brand is Jeffery West. Today I am wearing brown Wingtip Brogue Chelsea boots, they are my guilty pleasure…apart from my cars.

I think we are perceived as a full-line supplier and a premium independent bike dealer brand but with realistic pricing. We are also recognised as producing sustainable bikes, the factory won’t sign off a cheap bike, everything is to a high specification and tested beyond industry standards; so, ‘buy cheap buy twice’ is definitely NOT our strapline!

The SILEX is certainly one of them. It very quickly established itself as a super versatile bike, which was far more than just a gravel machine. Today, we see riders use the SILEX for everything from fitness rides, touring, commuting and, of course, gravel riding and bike packing. It certainly filled the gap and opened up new markets. Of course, we need to mention the BIG.TRAIL. It continues to do well to the extent we almost take it for granted now!

Finally, I would say the ONE-FORTY and ONE-SIXTY really changed people’s perception of our brand. They both won Bikeradar’s Bike of the Year award in 2023 and certainly helped MERIDA to became one of the ‘cool kids in the playground’.

I LOVE the REACTO, and I have had every generation of it - I am, after all, a roadie! The first NINETY-SIX carbon was also one of my favourites as it was super-fast and light so I could do technical stuff on it even with my limited off-road skills.

So, my main addition to my REACTO is the mud I have added from riding it a lot and not cleaning it much. The other addition is a saddlebag which is very controversial on an aero bike – I imagine I will get stick for admitting that!

The Covid pandemic had a massive impact on the cycling industry, and we are still recovering from it. During the pandemic, our usual way of doing business was turned on its head. There was a huge demand for bikes because of the restrictions on people’s leisure time, everyone wanted a bike. At the same time supply chains were emptied, container transport was restricted, and production was limited. Lead times for production extended up to 2 years, whereas normally it would be 4-5 months. It was the perfect storm! Orders needed to be placed so far in advance that it was impossible to know if the high levels of demand would be maintained. Unfortunately, many companies placed large orders, which arrived, just as there was a reduction in demand as things went back to normal. Heavy discounting followed as companies struggled to pay for the stock which puts pressure on everyone selling bikes and inevitably bankruptcies have occurred. More consolidation is inevitable, the industry is struggling profit-wise; dealers due to the discounting and distributors due to the large amount of stock they are carrying. It will take the industry a while longer to completely get back on its feet.

We used to have Pizza Fridays every week, but this became difficult during Covid so now we have a celebratory lamb wrap for special occasions in the office. In fact, I realised I missed our 30^th anniversary recently so I will be bringing in cake tomorrow to make up for it. We also make sure when the field staff are here, that we all go out in the evening to spend time together socially.

We mainly work with people who are affiliated with our dealers, such as Callum McBain, who is associated with the Cycle Highlands shop. He won silver at the Scottish downhill on a ONE-SIXTY enduro bike, so he managed to outride people on much bigger ‘downhill’ bikes. We have just taken on Ben Miller, who is affiliated with BW Cycling in Bristol, he rides a SCULTURA 10K, competing in hill climb championships and other road events.

Have fun! I think cycling has become very data-driven (which I love of course) as I am currently spending hours in my garage on Zwift preparing for the full Mallorca 312 and Marmotte this year. For me, there is a perverse enjoyment in this intense training and, of course, I know it will all be worth it when I am riding in the sunshine of Majorca. But this is so different from the riding I did when I was younger where I rode for miles and miles but very slowly! We never stopped for coffee back then, as that was seen as wasting time. Now my outdoor rides are more or less based around where we will be stopping for coffee and cake. So again, it comes back to the social aspect and having fun.

I would go to Majorca as I have been going there once or twice a year since I was 18. Taiwan is my spiritual home, but Majorca is my cycling spiritual home. I would take my two best riding buddies as riding somewhere I love with people I love is the best way I can think of to enjoy life.