Joining Maxxis UK from Raleigh’s parts and accessories division, and with 8 years’ experience in bicycle consumer retail and brand marketing, Stephen Robinson has been tasked with expanding the brand’s position in the cycle market by harnessing the popularity and credibility of Maxxis’ mountain bike and downhill tyres. It is believed better awareness of the brand’s offering and advantages in other segments of the market, including road racing, hybrid, fat bikes and BMX, will lead to a significant increase in overall sales. 

Maxxis already dominates the mountain bike tyre market segment, confirmed by recent research conducted by Pink Bike which highlighted 60 per cent of consumers looking to replace their mountain bike tyres intended to purchase Maxxis models. With Stephen now on board in the newly created role, a strategic consumer brand awareness campaign – likely to include several high profile sponsorship deals – will soon be underway.

Managing director of Maxxis UK, Derek McMartin, said that Stephen’s appointment “shows that we mean business when it comes to dominating the UK bicycle tyre market.” Derek continues: “There’s no doubt that Maxxis is the tyre of choice for mountain bikers and the brand’s reputation when it comes to downhill is second to none. Although the quality and competency of our road, fat, BMX and hybrid models are of equal merit – historically there’s been somewhat of a disconnect with the consumer. There’s limited awareness of our brand and of the various models available for each segment of the bicycle market. With Stephen now at the helm, driving our bicycle offering forward, I’m confident we’ll gain a well-deserved, significant market share in the coming years.”

Stephen adds: “As a mountain bike and road bike enthusiast myself, and after working for one of the UK’s most iconic bicycle brands for the last three years, I’m well aware of the range and quality of Maxxis’ offering. However, we recognise that this isn’t representative of your typical consumer. Whereas traditionally we’ve relied upon word of mouth and reputation marketing – along with a reliance on a distributor network, rather than selling direct to consumers – with the market becoming more and more competitive, now is the time to make some noise and shake up the market.

“We’ve got a range of great quality products but people won’t buy them if they don’t know they exist. Understanding the consumer and the journey they take from initial awareness to purchase is key to making a brand click. Promoting the brand and its entire offering is a really exciting challenge to be taking on and I’m looking forward to unveiling some high profile sponsorship deals before the year’s out.”

Adding to the sentiments expressed by both Derek and Stephen, Steve Davey, the managing director of Extra UK–  who stock and distribute the Maxxis’ bicycle tyre range in the UK- said: ‘”The demand for Maxxis across our dealer network continues to grow due to the strength of the brand in off road biking.

“We see Stephen’s appointment as an excellent addition to the Maxxis team to help not only in driving further off road opportunity but to encourage development of Maxxis within the road, bmx, hybrid and fat bike categories, supported by the sponsorship agreements Stephen is finalising for 2016. We are proud to be a part of this exciting phase and look forward to working with Maxxis to carve out a significant market share across all categories in the coming years.”

Maxxis bicycle tyres will remain available to purchase via distributor, Extra UK. For more information, please visit: http://www.extrauk.co.uk/ or http://www.maxxis.co.uk/tyres/cycle