Manchester bike manufacturer sponsors national tour

The world’s biggest bicycle manufacturer, Indian-owned Hero Cycles, has announced that its Manchester-based UK-operation, Avocet UK, will be headline sponsor of this year’s StreetVelodrome tour.

StreetVelodrome is a national initiative designed to encourage families to take up cycling.

The concept takes the form of a ‘pop up’ velodrome touring cities in the UK and Ireland.

A series of competitive races take place at the velodrome featuring top professional riders as well as amateurs and children.

The events are free and open to the public to spectate, or take part in races, with bikes, equipment and professional instruction all supplied by the StreetVelodrome team.

This year the tour visits venues in and around Dublin from June 10 to June 16, Ballymena in Northern Ireland on June 10, Wigan July 12 to 15, with the super finals taking place at Canary Wharf in London on August 14 and 16.

Avocet UK’s headline sponsorship is under its new Insync range of bikes, launched at Old Trafford football ground in May.

Insync bikes have been designed at Hero’s new £2m global design centre in Manchester’s Central Park. All bikes at the StreetVelodrome events will be from the new Insync range.

Avocet chief executive Sreeram Venkateswaran said the StreetVelodrome series fitted the objectives of the new Insync range, which is aimed at making cycling as a sport accessible to all.

“We have sponsored StreetVelodrome before with our Viking range of bikes, but this year we wanted to do more,” he said.

“StreetVelodrome is a great fit for our values, particularly encouraging more families into cycling.

“Health and wellbeing are increasingly important for families and cycling is seen as a great way to spend quality time together escaping stress, polluted cities and improving fitness.

“The new Insync range is the first designed by our new global design centre and a lot of time and passion has been invested in designing bikes for all members of the family.”

Mr Venkateswaran said an important element of the StreetVelodrome series is the Cycling Futures schools programme: “We’re delighted to see our DeNovo range as the official partner of Cycling Futures,” he said.

“The Cycling Futures programme will visit primary schools as part of the StreetVelodrome tour.

“This will see schools given cycling resource packs and we will deliver inspirational cycling experiences, including visits by Insync ambassador and three-time BMX world champion Shanaze Reade.

“We are fully behind Cycling Futures’ campaign to make cycling part of the national curriculum like other sports.

“If we can encourage more young people into cycling there are many benefits, from fitness to mental health, to reducing pollution and congestion on our roads.”

Carl Thompson, event director at Cube Management, organisers of StreetVelodrome said: “It is wonderful to be partnering once again with Hero Cycles as we head into another summer of exciting StreetVelodrome tours.

“Hero Cycles has the ability to support the full extent of our programme. We are the world’s most accessible cycle sport, offering equal opportunities for adults, children, male, female, professional and beginners alike.”