In 10 years from kitchen table to global brand

We’ve all been there, razzing down a rock strewn singletrack at Mach 1. Full focus on the trail and not a single worry on your mind. At those speeds you don’t think about work, mortgage payments or any impending doom that you can imagine. Right up until the moment you hear that loud, nasty TIC! The sound of pebble (or rock) spinning from the front tire right into the downtube of your precious frame.Heart rates spike and your mind gets filled with conflicting thoughts. You need to stop to check out the damage, but you don’t want to stop and check the damage. 

Ten years ago, this nightmare scenario was running through the mind of Lee as he was looking at the brand new shiny Yeti Carbon bike that he just bought. It was one of those ‘my bank says no, but I’m buying it anyway’ moves, purchasing a vehicle for joy and escape with the support of 0% finance. Chuffed with his new pride and joy, he wanted to make sure to protect it from the elements as much as possible. 

As Lee was working in the automotive vinyl wrapping business, he decided to use some clear vinyl wrap to protect his frame. Being the perfectionist that he is, he spent a lot of time on the details to make sure 99% of the frame was covered and protected. Not an easy feat with the complexity of a full suspension mountain bike. 

When showing up at his local riding spot his friends were in awe of the job he had done and obviously the first thing they asked was: “can you make a kit for my bike?” So, the kitchen table got cleared and he spent evenings and weekends making kits for friends as a side project next to a fulltime job. 

One of his good friends is Sandy Plenty, owner of the legendary Trailhead bike shop in Shrewsbury. He immediately saw the value in the invisiFRAME  kits. Not only was it a  good item to sell with every new bike he sold, it also made it a lot easier for him to trade in and re-sell second hand rides. Basically once you peeled off the invisiFRAME  kit, you’d find the frame underneath was in an immaculate condition. 

Chaos in the Kitchen

The idea caught on quickly, and soon Lee’s house was filled with customers' bikes waiting to be ‘invisiFRAME d’. With the expansion of the family with two kids, there was no extra room in the house for his ‘hobby’. So for the first few years it was the kitchen and living room that acted as the headquarters and production hall. 

At the same time, riders, shops and bike brands caught on to invisiFRAME s’ products. Many brands decided to kit out their demo fleets to make sure they stayed looking fresh, and several shops started copying The Trailheads strategy for improving their second hand sales.

In order to have the highest quality coverage possible, the design phase makes the biggest difference. Lee would spend hours on figuring out the best shapes and cuts to make for covering the frames and when a new model was released, he was calling distributors and shops around the country to get his hands on a frame so he could create the template. 

Although great when looking back at those first few years, it was a milestone once invisiFRAME  managed to get a separate facility. This not only freed up some extra living space in the house, but also gave space to invest in better equipment to be able to produce more kits in a shorter amount of time. 

Stealing workforce from the NHS 

The business kept on growing, and these days he is in close contact with all the major brands. On many occasions, he will already receive information and dimensions of the new models even prior to them being released to the general public. 

This amount of success does come with a price, and at one point he could no longer manage the entire business by himself. His wife Vicky, until then a nurse with the NHS, decided to make the leap and jump to the rescue. Taking over the day-to-day operations of the business, her entry to the company gave Lee more time to work on what he loves most, the design and improvement of the product. 

After being a full time nurse and mother for several years, managing a company comes as second nature. She quickly realized that it would take more people to keep invisiFRAME  growing and hired friends and relatives to keep the wheels in motion. 

With more people than ever with the company, it was time to expand the range of products. Besides the proven self healing frame protection adhesives, nowadays invisiFRAME  is a large player in bike customisation. Offering frame and fork decals in many different color options to customize your ride. And if you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can always email their graphics department directly with your idea. They love a custom challenge! 

Path to World Domination

A decade in, invisiFRAME  is still going strong and this year they set up a partnership with XPEL, a global player in the paint protection industry. XPEL is the leading brand in the automotive industry, supplying protective films for super cars, Indycars, Nascars and other racing vehicles. Not only will invisiFRAME  benefit from the latest technologies in water and dirt repellant self healing films, but they will also have access to XPELs’ global network of distributors and dealers, invisiFRAME  will now be able to supply their products worldwide. 

Currently Invistrame counts about 10 employees, but over time it is sure to expand even further. One thing that will not change is Lee handling the R&D and engineering side of the business, and his wife Vicky steering the ship.

By IMB

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