Cliff Polton, engineer and proprietor of Royce UK, continues to be ready for the spoke nipples he ordered from Italy almost 1 / 4 of a century in the past to reach. Tasked with constructing the wheels for Chris Boardman’s Athlete’s Hour Record try, he lastly gave up ready and made the particular spoke nipples himself.
“We’re engineers, we simply made them,” Polton, a lifelong engineer who turns 80 this 12 months, explains from his small enterprise premises on the sting of the New Forest, Hampshire, England.
Royce is a small British engineering firm, based in 1980, that has produced arguably among the most admired and highest-quality bicycle elements of the final 40 years. Royce’s advertising and marketing has all the time been minimal, there’s no social media, and you will have to choose the cellphone as much as make an order, however a status grew, and the agency’s easy but elegant silver hubs and backside brackets specifically have lengthy been regarded with reverence.
Polton’s ardour for his work is straight away evident. This similar ardour extends to pedal automobile racing, a department of the biking tree wherein Royce groups get pleasure from quite a lot of success. Polton, who nonetheless competes recurrently himself, proudly reveals a number of giant trophies within the workshop, in addition to his custom-made four-wheel pedal automobiles themselves.
The precedence at Royce is high quality engineering. In immediately’s market, Royce is among the final remaining bastions of small-scale, British engineering corporations making elements for the bicycle.
A dedication to high quality
Royce backside brackets and hubs have grow to be the corporate’s calling playing cards. Over the years, nevertheless, cranksets, chainrings, seatpost clamps, sprockets and quick-release levers have all been produced in addition to varied {custom} jobs, like some large 100+ enamel chainrings for varied land velocity file tasks. The firm’s day-to-day enterprise extends far past the biking world although, Polton explains that amongst different issues, he’s presently engaged on a job for the Ministry of Defence.
Royce even manufactured two beautiful-looking derailleurs in 1980 that have been impressed by Campagnolo tools of the time however designed to carry out even higher. The derailleurs by no means made full manufacturing, now misplaced, nobody is aware of the place the lacking pair presently are. A framed {photograph} in a hallway is the one proof of their existence.
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Polton explains there aren’t any tips in engineering and sums up the key to Royce’s success and longevity with an engineer’s pragmatism:
“We use the perfect supplies we will for the job, the tolerances are tighter than different folks’s, and we use the perfect bearings we will.”
Alongside the standard supplies, and really tight tolerances. Royce hubs, specifically, which use titanium hub axles, are polished till they shine. The easy ‘R” emblem on every hub shell does not must shout.
Royce orders are assembled or manufactured to order, so there are many particular person elements neatly stacked in elements bins within the upstairs meeting space, however not many full hubsets mendacity round. A drawer filled with fantastically machined titanium hub axles evidences this.
Royce’s vary toppers are the Racing Gold hubs, which carry a £1,200 price ticket. The hub shells are machined from titanium, then titanium nitride coated (a particular coating that may scale back friction), after which extremely polished.
Royce makes use of NTN bearings completely and their exacting shut manufacturing tolerances imply that bearings will final a very long time. Bearings are one factor Royce does not produce.
“We could not manufacture bearings. Millions of kilos go into making equipment to make bearings, so we purchase the perfect bearings we will.”
Polton admitted to turning into disenchanted with some bicycle part designs during the last decade or so, believing many fashionable hub or backside bracket designs do not enhance on what has gone earlier than. This extends to the excitement round ceramic bearings.
“At over 20,000 RPM, ceramic bearings are nice. Now, cyclists aren’t revving over 20,000 RPM. Buy good bearings with correct seals if you wish to hold them clear. Why spend 100-odd quid for a bearing, when you should purchase one for £8, you are gaining nothing, perhaps a few grams.
“I’d somewhat promote a backside bracket to anyone. Sell considered one of our axles to anyone, and know that in 5 years, it’s going to nonetheless be operating clean. I do not wish to have to switch bearings after six months.”
Though it hasn’t been extensively adopted, Polton is happy with the tri-lobe backside bracket axle commonplace, which makes use of the identical taper angle as a daily – and much more widespread – sq. taper design however is stronger and supplies a stiffer platform because of the flexibility to make use of extra materials. Polton defined the inspiration got here from an element on a German tank that used an identical design philosophy.
Ridden and raced by the perfect
Over the years, loads of the sports activities champions have used Royce tools, and the model turned the go-to title for backside brackets and drivetrain elements from the ’80s into the 2000s.
Despite this, the corporate hasn’t felt the necessity or want to embrace fashionable requirements and does not promote as many hubs or backside brackets now. Royce’s zenith was in all probability within the period of sq. taper backside brackets and non-disc hubs.
Royce labored with world and Olympic highway race champion Nicole Cooke within the earlier a part of her profession, producing particular backside brackets and even backside bracket shells for the Welsh rider. She stays in contact all these years later.
Sean Yates used Royce’s backside brackets in his bikes for sure races too, time trials specifically, and defined Royce was virtually taking good care of marginal good points for riders lengthy earlier than ‘marginal good points’ was a factor.
“Nowadays there are 101 several types of backside brackets,” Yates instructed Cyclingnews. “Twenty-odd years in the past, to my data, there weren’t many corporations doing actual bespoke merchandise for racing.
“I needed to have the perfect tools accessible. Being a British firm, it was all the time good to help the homegrown expertise, they have been actually making an attempt to develop a product that was top-level. It’s a labour of affection and so they [Royce] take actual delight of their product.”
Phillipa York is one other rider who says Royce was the model to make use of for giant races and echoed Yate’s views on upgraded elements being the attraction.
“At the time, Royce produced top-quality elements that have been lighter than the mainstream choices. They had titanium upgrades for backside brackets which I utilized in my race bikes every time potential and their hubs went into the wheels Pete Matthews [a British wheel builder] constructed for me when it was mountains or championships.”
Royce additionally had an curiosity in mountain bike elements within the mid to late ’90s, a key time within the development of the game which is so much youthful than highway racing.
Royce had a number of home race groups within the UK which it sponsored and offered elements for, with family title pro-riders like Steve Peat and Rob Warner amongst its customers.
Jam Price, a British-based racer and mechanic raced for the groups and remembers the time fondly.
“It was laid again, all the time supportive, with out strain to get outcomes so long as we loved it and represented Royce in the precise approach.
“I all the time felt Cliff handled me like a son, he was all the time there for a chat in addition to the bike stuff.”
There is a definite lack of fanfare or self-promotion relating to Royce’s historical past. The firm has a storied previous that you just really feel some manufacturers would dine out on again and again. Polton values relationships, friendships and serving to fellow cyclists do their factor over any private accolades and admits he has forgotten loads of the previous tales.
The firm produced the hubs, spoke nipples and different elements for Chris Boardman’s Hour Record wheels, offering three units in complete as spares have been wanted. What’s attention-grabbing right here is that Boardman rode with an influence meter even then, and used the Mavic Comete disc and iO five-spoke combo in races. He would have recognized the wattage distinction between a disc and five-spoke and the standard wheels the file guidelines demanded, Royce was the reply when it got here to saving some watts.
History apart, Royce elements are nonetheless being ridden on the highest degree even immediately. Team GB approached Royce and Polton for drivetrain concepts forward of the 2021 Olympic Games.
As we discuss, Polton produces a delicate drawstring bag, within which is a gorgeous, shining gold observe sprocket. It was produced, he says, for the Great Britain Cycling crew for the Olympic Games in 2021. Study pictures from Paris 2024, and the sprockets getting used look very comparable.
“It’s manufactured from titanium,” he started. “It’s then titanium nitride coated, which is thrice more durable than carbide, so it is obtained a really slippery floor. The pitch is three-eighths of an inch, as a substitute of half an inch. It makes use of a roller-type chain, which allows the chain to go over extra freely.”
A framed rainbow jersey additionally hangs proudly on show on the workshop stairs, it was gained by Paris Paralympic Individual Pursuit champion and a number of world observe champion Jozef Metelka who makes use of Royce tools on his observe bikes. Polton pulls open a field and divulges a ceremonial Kimono awarded to winners on the 2021 Tokyo video games, Metelka delivered it personally and the 2 mates then went for a pint.
The hearth burns on
There could be lower than a handful of producers producing bicycle hubs in Britain now. There is Royce after all and Hope elements are all the time well-liked, however past that, there is not a lot to select from as of late.
After 40 years, the hearth appears to burn as vibrant as ever for Polton and he solutions with out hesitation on the point out of retirement.
“I’m not retiring. No.”
He additionally explains he has no plans to cease racing pedal automobiles anytime quickly, one other nice ardour.
“I really like my racing. I really like racing with my daughter. I do the pedalling as nicely. Pedal automobile racing is completely nice.”
Decades of effort have gone into Polton’s work, and his efforts through the years have earned respect and friendship.
“I’ve performed the whole lot I wish to do, actually. I earn mates, they arrive and see me. We exit for a pint and fish and chips. I could not ask for extra actually.”
Polton is definitely conscious of each his and Royce’s legacy and the cyclists who’ve come to admire his elements through the years. He freely admits to not being a advertising and marketing man, engineering excellence was – and is – his solely concern.
“I like checking out issues with jobs, not checking out petty issues that do not actually matter to me. Everything may be made higher. All I wish to do is do a superb job. If I can enhance the effectivity of one thing, I’m happy.”