The Innovation Station: B&M

If anyone was in any doubt that Scotland is one of the most forward thinking countries when when it comes to mountain biking, the recent signing of the Borderlands Inclusive Growth deal has just cemented it. 

The not-so-catchy title aside, part of the deal commits to spending £24 million squids on mountain biking in the Borders. Within this spending there is money for trail centres, potential bike parks and a mountain bike innovation centre.

Knowing where mountain biking innovates next is a tricky one. I don’t know about you but I think bikes are pretty damn good at the moment. There are still things to sort out but on the whole you’d be hard pushed to buy a bad bike – so how do you innovate from there? Given the Bangers and Mash crystal ball is currently on sabbatical, I’ll just have to take a punt myself. 

If I had to pick one thing, I think it would be punctures. Surely we could ‘innovate’ these out of mountain biking. Yes, things have improve dramatically, but the fact is that there is nothing more deflating (ha) than a puncture. 

Joking aside, this news shows the health of mountain biking at the moment. Hopefully this all works for the best and gives a blueprint for the economic power that bikes can have.   

HG