Shingleback Off Road, a manufacturer of vertical bike racks, is championing Australian-made authenticity as it fights copycat rivals. The Beechworth-based company has built a thriving business by solving problems that existing products could not handle under Australian conditions.
Real Australian conditions
Being Australian-made means being real for Shingleback Off Road. This applies both to being made to suit real Australian conditions and having genuine Aussie users advocate for their products. The company's first rack, the Shingleback Classic, was launched in 2016 after innovator and founder Andrew Taylor found that existing options for transporting multiple bikes were not meeting expectations. He and his wife Kimberley co-founded the business to change that.
“They were clunky, slow to load, didn’t live up to their claims and often caused damage to the bikes themselves,” Kimberley Taylor says. “Rather than work around those limitations, Andrew set out to rethink the design entirely.”
Innovative design
He created a rack that can carry up to six bikes, hold them securely by the wheels, and is quick and easy to load. “As the original innovators of vertical bike racks in Australia, we were first to bring this style of rack to market locally. That experience means we understand exactly why each design detail matters to performance – and that level of detail is difficult to replicate.”
However, a significant business challenge is protecting their intellectual property from those who do try to copy their designs. These include five vertical bike racks, a trailer, and various accessories.
Customer research
Taylor encourages customers to research any product they are purchasing and analyse customer feedback. “There’s a growing number of brands relying heavily on paid influencer marketing rather than genuine, long-term user feedback,” she says. “Unfortunately, that can mean quality and safety are sometimes secondary to profit. We choose to be Australian-made, and to use Australian-made materials, so we can stand behind a product that is high quality, reliable, and safe to put on the back of your vehicle. We’ve now been trusted by thousands of customers across Australia, and that trust comes from consistently delivering a product that does what it’s designed to do.”
Local employment
Shingleback Off Road directly employs a small team in Beechworth, Victoria, then partners with local manufacturing and supply businesses that are predominantly located in Wangaratta. Taylor says this enables them to stay closely connected to the production process, maintain a high standard of quality, and contribute to the strength of the local industry.
