Swobo, the semi-legendary Californian clothing brand that branched out into bikes a few years back, looks set to have a higher profile in the UK as BMX/skate specialist Shiner takes over distribution within these shores. Bristol-based Shiner showed a range of Swobo products at the recent Cycle Show and, according to MD Chris Allen, experienced an “overwhelming” response.

Tim Parr, founder and President of Swobo says, “We’ve been nursing a fair amount of bottled up demand from the UK over the last several years, and it’s nice to have an established partner who sees the future of cycling as we do. So much is changing right now in bicycles, that it’s going to take some creative energy to get the type of distribution Swobo is looking for. The time is right now, and Shiner fit the bill perfectly. They totally understand the Lifestyle vision that Swobo has been driving for the last 17 years.”

Swobo’s clothing range may well be familiar to many – there’s lots of Merino wool for riding and many t-shirts for not riding. The bike range is distinctly urban in flavour, but manages to be pretty varied all the same. The Dixon is a clearly MTB-influenced town bike using SRAM’s iMotion 9spd hub gear, while other bikes in the range are either cruisery, a bit traditional utility, “nufixie”, or classic road or combinations thereof. Our eye is particularly taken by the Crosby, which out of the box is a singlespeed cyclocross bike but has sliding dropouts and an optional derailleur hanger, so you could gear it up if you so wished.

Find out more at www.swobo.com or www.shinerbicycles.co.uk.