UpShift clients, projects & collaborations

Gates is the benchmark belt drive system globally. Getting it specified, sold, and supported correctly requires owning the entire value chain; engineering, spec,  production, retail and aftersales.

At OEM level: I do spec guidance, design engineering consulting, support production setup and full commercialisation. Guiding product managers through selection decisions, ensuring implementation quality, and training assembly crews hands-on. 

Then, the retail link: Building and training shop networks to sell and support with conviction and competence

Result: € Multimillion OEM partnerships across France, Spain, and Benelux, with low inherent warranty returns. Meanwhile, I activated 1,500+ shops in Europe.

Finalized contract project as GM/VP of Eddy Merckx Cycles' USA business unit.  

I managed a major strategic pivot, transitioning the brand from a consumer-direct EU-supplied drop-ship webshop to a multi-channel, US-based operation. I set up FCL imports, domestic stocking in a brand-run and operated warehouse & showroom,  and 3FT staff with a rep salesforce of 10. 

  Alongside the commercial build-out, I adapted many operations processes to North American market expectations (after-sales, payments, etc), bridging the cultural gap that causes many EU brands to falter. 

Result: 380% YoY value growth despite the B2C to B2B unit ASP value reduction inherent to the channel broadening strategy. Covering P&L + integration with HQ ERP.  

My opinions, insights and analysis have been published in Bicycle Retailer & Industry News (USA), SAZ Bike (DE), Cycling Industry News (UK) and BikeBiz (UK), four of the most widely read trade publications in the global cycling industry.

These invited editorial contributions cover strategy, current affairs, operations, product positioning, trade friction, market analysis, and distribution dynamics. They are not sponsored content or advertorial. 

This published voice reflects the same thinking I bring to client work: grounded in market reality, commercially sharp, and able to indicate what the data actually shows.

I also serve as a panel judge for the UK's annual BikeBiz Awards — one of the UK's most recognised peer evaluations.

Finalized contract project. I managed Niner bikes' European sales, marketing, HRM, and operations. 

Previous aftersales challenges had damaged dealer trust across the EU. I rebuilt those relationships from the ground up, re-engaging and recapturing many dealers who had written the brand off — turning historic liability into renewed allegiance and adding new shops for continent-wide reach. 

To support this, I expanded 3PL with local assembly operations, cutting costs, and improving ROIC by keeping close-to-market stock lean and agile.

Result: 600%+ growth, order values exceeding €1M/month, bolstered by 150+ press appearances annually, and the healthiest margins in the global operation. 

 Q-Rings were bold, highly VRIO yet risky technology entering a market deeply sceptical of non-circular chainrings. In this environment, aftersales failures were a retail brand credibility event. Market recon revealed that riders couldn't identify the subtle setup orientation marks under real-world conditions, undermining the technology's performance promise. 

A targeted design intervention amplified the markings, reducing after-sales calls by 30%. With confidence restored, we launched a B2C trust-boosting 30-day trial program immediately after.

Result: We saw return rates fall from ~15% to less than 3%. Parallel B2B-focused sales initiatives within the campaign increased retailers' stock by over 25% in Spain alone.  

 When 100k+ products in the field need intervention, execution quality is everything. A single process failure compounds across the entire batch as warranty cost, reputational damage, or regulatory exposure.

For Gates, I received a full mandate to design the intervention from scratch: tooling, workflows, staffing, QC systems, and structured reporting back to HQ.

For Huffy, I took an established protocol and owned execution quality and exit QC, ensuring what left the facility met the standard.

Result: Across both programs, I led crews of up to 10, executing in-market upgrades and QC checks: component substitution, motherboard replacement, dimensional checks, print verification, and packaging QC. The outcomes protected brand relationships, prevented chargebacks, and turned liabilities into a non-events.

Research project for E2 motor-gearbox product line (Ride 3/5/5+) in EU e-bike market. 

The eBike drive market is diverse but fickle; correct product placement is critical to boost ROIC probability. I developed a four-dataset triangulation methodology to establish OEM pricing recommendations, collecting anonymous data from 29 OEM product managers across the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, and France alongside competitive benchmarking of 32 component combinations. 

Result: I delivered product-tier pricing recommendations with confidence scoring and competitive positioning analysis. 

 client arrived with an ambitious subsidiary plan and the capital to fund it. Due diligence told a different story: declining domestic demand, chronic overstock at retail, and market conditions that couldn't sustain the original model without burning through reserves.

The honest move was to say so. I pivoted the project from a full retail and service subsidiary into a leaner, higher-ROIC combination of a curated national retail network and a targeted media exposure program.

Result: €1M in projected capital burn avoided over three years, top-tier industry exposure secured, and a 10-shop national retail network established and operating. The client got market presence, brand credibility, and capital preservation simultaneously.

Sometimes the most valuable advice is knowing when not to build what was planned. 

Finalized consulting project.  Working together with Kruitbosch's talented internal crew on organisational troubleshooting to boost export sales of Kruitbosch parts and their price-quality Cortina bike brand.

 Project delivered an organisational re-design: A sprint business transformation with the creation of a new customer-centric HQ-based workgroup to ensure export success. 

I collaborated on the analysis, troubleshooting, and project design, integrating input from key stakeholders. 

Result: A new inside/outside export sales department that allowed scaling to thousands of bikes a year, and the opening of notable spare parts accounts. 

Getting Bosch specified and integrated correctly is genuinely complex work that new OEM product teams underestimate.

Working with Universal Transmissions, I develop and support OEM customers at 300–500 unit annual volumes through the full specification and launch process, covering highly technical parts selection across Bosch's system ecosystem, precise motor and battery positioning decisions, and ensuring the complete integration is commercially viable and launch-ready.

These are not off-the-shelf installations. Each client requires hands-on engineering guidance and product team coaching to get from concept to a bike that performs, sells, and doesn't come back.

Result (confidential)

I helped design QO's global brand launch and GTM strategy, establishing multiple global distributors and boutique OEM brand deals. 

My brand launch press release reached top-level circulation in cycling's global A-Grade publications, with significant impact.  This work contributed to a perceived quality foundation that supported the holding company's reputational move toward a NYSE IPO. 

Result: I have established many of the brand's highest allegiance distributors, and achieved the highest impact media publications.  

 Bottom bracket standards had fragmented into chaos: BSA, BB86, BB30, PF30, and dozens of variants left shops unable to identify what they were even looking at, let alone sell confidently. 

I developed a turnkey BB identification flowchart and portfolio guide, translating technical complexity into a tool shops could use at the counter in seconds. 

Working with Morato + Infinito on graphic design, the result was a print-ready resource adopted by hundreds of shops.

Result: a 30%+ uplift in BB portfolio sales within a single quarter, together with a 7% uplift in crank sales.