Long time BMX racer and former bmxultra.com team rider, Dane Anderson, had recently added manufacturer and product designer to his repertoire. After a lot of work in the background for a number of years Dane has finally launched Dane Design. Based in Geelong Australia Dane Design have kicked off with two models of locally manufactured head stems from locally sourced materials.

We asked Dane to give us a run down of his new venture.

As we all know a lot of parts come out of the same factory and have different brands etched/machined into them, then sold onto the consumer for top dollar, plus, the fact that Australian consumers are opting to buy overseas rather than sourcing parts from local retailers. Manufacturing in Geelong has dwindled down since the closure of the Ford factory, and I wanted to contribute to bringing work into local manufacturing, and helping the #ridelocalbuylocal initiative. All material and labour is sourced locally. I have had the idea of manufacturing parts for a long time, mainly because I found it hard to find parts that would suit my needs – e.g. stems. I had discussed this idea with some buddies and it stayed as an idea for quite some time. It wasn’t until I suffered my latest injury that I decided it was time to act.

Dane Design first started with a 61mm front load stem, that was specific to what I wanted to ride. It then grew to making stems to suit other riders and adding a “custom length” option.

So far, I have sent prototype stems out to Queensland and throughout Victoria for riders to test, and the feedback has been great. Both front load and top load stems are in their production phase and ready to go! So far, both stems come in 53mm, and 61mm with customer specific lengths available as a custom order. Finishes at this point will be brushed, polished or pewter.

Moving forward, there is a 31.8 stem in the design phase, to provide another option to those who run the popular box bars, and some chain tensioners that are not made out of aluminium, planning to offer Ti upgrades to all Dane Design parts, and some alternative finishing methods.

Distribution in Victoria will be through Russell Brown of the Rad Factory team (www.facebook.com/RADFactoryTeam), and I will manage interstate sales and enquiries.

With custom options you are bound to start seeing these stems pop up around the tracks at a rapid rate.

If you want to see more from Dane Design make sure you follow them on Instagram at @danedesigninc