Mallorca, testing the Palace

Product testing is a funny old game. From the moment you receive the first 3D incarnation of a product you’ve designed, there is always a niggling doubt; ‘will it work? Will it ride how we intended? Did we get it right.’

As befits bikes named after rides, locations and races close to our HQ and home, the majority of testing gets done on local roads but we know that they will see adventures far from the lanes of Kent and Surrey, so they need to perform there too. Truth be told, nothing tests a bike as well as a long, technical descent - and for that, you need mountains. Real, big ones. With winding serpentine roads. In other words, you need to wrap the bike in bubble wrap, leave it at the mercy of the baggage handlers, and get on a plane. Over the summer, we did just that and ventured for a week in the boiling Balearic sunshine of Mallorca. A destination so perfect, one Bradley Wiggins once described it as “like a theme park for bikes”.

Over the last 2o plus years we have spent countless hours covering the roads on this cycling hotspot, so it almost counts as being local - or at least a known entity. We had the company of a dear old friend and head of Customer service at Vulpine, Jon Knight for our forays over the mountains. As you might expect, and as we hoped given the testing nature of the trip, a grand time was had by all. We thought we’d share a few images from the week with you, so here are a few stolen moments from the Pig, Soller, and places in between.

With some time spent on an early prototype in Italy, and the button pretty much pushed, the trip went well, and we could rest happily knowing that the Palace frames are everything we hoped for. With great handling at their heart. Gracias Mallorca, it was muy bien.