New UK distributor for Sunn Bicycles

Sunn Bicycles will soon be available in Britain. The French marque have made Jim Walker & Co their exclusive distributors in the UK and Ireland.

Details of the 2010 range will be released soon, and the bikes should be available through certain specialist dealers in October.

Martin Astley, product manager for Jim Walker, said: “We’re very excited to add Sunn to our portfolio. The brand appealed to us because it has a great history in real performance and high-quality products.

“We’ve been working with them to produce a very competitive range for the UK market and we’re very impressed with everything we’ve seen so far. The lineup for 2010 looks very strong and on a recent trip to France to test the bikes we were blown away by the performance!”

Clement Bonneau, marketing manager for Saint Gaudens-based Sunn, said: “As part of our International development, the UK market was key in terms of brand image and quality consumers. We’ve been working hard these past three years to bring Sunn back to the forefront of the bike industry by designing performance bikes and by supporting actively the racing scene.

“The opportunity to work with Jim Walker & Co turned up at a perfect time. We believe we share the same values for quality, performance and service. Most importantly, the Jim Walker & Co staff are passionate about mountain bikes and ride. Needless to say, we can’t wait to be back in the UK market with the up-and-coming 2010 collection!”

In their mid-1990s heyday, Sunn had some of the world’s finest riders on their race team, including 10-time world downhill champion Nicolas Vouilloz.

But founder Max Commencal was forced out in 1999 and when, soon afterwards, they filed for bankruptcy, no one expected them to resurface.

However, they reappeared a couple of years ago with a new incarnation of their classic Radical downhill bike, the Radical Plus. and a sorted-looking short-travel machine, the Kern.

Until now they’ve been difficult to get hold of outside of France, but the deal with Jim Walker should change that.