Our Story
A decade of hard work to improve safety
Meet our team
Working for a safer world for all our children
Crispin Sinclair
FOUNDER AND CEO
Giulia Paladini
GENERAL MANAGER
Dan Leighton
COO
Russ Masters
HEAD OF SALES
EARLY BEGINNINGS
Founder Crispin Sinclair
About Crispin
Conker Bikes was founded by Crispin Sinclair, a lifelong cyclist inspired by his father, Sir Clive Sinclair.
A lifetime of invention
Sir Clive Sinclair was an English entrepreneur and inventor, best known as a pioneer of the computer industry – the Sinclair ZX80, ZX81 and ZX Spectrum line of computers were among the best selling in the world in the early 1980s, even outselling Apple computers at the time. Sir Clive’s computers, pocket calculators and digital watches can be found on permanent display in the London Science Museum and the National Museum of Computing among others - as well as the dedicated Sinclair Museum in Portugal (near where the European ZX Spectrum’s where manufactured): Museu LOAD ZX in Portugal. Currently there is also a film about Sir Clive on Amazon Prime called ‘The Rubber Keyed Wonder’
Sir Clive Sinclair
Crispin's favourite bike, which you will see elsewhere on our website and has been all over the world
(actually his second favourite bike
but his Argonaut bike is a grey colour!)
The seed of the idea
Raised in an environment shaped by invention, Crispin developed a practical, problem-solving approach from an early age. He has cycled across Europe, Asia and China and has been known to strip down and completely rebuild his own bikes.
A serious car accident and the birth of his children inspired him to bring safety to the world of cycling.
Early ideas for the future business
The problem we set out to solve
For more than a century, the basic toddler rear bike seat has changed very little. Plastic replaced wood and metal in the 1970s, but the child remained exposed.
Crispin believed cycling could follow the path of the automotive industry and make real safety progress through better design.
After hundreds of prototypes across bicycles, trailers, and child transport ideas, one problem stood out as the place where we should start: protecting children in rear-mounted seats. That has led to our first product the Conker Safety Seat, built around a protective shell and energy-absorbing foam to improve impact and weather protection.
The Conker Safety Seat is the first step in our wider mission to improve safety for children on bikes.
Our work has been recognised with the Innovator of the Show Award at The London Business Show, the UK’s largest business exhibition and the company is currently a finalist in the Cambridge Independent Science and Technology Awards 2026.
The Conker Seat's First Official Outing...
YouTuber Ride with Roy spent a day with us, Mum Laura, and hero of the hour and aspiring actress Taylor-Rose on a very wet afternoon to review the first ever production model of the Conker Seat. The delightful Taylor-Rose was the only one among us who was dry!
Speed testing on the Magog Hills
Aerodynamic testing
We modelled the Conker Seat using Computer CFD analysis which showed only a 3.5% increase in CdA - a remarkably small amount of extra drag.
We then conducted real-world tests on the Cambridge Gog Magog hills freewheeling down the hill both with and without the Conker Seat attached while keeping the weight identical on all runs.
We recorded an average of 21.4 mph without the Conker Seat, versus 21 mph with the seat. Only a 1.8% difference!
At normal child-carrying speed of 12 mph, this would mean a reduction to 11.4 mph - less than half a mile an hour difference.
Conclusion: Assuming an average size adult, the Conker Seat helps smooth the airflow around the child & is (very nearly...) aerodynamically neutral.
There is no comparison
When we look at a traditional child seat against the protection of a Conker Seat we wonder if we could ever go back.
Our Mission
To make cycling with young children safer and encourage more parents to get on their bicycles for everyday journeys.
Our Promise
- We focus on what matters - protection where it is needed, without unnecessary complexity.
- We will continue to improve our designs as we learn more.
- We will always be clear and honest about how our products perform.