About
Shedfire is a design company based in Calderdale, Yorkshire. I am Brant Richards, and consult for various companies around the world, mostly in the area of bike, frame and component design.
I got a mountain bike in 1986, and soon after got a Saturday job at Two Wheels Good a bikeshop in Leeds. Working there too was John Stevenson, who started writing for Mountainbiking UK soon after they launched. I started doing a few product tests for him, and ended up as Technical Editor there, whilst doing my degree in Engineering at Huddersfield University (OK, it was a Poly when I started, but hey).
Narrowly failing to get a placement at Fat City Cycles for my year out, I stayed in the UK and wrote Mountainbike Maintenance and Repair , or rather finished it, cos John (Stevenson) started it but sort of couldn’t be bothered finishing it up.
I continued freelancing on books and magazines for whoever paid me, mostly working for Future Publishing, until in the summer of 1996 I was approached by IPC magazines to work on a new title for them. That title was MBR magazine, which I worked on for two years before leaving with new publishing start ups Cabal Communications, where I was Editor In Chief on the launch of FRONT magazine, and then the relaunch of Maximum Mountainbike.
I left Cabal to work for Magicalia Ltd as launch Editor for Bikemagic, and left them under somewhat of a cloud (disagreement about editorial direction) to start On-One with Dave Loughran, running as a web-only brand alongside Planet X.
In Feb 2009, I left On-One and Planet X to set up Shedfire as a design company.
In May 2009, I launched bike brand Ragley (named after the woods we ride in Hebden Bridge). I also consult for NukeProof Components.
I’m married to Jo, and have 5 children, Lucinda, Toby, Esme, Grace and Kitt. We also have a dog, Folly, a rescue greyhound, three guinea pigs (Gizmo, Daisy and Piglet).
I live in Walsden, outside Todmorden, in Calderdale, England.