History for the Cyclist

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sk8salomon

sk8salomon

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
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147
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2,940
Location
Chattanooga, TN
Just bought a new Fuji Mtn. bike last week. Seeing the "Made-In-China" stickers all over it got me thinking... I asked my uncle, who has been in the bike industry since the early 70's, to give me some history.
In the 1950’s there were more than 50 USA bike manufacturers. Today I think that Trek in Wisconsin is the only USA manufacturer remaining. Cannondale may make a few but all have moved to China. Raleigh is no longer being made in Seattle. Most Fuji’s come from China but the very high end ones come from Japan. I also think the high end components also are made in Japan but most are made in Taiwan or China.

When I started in the bike biz in 1973 it was Huffy, Schwinn, Murray, Roadmaster, Royce Union, Kent, Columbia, Rollfast, AMF and a few more. Raleigh was made in England, Peugeot and Motobecane in France, Fuji in Japan and a few from Italy and Germany. It’s all changed.
 
dont forget about litespeed, santacruz, titus and seven, are all made here in the US of A
 
Rocky Mountain bikes are made in Vancouver BC.
 
I think waterford or Heron and serotta are still made in the US. Large scale manufacturing of high end bikes does not pay off in the US. Here's another bike manufacturer - www.antbikemike.com. I can probably find scores more - though they would represent probably less than 2000 bikes per year combined sales.

There are many small manufacturers - a lot of companies on your list sucked - huffy and murray among them - they are no great loss.

I look around my neighborhood and the only people I routinely see riding bikes are a few enthusiasts and the local day laborers. No kids on bikes. They all have playstation or their parents are paranoid about letting them outside. A generation of fat slovenly kids with twitchy fingers and red eyes...
 
sk8salomon said:
Just bought a new Fuji Mtn. bike last week. Seeing the "Made-In-China" stickers all over it got me thinking... I asked my uncle, who has been in the bike industry since the early 70's, to give me some history.
In the 1950’s there were more than 50 USA bike manufacturers. Today I think that Trek in Wisconsin is the only USA manufacturer remaining. Cannondale may make a few but all have moved to China. Raleigh is no longer being made in Seattle. Most Fuji’s come from China but the very high end ones come from Japan. I also think the high end components also are made in Japan but most are made in Taiwan or China.

When I started in the bike biz in 1973 it was Huffy, Schwinn, Murray, Roadmaster, Royce Union, Kent, Columbia, Rollfast, AMF and a few more. Raleigh was made in England, Peugeot and Motobecane in France, Fuji in Japan and a few from Italy and Germany. It’s all changed.
Click to expand...

Sadly, it has all changed. I just quit my job over at a bike shop where they carried, Fuji, Windsor, Motobecane, and a couple Beach Cruisers such as Mango and Electra. All the bikes were made in China or Taiwann. And you know what, most bikes are made over sea's, because the bike company's are outsourcing just like the rest of the corporate world. Anywho, I never sold a bike because I thought our product was s***. With the Carbon Motobecane Road Bikes, it looks the design was copied off of a 5 year old Kestrel, and I'm pretty sure it was. Sad.

I think Trek makes a great bike, its just the Lance name is stuck with the Trek name, which causes the price of the bike to be over-inflated. Personally, I ride a Felt F3C (which I got for cost :) ) and I knew it was made oversea's, but the frame design is original, and with a Reynolds Carbon fork and Dur-Ace components, I'm extremely happy. The carbon frame is nice and stiff, and I've yet to notice any flex (I'm 6'1" @ 175lbs). I've racked up 3k miles on the bike, and its not even a year old, and so far its solid. I also race and it fits in :D

But the biking industry really has changed a lot. But bikes that are still made in Europe such as BMC (Swiss), Colnago (Italian), De Rosa (Italian), and Cervelo will continue to make great bikes that one can always depend. I think that these bike companies still have the 'spirit' of cycling in them.


 
No kidding huh? You would think "Fuji" would be Japanese.

www.ifbikes.com

The took over Fat City years ago.

Really nice frames.
 
beaufort-fj60 said:
did you get your bike for cost?
Click to expand...

not this Fuji, but back in the late 80's my uncle worked for Raleigh in Seattle. As a kid, I had the 1st mountain bike on my street. The Raleigh "Chill" was an all aluminum frame with 18 speed bio-pace crank. THAT bike, was @ cost! Funny thing is, this Fuji I just bought is a low end mtn. bike. No hyd. disc brakes or hyd shocks, no full suspension & lower quality components. But the bike itself is a sweet little ride, much better than the top of the line Raleigh back in the 80's. Oh, how technology continues to improve!
FUJI nevada.webp
 
Zimm said:
my litespeed is made in the usa. but its 7 years old now. i dont trust anyone anymore. you see made in USA, on a package... and theyre actually meaning the package.. not the product.
Click to expand...

actually, litespeed is made just down the road from me. still american made...by tennesseans!!!
 
sk8salomon said:
not this Fuji, but back in the late 80's my uncle worked for Raleigh in Seattle. As a kid, I had the 1st mountain bike on my street. The Raleigh "Chill" was an all aluminum frame with 18 speed bio-pace crank. THAT bike, was @ cost! Funny thing is, this Fuji I just bought is a low end mtn. bike. No hyd. disc brakes or hyd shocks, no full suspension & lower quality components. But the bike itself is a sweet little ride, much better than the top of the line Raleigh back in the 80's. Oh, how technology continues to improve!
Click to expand...


how true, funny how a $3000 bike from the late 80's/early 90's is not as nice as a new $400 bike.
 
My brother had a miyata in the mid to late 80s. One of the earliest production ones I've seen. I picked up a Ritchey from that era. Nice bike. Both of those had the rear brakes mounted UNDER the chain stays.
 
sk8salomon said:
Just bought a new Fuji Mtn. bike last week. Seeing the "Made-In-China" stickers all over it got me thinking... I asked my uncle, who has been in the bike industry since the early 70's, to give me some history.
In the 1950’s there were more than 50 USA bike manufacturers. Today I think that Trek in Wisconsin is the only USA manufacturer remaining. Cannondale may make a few but all have moved to China. Raleigh is no longer being made in Seattle. Most Fuji’s come from China but the very high end ones come from Japan. I also think the high end components also are made in Japan but most are made in Taiwan or China..
Click to expand...

While the bulk of the industry have moved to China, Your statement above is backwards. The bulk of the Trek bikes are made in China, many by Fuji and Giant. Trek likes to play tricks with the labels on there bikes by saying "assembled in the USA".

All but one model, the Carbon Synapse, from Cannondale are made in the USA.
This list doesn't include your highend custom builders for the most part they are actually build here.

Just as an FYI it has been this way for almost 20 years and started with Schwinn.

B.
 
Sorry, no disrespect intended. :beer:

sk8salomon said:
^thanks, but my uncle is 60 years old and retired. you'll have to excuse his lack of mentioning the smaller custom bike companies and exact details. welcome to chat!:beer:
Click to expand...
 
sc40 said:
dont forget about litespeed, santacruz, titus and seven, are all made here in the US of A
Click to expand...

Titus and Santacruz were forced to move production of many of the aluminum bikes to Taiwan when Kenises (their contract builder) closed their Portland factory.

There are still many bikes made in the US, but they are small builders. There are more than a 100 US based builders. A few that come to mine besides those mentioned previously are:

Turner
Ventana
Waltworks
Soulcraft
Sycip
Independent Fabrications
Rock Lobster
Black Sheep
Strong


BTW, there is nothing wrong with a Taiwan made bike. Their frame quality is excellent with welding that is every bit as good as that which was done in the US. What you don't get is the custom tubing options you can get with a small builder.
 
Zimm said:
my litespeed is made in the usa. but its 7 years old now. i dont trust anyone anymore. you see made in USA, on a package... and theyre actually meaning the package.. not the product.
Click to expand...

Hold on to that Litespeed, it is from when the name really meant something. I would not buy one of their newer bikes since they became part of the large conglomerate American Bicycle Corporation (which also manufactures Huffy).
 
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