The bicycle industry has become one of the few beneficiaries of the coronavirus pandemic as people are looking for ways to stay active, entertain children and commute to work. It is estimated that bicycle sales across the country soared by 50% last year. This is good news for domestic bicycle manufacturers, such as Detroit Bicycles and the American Bicycle Company (BCA).
Once upon a time, the United States was the world’s leading manufacturer of bicycles. The factories run by companies such as Huffy, Murray, and Schwinn produce bicycles in large quantities every year. Although these brands still exist, production has moved overseas many years ago.
For example, Schwinn made the last bicycle in Chicago in 1982, and Huffy closed its flagship factory in Celina, Ohio in 1998. During this period, many other well-known American bicycle manufacturers, such as Roadmaster and Ross, followed closely behind. At that time, the retail price of bicycles had plummeted by 25% as Asian manufacturers pushed down prices and eroded profit margins.
According to Harry Moser, chairman of the Reshoring Initiative and author of ASSEMBLY’s “Moser on Manufacturing” column, American manufacturers produced more than 5 million bicycles in 1990. However, as more offshore activities took place, domestic production dropped to a low of 200,000 vehicles. 2015. Most of these bicycles are manufactured by small-volume, niche companies that cater to hard-core bicycle enthusiasts.
Bicycle manufacturing is often a cyclical industry that has experienced dramatic booms and depressions. In fact, due to various factors, the downward spiral of domestic production has been reversed in recent years.
Whether it is mobile or stationary, bicycles have many health benefits. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many people are rethinking where they exercise and how they spend their free time.
“[Last year] consumers [are] looking for outdoor and children-friendly activities to better withstand the challenges associated with home orders, and cycling is very suitable,” NPD Group Sports Industry Analyst Dirk Sorensen (Dirk Sorenson) said Inc., a research company that tracks market trends. “Ultimately, there are more people [cycling] today than in the past few years.
“Sales in the first quarter of 2021 are up 83% from the same period a year ago,” Sorensen claimed. “Consumers’ interest in buying bicycles is still high.” This trend is expected to continue for a year or two.
In urban environments, bicycles are popular for short commutes because they can save a lot of time compared to other modes of transportation. Moreover, bicycles solve increasingly important problems such as limited parking spaces, air pollution and traffic congestion. In addition, the bicycle sharing system allows people to rent a bicycle and easily use two wheels to cruise around the city.
Increasing interest in electric vehicles has also promoted the bicycle boom. In fact, many bicycle manufacturers are equipping their products with compact and lightweight batteries, motors and drive systems to supplement the good old-fashioned pedal power.
“The sales of electric bicycles have increased significantly,” Sorenson pointed out. “As the pandemic brought more riders to the event, sales of electric bicycles accelerated. Among bicycle stores, electric bicycles are now the third largest bicycle category, second only to sales of mountain bikes and road bikes.”
“E-bikes have always been popular,” adds Chase Spaulding, a lecturer specializing in bicycle design and manufacturing at the Southeastern Minnesota State University. He recently graduated from his two-year program at the community college. Spaulding established the program to meet the needs of local bicycle manufacturers, such as Hed Cycling Products, Quality Bicycle Products and Trek Bicycle Corp.
Spalding said: “The auto industry has advanced electric vehicles so quickly, and helped the bicycle industry make great strides without having to bear the full cost of developing batteries and other components.” “[These components can be easily integrated into] In the end In the product, most [people] feel safe and will not be seen as a very strange form of mopeds or motorcycles.”
According to Spaulding, gravel bicycles are another hot area in the industry. They are very attractive to cyclists who like to keep going at the end of the road. They are between mountain bikes and road bikes, but provide a unique riding experience.
Once upon a time, most bicycles were sold through community bicycle dealers and large retailers (such as Sears, Roebuck & Co., or Montgomery Ward & Co.). Although local bike shops still exist, most of them now specialize in high-end products for serious cyclists.
Today, most mass-market bicycles are sold through large retailers (such as Dick’s Sporting Goods, Target, and Walmart) or through e-commerce sites (such as Amazon). In recent years, as more and more people buy products online, direct-to-consumer sales have also changed the bicycle industry.
Mainland China and Taiwan dominate the global bicycle market, and companies such as Giant, Merida and Tianjin Fujitec account for most of the business. Most parts are also produced overseas by companies such as Shimano, which controls two-thirds of the gear and brake market.
In Europe, northern Portugal is the center of the bicycle industry. There are more than 50 companies in the area producing bicycles, parts and accessories. RTE, the largest bicycle manufacturer in Europe, runs a factory in Selzedo, Portugal, which can assemble up to 5,000 bicycles per day.
Today, the Reshoring Initiative claims to have more than 200 American bicycle manufacturers and brands, from Alchemy Bicycle Co. to Victoria Cycles. Although many are small companies or distributors, there are several major players, including BCA (a subsidiary of Kent International Corporation) and Trek. However, many companies, such as Ross Bikes and SRAM LLC, design products domestically and manufacture them overseas.
For example, Ross products are designed in Las Vegas but are produced in China and Taiwan. Between 1946 and 1989, the family business opened factories in Brooklyn, New York and Allentown, Pennsylvania, and mass-produced bicycles before it ceased operations.
“We would love to manufacture bicycles in the United States again, but 90% of the components, such as the transmission (the mechanical mechanism responsible for moving the chain between the sprockets to shift gears) are produced overseas,” said Sean Rose, a fourth-generation member. The family recently resurrected the brand that pioneered mountain bikes in the 1980s. “However, we may end up doing some customized small batch production here.”
Although some materials have changed, the basic process of assembling bicycles has remained almost unchanged for decades. The paint frame is installed on the fixture, and then various components such as brakes, mudguards, gears, handlebars, pedals, seats and wheels are installed. The handles are usually removed before transportation so that the bicycle can be packed in a narrow carton.
The frame is usually composed of various bent, welded and painted tubular metal parts. Aluminum and steel are the most commonly used materials, but carbon fiber composite materials and titanium frames are also used in high-end bicycles due to their light weight.
To ordinary observers, most bicycles look and perform the same as they have been for decades. However, there are more options than ever before.
“In general, the market is more competitive in the design of frames and components,” said Spalding of Southeastern Minnesota State University. “Mountain bikes have been diversified, from high, tight and flexible, to long, low and slack. Now there are many choices between the two. Road bikes have less diversity, but in terms of components, geometry, weight and performance. The difference is much greater.
“The transmission is the most complex component on almost all bicycles today,” Spalding explained. “You will also see some internal gear hubs that pack 2 to 14 gears into the rear hub, but due to increased cost and complexity, the penetration rate is much lower and there is no corresponding performance bonus.
“The mirror frame itself is another kind, just like the shoe industry, you are making products of one size to meet different shapes,” Spaulding points out. “However, in addition to the static size challenges faced by shoes, the frame must not only fit the user, but must also maintain performance, comfort and strength throughout the size range.
“Therefore, although it is usually just a combination of several metal or carbon fiber shapes, the complexity of the geometric variables at play can make developing a framework, especially from scratch, more challenging than a single component with higher component density and complexity. Sex,” claimed Spalding. “The angle and position of the components can have an amazing impact on performance.”
“The typical bill of materials for a bicycle includes about 40 basic items from about 30 different suppliers,” added Zak Pashak, president of the Detroit Bicycle Company. His 10-year-old company is located in an unmarked brick building in the West Side of Detroit, which was formerly a logo company.
This 50,000 square foot factory is unique because it handmade the entire bicycle from start to finish, including the frame and wheels. Currently, the two assembly lines produce an average of about 50 bicycles per day, but the factory can produce as many as 300 bicycles per day. The global shortage of parts that has paralyzed the entire bicycle industry is preventing the company from increasing production.
In addition to producing its own brands, including the popular Sparrow commuter model, Detroit Bicycle Company is also a contract manufacturer. It has assembled bicycles for Dick’s Sporting Goods and customized fleets for brands such as Faygo, New Belgium Brewing and Toll Brothers. As Schwinn recently celebrated its 125th anniversary, Detroit Bikes produced a special series of 500 Collegiate models.
According to Pashak, most bicycle frames are manufactured overseas. However, his 10-year-old company is unique in the industry because it uses chrome steel to assemble frames made in the United States. Most domestic bicycle manufacturers use their imported frames. Other parts, such as tires and wheels, are also imported.
“We have in-house steel manufacturing capabilities that enable us to produce any type of bicycle,” Pashak explained. “The process starts with cutting and bending into raw steel pipes of various shapes and sizes. These tubular parts are then placed in a jig and manually welded together to make a bicycle frame.
“Before the entire assembly is painted, the brackets used to fix the brakes and gear cables will also be welded to the frame,” Pashak said. “The bicycle industry is moving in a more automated direction, but we are currently doing things the old fashioned way because we don’t have enough numbers to justify investing in automated machinery.”
Even the largest bicycle factory in the United States rarely uses automation, but this situation is about to change. BCA’s plant in Manning, South Carolina has a seven-year history and covers an area of 204,000 square feet. It produces mass-market bicycles for Amazon, Home Depot, Target, Wal-Mart and other customers. It has two mobile assembly lines-one for single-speed bicycles and one for multi-speed bicycles-which can produce up to 1,500 vehicles per day, in addition to a state-of-the-art powder coating workshop.
BCA also operates a 146,000 square foot assembly plant a few miles away. It focuses on custom bicycles and small batch products produced on manual assembly lines. However, most of BCA’s products are produced in Southeast Asia.
“Although we have done a lot in South Carolina, it only accounts for about 15% of our revenue,” said Arnold Kamler, CEO of Kent International. “We still need to import almost all the parts we assemble. However, we are manufacturing frames, forks, handlebars and rims in the United States.
“However, in order for it to work, our new facility must be highly automated,” Kamler explains. “We are currently purchasing the equipment we need. We plan to put the facility into operation within two years.
“Our goal is to shorten the delivery time,” points out Kamler, who has worked in the family business for 50 years. “We want to be able to make a commitment to a specific model 30 days in advance. Now, due to the offshore supply chain, we have to make a decision and order parts six months in advance.”
“To achieve long-term success, we need to add more automation,” Kamler said. “Our factory already has some wheel manufacturing automation. For example, we have a machine that inserts spokes into the wheel hub and another machine that straightens the wheel.
“However, on the other side of the factory, the assembly line is still too manual, not much different from the way it was 40 years ago,” Kamler said. “We are currently working with several universities to solve this problem. We hope to use robots for certain applications in the next two years.”
Fanuc America Corp Global Account Executive Director James Cooper added: “We see that bicycle manufacturers are becoming more and more interested in robots, especially companies that produce stationary bicycles and electric bicycles, which tend to be heavier.” Industry, bicycles The return of business activities will stimulate the increase in demand for automation in the future. ”
A century ago, the West Side of Chicago was the center of bicycle manufacturing. From the early 1880s to the early 1980s, the Windy City company mass produced bicycles in various colors, shapes and sizes. In fact, for most of the 20th century, more than two-thirds of all bicycles sold in the United States were assembled in Chicago.
One of the earliest companies in the industry, Loring & Keene (former plumbing manufacturer), began producing a new type of device called a “bicycle” in 1869. By the 1890s, a section of Lake Street was known locally as a “bicycle platoon” because it was home to more than 40 manufacturers. In 1897, 88 Chicago companies produced 250,000 bicycles per year.
Many factories are small factories, but a few have become large companies, creating mass production technologies that were eventually adopted by the automotive industry. Gormully & Jeffery Manufacturing Co. was one of the largest bicycle manufacturers in the United States from 1878 to 1900. It is operated by R. Philip Gormully and Thomas Jeffery.
Initially, Gormully & Jeffery produced high-wheeled pennies, but they eventually developed a successful “safe” bicycle series under the Rambler brand. The company was acquired by the American Bicycle Company in 1900.
Two years later, Thomas Jeffery began manufacturing Rambler cars at a factory 50 miles north of Chicago in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and became an early pioneer in the American automotive industry. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, Jeffrey’s company eventually evolved into American cars and Chrysler.
Another innovative manufacturer is Western Wheel Works, which once ran the world’s largest bicycle factory on the north side of Chicago. In the 1890s, the company pioneered mass production technologies such as sheet metal stamping and resistance welding. Western Wheel Works is the first American bicycle company to use stamped metal parts to assemble its products, including the best-selling Crescent brand.
For decades, the king of the bicycle industry has been Arnold, Schwinn & Co. The company was founded in 1895 by a young German bicycle manufacturer named Ignaz Schwinn, who immigrated to the United States and settled in Chicago in the early 1890s.
Schwinn perfected the art of brazing and welding tubular steel to create a strong, lightweight frame. The focus on quality, eye-catching design, unparalleled marketing capabilities and a vertically integrated supply chain help the company dominate the bicycle industry. By 1950, one out of every four bicycles sold in the United States was Schwinn. The company produced 1 million bicycles in 1968. However, the last Schwinn made in Chicago was made in 1982.
Post time: Sep-22-2021