Fuji Bikes - History

History

The company was founded in 1899 in Japan by Nichibei Fuji, who combined two companies into Nichibei Fuji Cycle Company. By the late 1920s, Fuji was Japan’s most popular bicycle. In the 1930s, Fuji established the first national stage race between Osaka and Tokyo and sponsored the winning team. Today, this race remains a premier races in Asia. The first Asian games were held in New Delhi in 1951. Shoichiro Sugihara, riding a Fuji, won the first race.

In the 1950s, Toshoku America acquired distribution rights to Fuji-made bicycles in the United States. Toshoku America sold private-label Fuji-made bicycles as house brands through U.S. retailers such as Sears & Roebuck and Montgomery Wards.

During this period, Fuji became a partner with several contractors supplying parts for Japanese bicycles, including Sugino Cycle Industries and SunTour. Sales expanded into other Asian markets. At the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Fuji's chief engineer and designer, Dr Shoichiro Sugihara, designed the Japanese national team bicycles and was team coach. He repeated this role at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico and the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany.

By 1971, Fuji America was established to distribute models across the United States. Fuji played a part in the cycling boom of the 1970s. It introduced the first successful mass-production 12-speed bicycle in the mid-1970s, using a redesigned rear axle to minimize spoke dish to maintain wheel strength. In 1974, Richard Ballantine, author of Richard's Bicycle Book, recommended Fuji road bicycles at or near the top of each of four price and quality categories, from basic (low-price) to professional (high-end).

During the early 1980s, Fuji developed touring bicycles, and in 1986 was one of the first to manufacture frames of titanium. Fuji was not well situated to take advantage of the mountain bike boom of the 1980s. The demand for mountain bikes caused a steep decline in touring and road bike sales. This allowed manufacturers such as Specialized, Giant, and Trek to make inroads into Fuji's share of U.S. bicycle sales, often using frames produced at lower cost in Taiwan.

With the continued rise of the yen, Fuji fell on hard times in the early 1990s. One of the last Japanese bike companies to shift production to Taiwan after the fall of the dollar, Fuji bicycles cost more in the United States than most competing brands, causing a drop in sales. Fuji bicycles produced in Taiwan were not as well regarded by U.S. buyers as the Japanese-built bicycles. The company eventually designed new models, taking advantage of modern improvements in materials and construction techniques, but this proved insufficient. Toshoku Ltd. filed for bankruptcy in 1997, and in 1998, Nichibei Fuji Cycle Company Ltd., Fuji America's parent company, also declared bankruptcy.

Following bankruptcy, bicycle distribution in the United States was taken over by Advanced Sports. In 1998, Jadeland Pacific, an investment group in Taiwan, acquired 83% of Advanced Sports, which had purchased the assets of Fuji America as well as the worldwide distribution rights to the Fuji bicycle brand.

In 2005, Ideal Bike Corporation, Taiwan's third-largest complete-bicycle maker, acquired 60% of Advanced Sports International Asia, which markets the Fuji brand of bicycles in Asia. Fuji bicycles are now built in Taichung, Taiwan; Dong Guan, Guangdong Province in China; and in Kutno, Poland by Ideal Bike Corporation. The brand is owned, and distributed in the United States, by Advanced Sports in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.