#Fuji bikes history professional
professional cycling team Team Toyota-United, which races Fuji Carbon Race series bikes. *Absolute *Crosstown *Sunfire *Vantage CXįuji sponsors and equips the U.S. *SL-1 *Team *Professional 1.0 *Roubaix *Newest Fuji Bikes is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The fourth generation Gaastra, Gerrit, is a bicycle consultant in Germany where he has a factory idworx bikes in Wachtberg this makes very high quality mountain and racing bikes.Fuji Advanced Sports, Inc., better known as Fuji Bikes, is an American manufacturer of bicycles originally established in Japan in 1899 The company takes its name and logo from Mount Fuji, a Japanese symbol of strength and endurance. In 1998 Atag formed the Accell group which comprises Batavus, Koga and a number of smaller bike factories. In 1992 Andries sold Koga to the Atag Cycle Group which six years earlier already had acquired Batavus.
Gerrit's son and successor Andries also left Batavus in 1975 to found his own company Koga which is at the top of Dutch bike building. His son Gerrit Gaastra took over in 1951, built the company up but retired in 1973. Andries Gaastra founded Batavus (which is Latin for Dutchman) in 1904. Gaastra is a Dutch bike builders dynasty. The factory is in Heerenveen, Friesland, like Batavus. Marion Gaastra whose maiden name is Kowallik, and Miyata is the name of their Japanese frame builders. The -ga in Koga stands for Gaastra, the Ko- is mrs. Reply Deleteįrits B Septemat 4:43 Nicholas Valinotti: Koga-Miyata is not Japanese although the Miyata part is. Maybe even when they still made the few odd bikes in Japan for the Japanese market. THIS bike, however, looks to have been made before all that, when the Japanese parent nested companies still owned the American distributor company that they had formed. It's kinda like the Japanese version of the Schwinn story and I'll bet many Japanese don't realize that Fuji bikes aren't Japanese anymore, just as most Americans don't realize Schwinn isn't American.
#Fuji bikes history full
They ("They" would be the Ideal Bicycle Company, and minority owner) make a full range of bikes, right down to little kiddie bikes and are perfectly willing to sell bikes in Japan and elsewhere that they don't offer to Americans if there is money in it. It's become a front for a shadow investment firm. Complicated enough that it can be based in America, make claim to be American, and yet still be a wholly Asian owned company. Someone must have loved it and cared enough to want it with them.įrom China and Taiwan, where they are not only made, but the owners of the American owner of the distribution rights to the Fuji brand are located.Ĭould you follow that? Yes, it is a complicated history. But at some point, someone must have carried flowers in the basket and groceries on the rack. God knows how many years later, it now stands in the overgrow grass next to a chainlink fence in Somerville. I mean, someone must have actually flown this bicycle here from Japan. I know that not everyone will find this "mystery bike" fascinating, but I am intrigued by the complete lack of information about it and drawn to the very logistics of its presence here. I can see no dates on the bicycle, but by the degree of wear I would estimate 1970s. In any case, the enclosed chaincase protected Vent Léger's privacy, so I will never know what was up with the rear brake.Īnd a close-up of the rear rack and wire dressguard. There could be an after-market coasterbrake hub on the rear wheel - Or could it be that the bike is a fixed gear conversion? It is a single speed, so technically that is possible - though I shudder to think of anyone climbing hills on a bike like this in fixed gear. There are two brake levers on the handlebars, but the lever for the rear brake is not connected to a cable.
Underneath the dirt and rust, the lugged steel frame is a very nice shade of dark blue-gray. It may have been made exclusively for the Far-Eastern market.
#Fuji bikes history registration
It has what looks like a Japanese registration sticker on the downtube. The interesting thing, is that I cannot find any information what so ever on this bicycle. It is imprinted with the romantic name Vent Léger (which means "light wind" in French).Įvery part of the bicycle is branded, even the handlebar basket.Īpparently, it was made by Fuji: There is a Fuji headbadge and headset, as well as a sprung Fuji saddle. I spotted this unusual bicycle near Union Square in Somerville.
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