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| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Bicycle |
| Founded | 1882 in Beaulieu, a suburb of Mandeure |
| Founder | Armand Peugeot |
| Headquarters | , France |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Bicycles |
| Parent | Cycleurope |
| Website | cycles.peugeot.com |
Cycles Peugeot, founded in 1882, is a manufacturer of bicycles based in Sochaux, France and currently a part of Cycleurope, a subsidiary of Sweden-based firm Grimaldi Industri.
Peugeot is a French manufacturer founded by Jean Pequignot Peugeot, a 19th-century manufacturer of water mills. Using the mills' profits, Peugeot expanded with a steelworks in Montbéliard, which Jean Peugeot ran with a colleague and his two brothers. The company's trademark, a lion, was created in 1858 by an engraver, Justin Blazer, who lived near the factory. The company turned their steel into knives and forks, hydraulic equipment and, from 1882, bicycles, sold as Cycles Peugeot. In Beaulieu-sur-Doubs (in Mandeure, Doubs) that year, the first Peugeot bicycle, a penny-farthing called Le Grand Bi, was hand-built by Armand Peugeot.
During World War I, Peugeot built nearly 63,000 bicycles per year. It also manufactured 9,000 cars and trucks, 1,000 motorcycles, 10,000 plane engines, and 6 million artillery shells.
In 1926, the auto and bicycle manufacturing divisions at Peugeot were divided. Automobiles were constructed at Automobiles Peugeot, while bicycles were made at Cycles Peugeot. In 1930, bicycle production reached 162,000 units per year at the Beaulieu factory.
By 1955, the factory at Beaulieu was turning out 220,000 bicycles a year, employing nearly 3,500 workers, while Automobiles Peugeot completed its 100,000th automobile. During the 1950s, European interest in cycling as a means of transportation virtually disappeared, and by 1956, bicycle production at Cycles Peugeot was cut in half.
In 1958, Peugeot diversified into manufacturing components for the auto industry to augment declining sales of bicycles. As consumer interest in bicycling returned in the 1960s, Peugeot gradually increased its production of sport, racing, and touring road bicycles.
Early on, the Peugeot family saw the value of publicity in sponsoring racing cyclists. Paul Bourillon became the world sprint champion in Copenhagen in 1896 on a Peugeot bicycle. The family also backed riders in numerous road races and in 1905 sponsored its first Tour de France winner, Louis Trousselier.
After the first Tour de France win, the Peugeot cycling team remained active in the Tour and other European cycle races. Peugeot would go on to become the most successful factory team of all time in the Tour de France, winning the race a record ten times. Like some other large European bicycle manufacturers, Peugeot was not above purchasing handcrafted team racing bicycles, fabricated by small independent craftsmen such as Masi, which were then painted and outfitted to resemble standard Peugeot factory production models. [1]
Peugeot and rival marque Mercier were among the last bicycle factories to continue team sponsorship. Rising costs had forced other brands to surrender control of their teams to backers from outside the bicycle industry. Even as most other teams were using Italian Campagnolo components, Peugeot continued to use French ones. Stronglight cranksets, Simplex derailleurs, and Mafac brakes were standard. The last yellow jersey worn by a Peugeot factory rider was in 1983, when Pascal Simon took the lead in the Tour de France until he was forced to drop out due to injury.
By the time of the 1986 racing season, costs in a period of inflation triggered by an oil crisis meant Peugeot's entire racing budget of 1.06 million francs ran out before the season had ended. William Desazar de Montgaillard, director-general of Peugeot, announced that due to lack of financial support, there would no longer be a fully sponsored Peugeot team.
During the first half of the 20th century, the vast majority of Peugeot bicycles came from the factories in Beaulieu (Mandeure), France. Other Peugeot bicycles were built in Spain[ citation needed ] and, after 1978 or so, in Canada.
The Peugeot UO-8, a low-end 'ten-speed' sports/touring bicycle with a mild steel frame, was introduced into the U.S. market in the 1960s and sold through to 1980. Equipped with Simplex derailleurs, the 28-lb. UO-8 of 1974 was considered to be an inexpensive 'all-round' derailleur-geared bicycle and had the characteristic long wheelbase of French bicycles, which provided stability and a soft ride on city streets and rough French rural roads. As a competitor to the heavier Schwinn Continental, the UO-8 was the most popular model distributed by Cycles Peugeot USA from its inception in 1974; it was sold in large numbers during the bike boom of 1972-1975. During the peak bike boom years (1972–1974), French bicycles were produced in numbers so large that quality control became an issue and parts were often substituted, swapped or otherwise thrown together to meet high production demands, sometimes resulting in an amalgamation of different models. In the case of Peugeot, problems included paint and weld issues, along with occasional frame misalignment.
In the United States, the AO-8 was the entry-level Peugeot 'ten-speed' bicycle, which competed directly against the Schwinn Varsity, the Raleigh Record, and Nishiki's Custom Sport. Equipped with fenders and a luggage rack, it was designated the AE-8.
The UE-8 was similar to the UO-8 but was equipped with fenders, a luggage rack, and generator lights. The AO-18, UO-18/18C, and UE-18 were mixte versions of the AO-8, UO-8 and UE-8, respectively. In France, these models were roughly equivalent to the P-, PL-, and PX-8-series Peugeot road bicycles.
First introduced as a model in 1953, the PX-10E was traditionally Peugeot's high-end bicycle. By the early 1970s, the 21 lb PX-10E used a frame made with Reynolds 531 manganese-molybdenum (MnMo) double-butted steel tubing and was fitted with lightweight aluminum alloy (Stronglite, Mafac, and Simplex) components, though by the mid-1980s it was upgraded to Campagnolo Nuovo Record crankset/pedals, derailleurs, and headset. The PX-10E was sold in the U.S. from 1975 to 1988 but it continued to be produced for sale in European markets through the early 1990s. Peugeot also produced lower cost bicycles with the PX-10's frame geometry: the PR-10 was made with three Reynolds 531 main tubes, and the PA-10 was made with hi-tensile tubing.
In 1974, Peugeot opened a custom bicycle frame shop (the Atelier Prestige) which specialized in the production of custom Reynolds-tubed framesets using thin-gauge butted steel tubing. These custom frames were designated PY-10. Similar to a PX-10 in design and styling, a PY-10 could be ordered to customers' individual specifications. Options included, but were not limited to, geometry and frame size, color, components, and braze-ons.
In 1977, the UO-10 was introduced, followed the next year by a slightly heavier road model, the UO-9. The UO-10 was largely the same as the UO-8 but with aluminum alloy cotterless crankset and aluminium alloy rims. The UO-9 was essentially the same as the UO-10 but had cheaper and heavier steel rims. In 1980, the PH-8 displaced the UO-8 as the entry-level Peugeot road bicycle.
In later years, the Peugeot race team switched to carbon fiber tubed bikes which were referred to as the PY10FC. During this time Peugeot continued to offer a custom steel-framed road bicycle, the PZ10. PZ and PY bicycles were imported to the U.S. until Cycles Peugeot's withdrawal from the North American market in 1990.
In 1974, Cycles Peugeot acquired the factory of Romilly-sur-Seine, which was converted to produce bicycles. In 1978, Procycle Group of Canada signed an agreement to manufacture and distribute Peugeots in Canada, while French-built Peugeots continued to be sold in the US.
During the bicycle sales 'boom' of 1972-75, Peugeot sales increased dramatically. Aided by the racing heritage of the brand, demand for low- and mid-level Peugeot sport/touring or "ten speed" bicycles surged, particularly in the United States, and frequently exceeded supply. The aging Peugeot factory had difficulty supplying sufficient bicycles, and quality control occasionally suffered. Peugeot's reliance on French part suppliers began to impact sales after it became clear that Japanese firms were able to supply derailleurs and other components using more advanced designs and superior quality. By the mid-1980s, Peugeot bicycles had begun utilizing Japanese derailleurs on some of their lower end models.
By 1983, ProCycle was exporting Canadian-made Peugeots to the U.S.
In 1987, Cycles Peugeot merged with AOP (Acier et Outillages Peugeot) to form ECIA (Equipment et Composants pour I'Industrie Automobile), and the Romilly factory began producing all Peugeot bicycles. That same year, ProCycle of Canada acquired rights to distribute French-made Peugeots. In 1990, Cycles Peugeot sold the North American rights to market bicycles under the Peugeot name to the Canadian firm ProCycle.
In 2001, ProCycle discontinued the Peugeot bicycle brand. In Europe, the license to produce Peugeot-branded bicycles was granted to Cycleurope, a company making bicycles under different names. The licence was not renewed in 2004, though production of bicycles for export continued for another year.
As of 2011 Peugeot-branded cycles are sold in Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, Switzerland, Poland, Canada and Turkey.
The license to manufacture Peugeot branded bicycles was first granted to Cycleurope in 1992, but was not renewed in 2004. A new license to manufacture and to distribute worldwide was again granted in 2010 and the brand was revamped and relaunched in 2011. [2]
[ when? ]
Mountain bikes
Hybrid bikes
City Shopper bikes
Folding bikes
Children's bikes
Mountain bikes
Touring bikes
Road bikes
Small-wheel bicycles
A tandem bicycle or twin is a form of bicycle designed to be ridden by more than one person. The term tandem refers to the seating arrangement, not the number of riders. Patents related to tandem bicycles date from the mid 1880s. Tandems can reach higher speeds than the same riders on single bicycles, and tandem bicycle racing exists. As with bicycles for single riders, there are many variations that have been developed over the years.
A derailleur is a variable-ratio bicycle gearing system consisting of a chain, multiple sprockets of different sizes, and a mechanism to move the chain from one sprocket to another.
A hub gear, internal-gear hub, internally geared hub or just gear hub is a gear ratio changing system commonly used on bicycles that is implemented with planetary or epicyclic gears. The gears and lubricants are sealed within the shell of the hub gear, in contrast with derailleur gears where the gears and mechanism are exposed to the elements. Changing the gear ratio was traditionally accomplished by a shift lever connected to the hub with a Bowden cable, and twist-grip style shifters have become common.
Campagnolo is an Italian manufacturer of high-end bicycle components with headquarters in Vicenza, Italy. The components are organised as groupsets (gruppi), and are a near-complete collection of a bicycle's mechanical parts. Campagnolo's flagship components are the Super Record, Record, and Chorus groupsets with all three representing their recent shift to 12-speed drivetrains. Super Record and Record are the top groupsets, followed by Chorus, Potenza, Centaur and Veloce. Campagnolo also produces aluminum and carbon wheels, as well as other components.
The bottom bracket on a bicycle connects the crankset (chainset) to the bicycle and allows the crankset to rotate freely. It contains a spindle to which the crankset attaches, and the bearings that allow the spindle and crankset to rotate. The chainrings and pedals attach to the cranks. Bottom bracket bearings fit inside the bottom bracket shell, which connects the seat tube, down tube and chain stays as part of the bicycle frame.
A groupset or gruppo is a bicycle component manufacturer's organized collection of mechanical parts. It generally refers to all of the components that make up a bicycle excluding the bicycle frame, fork, stem, wheels, tires, and rider contact points, such as the saddle and handlebars.
The Schwinn Bicycle Company is an American company that develops, manufactures and markets bicycles under the eponymous brand name. The company was originally founded by Ignaz Schwinn (1860–1948) in Chicago in 1895. It became the dominant manufacturer of American bicycles through most of the 20th century. Schwinn first declared bankruptcy in 1992, in 2001 Schwinn went bankrupt again and was purchased by Pacific Cycle, now owned by the Dutch conglomerate, Pon Holdings.
Motobécane was a French manufacturer of bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, and other small vehicles, established in 1923. "Motobécane" is a compound of "moto", short for motorcycle; "bécane" is slang for "bike."
Dawes Cycles is a bicycle manufacturer based in Castle Bromwich, England. Dawes produces a range of bikes including road, mountain bikes and tandems, but is best known for touring bikes, specifically the Galaxy and the Super Galaxy model lines.
SRAM LLC is a privately owned bicycle component manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, founded in 1987. SRAM is an acronym comprising the names of its founders. The company produces a range of cycling components, including Grip Shift, and separate gravel, road, and mountain drivetrains from 7 to 12 speed. SRAM developed the Eagle line of mountain bike specific drivetrain components intended to improve shifting performance. SRAM was also the first to release a dedicated "one by" drivetrain with a single front chain-ring for road bikes.
SR Suntour is a Taiwanese manufacturer of bicycle components, formed in 1988 when Osaka based SunTour (Maeda) went bankrupt and was purchased by Sakae Ringyo Company, a major Japanese maker of aluminum parts, particularly cranks and seat posts. SunTour's sales and commercial success peaked from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s.
A cruiser bicycle, also known as a beach cruiser or (formerly) motobike, is a bicycle that usually combines balloon tires, an upright seating posture, a single-speed drivetrain, and straightforward steel construction with expressive styling. Cruisers are popular among casual bicyclists and vacationers because they are very stable and easy to ride, but their heavy weight and balloon tires tend to make them rather slow. Another common feature is their ability to be customized with accessories including fenders, lights and saddle bags. They are designed for use primarily on paved roads, low speeds/distances, and are included in the non-racing/non-touring class and heavyweight or middleweight styles of the road bicycle type.
Miyata is a Japanese manufacturer of bicycles, unicycles and fire extinguishers. The company has been in operation since 1890. Miyata was also one of the first producers of motorcycles in Japan under the name Asahi. The Asahi AA was the first mass-produced motorcycle in Japan.
Beistegui Hermanos S.A. is a Spanish bicycle manufacturer. Founded in 1909, it is headquartered in Spain. As of 2023 it also went by BH Bicycles, after its years as Beistegui Hermanos.
Univega is a bicycle brand created during the bike boom of the 1970s by Ben Lawee (1926–2002), who founded Lawee Inc. to design, specify, and import bicycles initially manufactured in Italy by Italvega, and subsequently in Japan by Miyata.
The Peugeot UO 8 was a ten-speed bicycle manufactured by Cycles Peugeot during the "bike boom" of the 1970s. It was marketed as a mid-range "racing style" cycle, and was manufactured from sometime in the early 60s until the end of 1980. The model was discontinued for the 1981 model year.
Centurion was a brand of bicycles created in 1969 by Mitchell (Mitch) M. Weiner and Junya (Cozy) Yamakoshi, who co-founded Western States Import Co. (WSI) in Canoga Park, California to design, specify, distribute and market the bicycles. The bikes themselves were manufactured initially in Japan by companies including H. Teams Company of Kobe and later in Taiwan by companies including Merida. The Centurion brand was consolidated with WSI's mountain bike brand DiamondBack in 1990. WSI ceased operations in 2000.
A gearbox bicycle is a bicycle that uses a gearbox to convert torque and rotational speed from the power source, usually the rider's legs, to what is desired at the drive wheel. The gearbox is usually incorporated into the frame near the crank, and it may be used in addition to or instead of derailleur gears or a hub gear. Cited advantages include improved shifting performance, protecting the gearing from damage and exposure to dirt and moisture, as with hub gears, plus locating the additional mass between the two wheels and on the frame where it may be suspended, unlike with hub gears.
The Schwinn Paramount was a high-end racing bicycle produced under the Schwinn Bicycle Company brand from 1938 through 2009.
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