West Coast Cycle and the Cohens
West Coast Cycle was founded by Leo Cohen Sr. and RosaBelle Cohen [2] [3] who had previously been partners in Wheel Goods Corporation in Minneapolis, later moving to Los Angeles in 1946 to purchase an existing retail bicycle store, Atlas Cycle, renaming it Playrite Bicycle Supply Co.. The Cohens subsequently founded a bicycle, parts and accessory distribution company in the late 1950s, naming it West Coast Cycle Supply Company. They operated the company — widely known as West Coast Cycle (or WCC) – with their daughter Louise and sons Leo Jr. and Howie (Howard Sherwin Cohen). Howie Cohen subsequently took over the business, followed by his brother. [1]
When Cohen Sr. died in 1963, Howie Cohen traveled to Japan to find new sources for bicycles, [1] and especially, a Japanese bicycle factory capable of producing high quality bikes that would be welcomed by U.S. independent bike dealers and the bicycling community; bicycles that would be able to compete with American and European-built bicycles.
After visiting over 60 bicycles factories over a period of six weeks, Cohen turned to Kawamura Cycles. Kawamura had produced quality bicycles for the Japan domestic market, but at the directive of their overseas buyers, had produced lower-quality, lower-priced bicycles for the U.S. market, for example, under the brand name 'Royce Union'.
Cohen also created working relationships with Japanese bicycle parts manufacturers including Asahi, Araya, Dia-Compe, Kashima, Kusuki, Kyokuto (KKT), Mikashima (MKS), Mitsuboshi, Taihei, Sanshin, Shimano, Sugino, Takagi, Suntour and others. [1] Cohen travelled to Japan 8-10 times per year while developing his brands (American Eagle, Nishiki, Azuki and CyclePro).
Cohen placed his initial order for 570 bikes with Kawamura, selling them under the American Eagle brand. [1] WCC sold tens of thousands of American Eagle bikes [1] before changing the name – when a customer suggested it was disingenuous to put such an American-sounding name on a Japanese product. [1]
WCC wanted a new, Japanese name that was easy to pronounce, with an inoffensive translation – and a name not easily mispronounced for comic or derisive effect. Cohen held a contest with Kawamura factory workers for Japanese names, choosing Nishiki for WCC's primary, nationwide line of bikes (after Saga Nishiki and the gold Nishiki thread often woven into wedding kimono) – and Azuki for the secondary bicycle line (after the sweetened, red Azuki bean), using the chrysanthemum as the Azuki logo.
The Azuki brand was initially manufactured by Kuwahara, not Kawamura, and therefore not identical to the Nishiki brand. The evidence for Azuki's manufacturer is in the serial numbers, Later, some Azuki models were manufactured by Kawamura. A second line allowed WCC to market essentially identical bikes through more than a single dealership in a sales territory. Louisville Cycle & Supply (Louisville, KY) were sub-distributors for both brands in the Southeast, and Pettee Cycle (Denver, CO) were sub-distributors of both brands in Colorado and surrounding states. Kawamura trademarked both names for the Japanese Domestic Market and Europe, WCC trademarked the brands for the USA. Early promotional material for American Eagle and Nishiki lines often carried the tagline 'KB Bicycles' or simply 'KB' – signifying 'Kawamura-Built'. WCC continued also to market the bicycle brands of Mundo, Caloi, Windsor, Zeus, and Mondia.
Howie Cohen served as President of WCC from 1965 until his retirement in 1976, [1] with WCC subsequently operated by his brother, Leo Jr. and outside investors. Through the 1980s WCC continued to sell Nishiki bikes produced by Kawamura. International currency fluctuations in the late 1980s made Japanese-manufactured bicycles far more expensive and less competitive in the United States, leading WCC to move Nishiki production to Giant of Taiwan. Leo Cohen and his associates later sold West Coast Cycle to Medalist – with Derby International eventually acquiring the rights from West Coast Cycle to market bikes under the Nishiki brand in the United States.
In 1977 some Nishiki models began to come from Gaint of Taiwan. Over time more models were made by Gaint. Kawamura manufactured frames continued until the 1987, for the 1988 model year. In 1988, Derby International took over the Nishiki brand in the USA. There were no more bicycles from Kawamura and early in 1989 no more bicycles supplied by Giant. The evidence for this is in the frame serial numbers.
After manufacture of Nishiki bikes shifted to Giant, Kawamura continued manufacturing bicycles for the Japanese and European markets (including private label bikes for Takara, Schwinn, and others), to be subsequently acquired by the sporting goods company Mizuno.
Howie Cohen later founded the company Everything Bicycles, working with Kuwahara to build and import BMX bikes carrying the Kuwahara brand name, developing the first major BMX distributorship [4] – and ultimately supplying Kuwahara bicycles for the 1982 movie E.T. and securing the right to market the "ET Bicycle." [1] To make the Kuwahara brand name a household word, Cohen ran a promotion giving free stickers to children who called a toll-free phone number and could correctly pronounce the brand name. [1] In 1989, Cohen sold the Kuwahara name back to the Japanese parent company. [2] In 1992, Cohen returned to the bicycle industry to assist the Gary Fisher bike brand [4] – 18 months later brokering the acquisition of Gary Fisher Mountain Bikes by Trek Bicycle Corporation. [4]
Cohen later worked as a consultant in the bicycle industry for several companies, including Rotor Componentes of Spain, [4] and subsequently retired from Lomita, California [5] to Colorado where he and his wife, Kay (Kay Piercy Guithues Cohen) [5] catalogued his collection of bicycling memorabilia and maintained his website, HowieBikeMan.com.
When Howie Cohen died on July 11, 2013, Bicycle Retailer said he was "a hugely influential figure in developing the U.S. BMX market and arguably the first person to bring high-quality Asian-made bikes to America." [4] retired from Lomita, California. [6]
