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Type | Private |
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Industry | Bicycles |
Founded | 1981 |
Headquarters | Vancouver, British Columbia Canada , Canada |
Products | Bicycles |
Website | www.bikes.com |
Rocky Mountain is a Canadian bicycle manufacturer based in Saint-Georges, Quebec. Its name is a reference to the mountain range that stretches from eastern British Columbia to the southwest United States.
Rocky Mountain Bicycles had its beginnings in the basement of a Vancouver bike store called West Point Cycles. [1] It was in 1978 when two men began modifying Nishiki road bikes by adding wider tires, straight handlebars and internal five-speed gears. [2] [3] Their aim was to create a bicycle that could be ridden and raced on the technical trails of the West Coast. Rocky Mountain Bicycles Ltd. was officially incorporated in 1981, with Grayson Bain serving as president until 1997. [4] In 1982, working with frame designer Tom Ritchey, the company introduced its first production mountain bike - the "Sherpa".
Quoted from the Mountain bike hall of fame entry, written by Jacob Heilbron "Rocky Mountain Bicycles opened a frame building facility in 1984, with lugged road and mountain frames built by English expatriate Derek Bailey. Paul Brodie, an artist and motorcycle head began by painting, then bronze welding the mountain bike frames in 1985, when Rocky Mountain Bicycles began producing and supplying their own brand mountain and road bikes across Canada. The Vancouver trademark sloping top tube was initiated in the same year when Paul Brodie built the first Rocky Mountain “Avalanche” frame for Jacob Heilbron. Pippin Osborne was frame designer and Dan Gerhard was the national sales manager of Rocky Mountain during these early years." [5]
Having expanded sales beyond Vancouver in 1984, Rocky Mountain began shipping bikes internationally in 1989. The company expanded during the 1990s, enlarging its production facilities to meet growing demand in the United States and elsewhere. Rocky Mountain was acquired by Procycle Group (owners of the CCM and Miele brands) in 1997. Procycle then changed its name to Rocky Mountain in 2019. [6]
Rocky Mountain Bicycles has won Mountain Bike Magazine's 'Mountain Bike of the Year' award three times - for the Hammer Race in 1996, the Element Race in 2000, and the Slayer in 2002. Rocky Mountain has also seen one of its sponsored riders, Marie-Hélène Prémont, win a silver Olympic medal in 2004. [7]
Rocky Mountain is best known for its mountain bikes and produces a range of models for different riding styles and disciplines within the mountain category. As of 2011, the company offers over 30 different models, ranging from hard-tail cross country bikes to full-suspension downhill bikes. Rocky Mountain produces carbon fiber, aluminum alloy and steel mountain bike frames. [8]
Rocky mountain began producing road bikes in 1984 and currently markets 11 performance road models and 2 cyclo-cross models, along with several "urban", "fitness" and "hybrid" bikes. [9]
Rocky Mountain is a co-sponsor of the Rocky Mountain Race Face Enduro Team. The current team consists of Jesse Melamed, Rémi Gauvin, and Andréane Lanthier Nadeau. [10]
Rocky Mountain sponsors several professional freeride athletes including Wade Simmons, Thomas Vanderham, Carson Storch, and Vaea Verbeeck. [11]
Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain, such as air or coil-sprung shocks used as suspension, larger and wider wheels and tires, stronger frame materials, and mechanically or hydraulically actuated disc brakes. Mountain biking can generally be broken down into five distinct categories: cross country, trail riding, all mountain, downhill, and freeride.
The Cannondale Bicycle Corporation is an American division of Dutch conglomerate Pon Holdings that supplies bicycles. Its headquarters are in Wilton, Connecticut, with engineering offices in Freiburg, Germany. Frames are manufactured in Taiwan. Bikes are assembled in Taiwan, as well as in the USA and in The Netherlands for the local markets.
Kona Bikes is a bicycle company based in the Pacific Northwest. The company was founded in 1988 by Dan Gerhard and Jacob Heilbron in Vancouver, BC. Their world headquarters are in Ferndale, Washington, with Canadian distribution offices in Vancouver, and European distribution offices in Monaco.
Giant Manufacturing Co. Ltd. is a Taiwanese bicycle manufacturer, recognized as the world's largest bicycle designer and manufacturer. Giant has manufacturing facilities in Taiwan, the Netherlands, China, and Hungary.
Tom Ritchey is an American bicycle frame builder, Category 1 racer, fabricator, designer, and founder of Ritchey Design. Ritchey is a US pioneer in modern frame building and the first production mountain bike builder/manufacturer in the history of the sport. He is an innovator of bicycle components that have been used in winning some of the biggest cycling competitions in the world including the UCI World Championships, the Tour de France and the Olympics. In 1988, Ritchey was inducted into the inaugural Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in Crested Butte, Colorado : and 2012, inducted to the United States Bicycle Hall of Fame in Davis, California.
Roberts Cycles is a custom bicycle frame building business, originally located in Selhurst near Croydon, South London, now located in East Sussex, England.
Keith Bontrager is a motorcycle racer who became a pioneer in the development of the modern mountain bike. Between 1980 and 1995, he was president of his own Bontrager Company, which continues to develop components for Trek Bicycle Corporation after Trek bought out Bontrager.
Ibis Bicycles is a mountain bike manufacturer located in northern California, United States. It produces the popular Mojo, Ripmo, and Ripley mountain bike frames among other models. Ibis products are distributed in 33 countries.
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.
Felt Racing is an American bicycle brand based in Irvine, California. Felt produces road, track, cyclocross, electric bicycles, and cruiser bikes. All design is completed in the United States and the majority of production comes from Asia. The company also has a strong reputation in the time trial/triathlon bike area and for several years provided bicycles to UCI teams in the Tour de France. Felt still supports several professional level race teams including Hincapie Racing and Team Twenty 16.
GT Bicycles is an American company that designs and manufactures BMX, mountain, and road bicycles. GT is a division of the Dutch conglomerate Pon Holdings, which also markets Cannondale, Schwinn, Mongoose, IronHorse, DYNO, and RoadMaster bicycle brands; all manufactured in Asia.
CCM is a Canadian bicycle brand owned by Canadian Tire. The brand was first used by the Canada Cycle & Motor Co. Ltd, founded in Weston, Ontario in 1899. CCM dominated the Canadian bike market for much of the 20th century before becoming bankrupt in 1983. The CCM trademark was then acquired by Procycle Group, while the company's hockey assets were sold off.
Ellsworth Handcrafted Bicycles is a bicycle manufacturer based in San Diego, CA. Founded by Tony Ellsworth in 1991, they produced a wide range of handmade bicycles made in the U.S.: mountain, road, beach cruisers, BMX, and fat bikes. The brand has gone through four ownership changes since 2014, and now focus on producing high-quality mountain bikes specifically in the genres of XC, trail, and enduro. Ellsworth also produce a designer/cruiser bike known as "The Ride"
Klein was a bicycle company founded by Gary Klein that pioneered the use of large diameter aluminium alloy tubes for greater stiffness and lower weight.
A fatbike is an off-road bicycle built to accommodate oversized tyres, typically 3.8 in (97 mm) or larger and rims 2.16 in (55 mm) or wider, designed for low ground pressure to allow riding on soft, unstable terrain, such as snow, sand, bogs and mud. Fatbikes are built around frames with wide forks and stays to accommodate the space required to fit these wide rims and tires. The wide tires can be used with inflation pressures as low as 34 kPa; 0.34 bar (5 psi) to allow for a smooth ride over rough obstacles. A rating of 55–69 kPa; 0.55–0.69 bar (8–10 psi) is suitable for most riders. Fatbikes were developed for use in snow or sand, but are capable of traversing diverse terrain types including snow, sand, desert, bogs, mud, pavement, or traditional mountain biking trails.
Brodie Bicycles is a manufacturer of mountain, road, cyclocross and commuter bicycles based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Stelbel is an Italian manufacturer of racing bicycles, founded in 1973 by Stelio Belletti.