Photo for the Tribune by Anthony Robert La Penna / August 29, 2008
The Chicago Tribune published an in-depth article Monday profiling SRAM in light of a planned expansion investment. As anyone who has followed the market for quality mountain bike components knows, SRAM has grown by leaps and bounds in just the last few years and is starting to take a bite out of the Shimano monopoly.
According to the article, Stanley Day started SRAM about 20 years ago to produce a then revolutionary product: grip shifters for mountain bikes. Today the $500M company also owns Rock Shox suspension and Zipp wheels and manufactures pretty much every bike part except bike frames.
The article also gives some insight into bicycle industry product development:
Brian Benzer, the company’s corporate development director, said most of Sram’s ideas are aimed at pleasing what Benzer calls “alpha enthusiasts.” They may number some 10,000, but once these bike technology early adopters embrace a new product, it soon trickles down to bicycle lovers who are somewhat less fanatical about their sport, he said.
I think one of the 10,000 Benzer is talking about is our own Bombardier 😉 SRAM has manufacturing facilities in Chicago, Colorado, California, Germany, Portugal, and of course Taiwan and China. On the fourth floor of the Chicago facility SRAM even has an indoor test track to put new products through their paces.
The article ends with my new favorite winter biking quote from Mr. Day himself:
“As my brother says, ‘There’s no bad weather for bicycling, only bad clothes.’ “
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Sep 17, 2008