rural seguros rga cycling team at the 2016 tour of britain . fuji bikes is a brand of bicycles and cycling equipment currently owned by advanced sports international . 1 the company is a descendant of nichibei fuji cycle company ltd. a bicycle manufacturer originally established in japan in 1899 . the company took its name and logo from mount fuji a japanese symbol of strength and endurance . contents 1 history 2 sponsored teams and riders 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit the company was founded in 1899 in japan by okazaki ky jir . in 1900 it was established under the trade name nichibei sh kai literally japanese american trading company . at first it was importing and distributing us products but later it began bicycle production in japan . during wwii the company name was changed to dainippon cycle which after the war was changed back to nichibei fuji cycle company . by the late 1920s fuji was japan s most popular bicycle . in the 1930s fuji established the first national stage race between osaka and tokyo and sponsored the winning team . today this race remains a premier race in asia . the first asian games were held in new delhi in 1951 . shoichiro sugihara riding a fuji won the first race . in the 1950s toshoku america acquired distribution rights to fuji made bicycles in the united states . toshoku america sold private label fuji made bicycles as house brands through u.s. retailers such as sears & roebuck and montgomery wards . during this period fuji became a partner with several contractors supplying parts for japanese bicycles including sugino cycle industries and suntour . sales expanded into other asian markets . at the 1964 tokyo olympics fuji s chief engineer and designer dr shoichiro sugihara designed the japanese national team bicycles and was team coach . he repeated this role at the 1968 olympics in mexico and the 1972 olympics in munich germany . by 1971 fuji america was established to distribute models across the united states . fuji played a part in the cycling boom of the 1970s . 2 it introduced the first successful mass production 12 speed bicycle in the mid 1970s using a redesigned rear axle to minimize spoke dish to maintain wheel strength . 3 in 1974 richard ballantine author of richard s bicycle book recommended fuji road bicycles at or near the top of each of four price and quality categories from basic low price to professional high end . 4 during the early 1980s fuji developed touring bicycles and in 1986 was one of the first to manufacture frames of titanium . fuji was not well situated to take advantage of the mountain bike boom of the 1980s . the demand for mountain bikes caused a steep decline in touring and road bike sales . this allowed manufacturers such as specialized giant and trek to make inroads into fuji s share of u.s. bicycle sales often using frames produced at lower cost in taiwan . with the continued rise of the yen fuji fell on hard times in the early 1990s . one of the last japanese bike companies to shift production to taiwan after the fall of the dollar fuji bicycles cost more in the united states than most competing brands causing a drop in sales . 5 fuji bicycles produced in taiwan were not as well regarded by u.s. buyers as the japanese built bicycles . 6 the company eventually designed new models taking advantage of modern improvements in materials and construction techniques but this proved insufficient . toshoku america filed for bankruptcy in 1997 and in 1998 nichibei fuji cycle company ltd. fuji america s parent company also declared bankruptcy . following bankruptcy bicycle distribution in the united states was taken over by advanced sports . in 1998 jadeland pacific an investment group in taiwan acquired 100 % of advanced sports which had purchased the assets of fuji america as well as the worldwide distribution rights to the fuji bicycle brand . in 2004 ideal bike corporation taiwan s third largest complete bicycle maker acquired 17 % of advanced sports international asia which markets the fuji brand of bicycles in asia . fuji bicycles are now built in taichung taiwan ; dong guan guangdong province china ; and in kutno poland by ideal bike corporation . in the united states the fuji brand is owned and distributed by advanced sports international asi a privately held corporation located in philadelphia pennsylvania . 1 sponsored teams and riders edit until the end of 2014 fuji sponsored and equipped the uci continental circuits bora argon 18 which rode the fuji altamira road bike and fuji d 6 1.0 time trial bike . fuji also sponsors u.s. triathlete matt reed . citation needed see also edit philadelphia portal references edit a b takiff jonathan 1 june 2015 . wheeler dealers . philadelphia inquirer . philadelphia inquirer . retrieved 23 august 2015 . ballantine richard richard s bicycle book ballantine books 1974 isbn 0 345 27621 3 p. 58 ballantine richard richard s bicycle book ballantine books 1974 isbn 0 345 27621 3 p. 58 ballantine richard richard s bicycle book ballantine books 1974 isbn 0 345 27621 3 p. 58 brown sheldon japanese bicycles in the u.s. market article brown sheldon japanese bicycles in the u.s. market article external links edit official website bicycle culture center japan classic fuji bmx bicycle reference classic fuji bicycle reference ideal bike corporation ideal europe advanced sports international asi v t e american bicycle manufacturers current american star bike friday bilenky cycle works bohemian brooklyn bicycle co. bontrager calfee design cannondale catrike centurion chumba racing co motion columbia cortina cruzbike cycle force group dahon diamondback dynacraft bsc electra ellsworth handcrafted fantasy toys lowrider bicycle & hobby felt fuji fyxation gendron inc. gt haro huffy ibis independent fabrication international surrey company iron horse italvega jamis k2 sports kent international kestrel litespeed magna marin masi melon milwaukee mongoose moots next nishiki novara pacific pope priority pure cycles quality quintana roo r e rans designs razorusa redline rhoades car ritchey design rivendell roadmaster richard sachs santa cruz santana schwinn seven shelby shinola soma fabrications specialized surly terracycle terrible one tommaso torker transition trek turner suspension univega valdora van dessel sports villy custom volagi waterford precision wilderness trail worksman yamaguchi yeti zigo defunct american american machine and foundry chicago clark kent e. c. stearns eagle fat city fleetwing gary fisher gormully & jeffery jmc klein kogswell lemond lotus merlin murray overman pocket rambler ross serotta sol stelber sterling wright components bell sports bicycle technologies international coker tire fox racing shox fyxation giro hayes brake burley design rockshox slidepad speedplay sram l.h. thomson zipp rolf prima v t e japanese bicycle manufacturers current bridgestone kuwahara miyata nagasawa fuji nishiki sugino yamaha defunct lotus panasonic suntour components bridgestone cateye shimano sugino suntour tange international co. retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title fuji bikes & oldid 743597769 categories cycling in pennsylvaniamanufacturing companies based in philadelphiacompanies established in 1899mountain bike manufacturersformer manufacturing companies of japancycle manufacturers of the united states1899 establishments in japanhidden categories articles containing japanese language textall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from september 2013 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutsch edit links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 10 01 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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