Shimano Bikes
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Shimano Bikes Inc., A big player in the cycling component industry
Shimano Inc. is a global producer of cycling components, fishing tackle and
snowboarding equipment. But a major part of its sales income derives from cycle
components, which make about 75% of total profit, while 23% comes out of fishing
tackle and the other 2% comes from snowboarding equipment.
About Shimano Inc.
The story of Shimano Inc. dates back to 1921, when Shimano Iron Works was founded
by Shozoburo Shimano who first started manufacturing bicycle freewheels. Now the
Shimano Bikes company has grown big spreading its wings all across the world. Having
its headquarter in Sakai, Japan, Shimano Inc. has 32 consolidated subsidiaries and
11 unconsolidated subsidiaries. Though its major production plants are in Singapore,
Malaysia and China, most of the sales units are in Europe and North America
comprising 41% and 17% of total sales respectively. The company has 102.8 million
shares of common stock outstanding.
Shimano’s Innovations
Today Shimano Inc. is a big name in the bicycle component industry having 50% of
the total market share. SRAM, a US based firm and Campagnolo, an Italian firm are the
two major competitors of Shimano. The main components manufactured by Shimano
are crankset, front and rear wheel hubs, rear chain sprockets, gear shift levers, brakes,
cables etc. Shimano’s integrated components that come as a complete set, known as
STI(Shimano Total Integration), are used for road, mountain and hybrid bikes. Besides
all these regular products, Shimano has lot of other innovations to its credit. These
include SPD( Shimano Pedaling Dynamics), Dyna Drive pedal system, Hyperglide(HG)
cutways, Interglide(IG) cutways, Hollowtech cranks, Servo Wave, Shimano Linear
Response(SLR) etc.
Member of Global Alliance for EcoMobility
Shimano Inc. is also a member of Global Alliance for EcoMobility which was founded
in December 2007, on the occasion of the Climate Change Conference in Bali. This
organization promotes EcoMobility and tries to reduce people’s dependency on motor
vehicles.
