Bridgestone Cycle
| Bridgestone Cycle | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Kabushiki kaisha (joint stock company) |
| founding | October 3, 1949 |
| Seat | Ageo |
| management | Yūji Takeuchi |
| Number of employees | 940 |
| sales | 47 billion yen |
| Branch | Bicycle manufacture |
| Website | www.bscycle.co.jp |
Bridgestone Cycle KK ( Japanese ブ リ ヂ ス ト ン サ イ ク ル 株式会社 , Burijisuton Saikuru Kabushiki kaisha , English Bridgestone Cycle Co., Ltd. ) is a Japanese bicycle manufacturer and a subsidiary of the multinational tire manufacturer Bridgestone . Today the company manufactures all types of wheels almost exclusively for the Japanese market.
The company was founded in 1945 by Soichiro Ishibashi under the name Bridgestone Jitensha KK ( ブ リ ッ ヂ ス ト ン 自 転 車 株式会社 , English "Bridgestone bicycles"). The company name comes from the translation into English Ishi = stone , bashi = bridge . He initially operated an import / export trade for auto parts. In 1946 he started producing his first bicycles.
Bridgestone racing bikes were particularly popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s . Bridgestone had a designation system for its bikes in which the ascending quality was indicated with descending numbers. The road bike models RB-1, RB-2, RB-3, RB-T were produced. The RB series took over the design of classic Italian racing bikes from the 1970s and used Japanese craftsmanship in frame construction . The RB-1 was very popular with American racing cyclists. The RB-2 had the same geometry as the RB-1, but it was made and equipped with cheaper tubes and less good quality parts. Tange tube sets were used exclusively for all bikes .