While common wisdom in the bike business says all cost-competitive frames are built in Asia, the Allied Cycle Works brand has another vision. How about handmade-in-America carbon frames built with innovative technologies, specced with Shimano Ultegra and selling for $4,000?
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Industry veteran Tony Karklins, who founded Orbea USA, has assembled an all-star cast in the unlikely state of Arkansas to build high-end frames, paint and build them to a rider's preference, and ship the bikes to a rider's door or to a shop. HIA Velo is the parent company behind the Allied Cycle Works brand, which is launching its first bike, the Alfa, this week.
Karklins has the support of co-founder Douglas Zell (Intelligentsia Coffee founder), Sam Pickman (11 years in Specialized's senior engineering team) , Chris Meertens (former Specialized senior composites engineer), Olivier Lavigueur (11 years composite work at Guru) and Jim Cunningham (40 years premium paint experience and founder of CyclArt, which HIA Velo bought).
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"We are putting every single part of the process under one roof in the United States," Karklins told BikeRadar. "The business model couldn’t afford to outsource anything. We are bringing in paint, talent, testing, after-sales service, even our tooling manufacturing is in the state of Arkansas."
"We are in the industry, where, if we are honest, nobody makes anything anymore," he said. "When I got into the bike industry in the early eighties, everybody made their own stuff, product was unique and bike shops were cultural hubs. Now there is little passion; it is all about global logistics."
Unique Alfa features
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