Giant Bicycles
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| Public | |
| Traded as | : 9921 |
| Industry | Bicycle manufacturing |
| Founded | Dajia District, Taichung City, Taiwan, 1972 |
| Founder | King Liu |
| Headquarters | Dajia District, Taichung City, Taiwan |
| Products | Bicycles |
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Production output
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6.6 million (2014) |
| Revenue | US$1.8 billion (2014) |
| Website | www.giant-bicycles.com |
| Giant Manufacturing Co., Ltd. | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 巨大機械工業股份有限公司 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 巨大机械工业股份有限公司 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | Giant Industrial Manufacturing Co., Ltd. | ||||||||
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| Giant | |||||||||
| Chinese | 捷安特 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | Giant (phonetic transcription) | ||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | jùdà jīxiè gōngyè gǔfèn yǒuxiàn gōngsī |
| Bopomofo | ㄐㄩˋ ㄉㄚˋ ㄐㄧ ㄒㄧㄝˋ ㄍㄨㄥ ㄧㄝˋ ㄍㄨˇ ㄈㄣˋ ㄧㄡˇ ㄒㄧㄢˋ ㄍㄨㄥ ㄙ |
| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | jié ān tè |
| Bopomofo | ㄐㄧㄝˊ ㄢ ㄊㄜˋ |
Giant Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (commonly known as Giant) is a Taiwanese bicycle manufacturer that is recognized as the world's largest bicycle manufacturer. Giant has manufacturing facilities in Taiwan, the Netherlands, and China.
Giant was established in 1972 in Dajia, Taichung County (now part of Taichung City), by King Liu and several friends. A major breakthrough came in 1977 when Giant’s chief executive, Tony Lo, negotiated a deal with Schwinn to begin manufacturing bikes as an OEM, manufacturing bicycles to be sold exclusively under other brand names as a private label. As bike sales increased in the U.S., and after workers at the Schwinn plant in Chicago went on strike in 1980, Giant became a key supplier, making more than two-thirds of Schwinn bikes by the mid-1980s, representing 75% of Giant’s sales. When Schwinn decided to find a new source and in 1987 signed a contract with the China Bicycle Company to produce bikes in Shenzhen, Giant, under new president Bill Austin (formerly vice-president marketing at Schwinn), established its own brand of bicycles to compete in the rapidly expanding $200-and-above price range. In 1984, Giant also set up a joint venture, "Giant Europe," with Andries Gaastra of Dutch bicycle manufacturer Koga-Miyata. In 1992, Gaastra sold his shares back, and Giant became a full shareholder of Giant Europe.
By 2014, Giant had sales in over 50 countries, in over 12,000 retail stores. In 2007, its global sales surpassed 5 million bicycles and US$820 million in global revenue, and by 2012 it had reached 6.3 million bicycles and revenue of US$1.8 billion.
In 1995, Giant designed the first road bicycle with a sloping top tube featuring a smaller rear triangle. The tighter chainstay-seatstay configuration is said to be inherently stiffer than a more conventional frame design, and because less material is used, the Compact Road design is also said to be lighter. With more responsive cornering and improved acceleration, as well as improved aerodynamics, the Giant design became largely imitated.
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Wikipedia