Miyata
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| Founded | 1890 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Eisuke Miyata |
| Headquarters | Tokyo, Japan |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
| Products | Bicycles |
| Website | MIYATA JAPON/SPORTS |
Miyata is a Japanese manufacturer of bicycles, unicycles and fire extinguishers. The company has been in operation since 1890. Miyata was also one of the first producers of motorcycles in Japan under the name Asahi. The Asahi AA was the first mass-produced motorcycle in Japan.
Miyata claims to have been the first Japanese manufacturer of flash-butt welded frame tubes (1946) and the first to use electrostatic painting (1950).
Miyata was founded by Eisuke Miyata, a gunsmith and engineer from Tokyo. In 1881, Eisuke opened a gun shop and factory in Shiba which he called Miyata Manufacturing, producing arms for the Imperial Japanese Navy. In 1889, a foreigner visited Miyata to ask the gunmakers to repair his bicycle. The engineers repaired the bicycle, and the company began to repair bicycles as a side business. Eisuke's son, Eitarō, manufactured the first Miyata prototype bicycle in 1890, using rifle barrels produced at the family's factory. The early success of Miyata's bicycles was boosted by a request in 1892 from crown prince Yoshihito (later Emperor Taishō) to build him a bicycle. Upon Eisuke's death on 6 June 1900 and with the market becoming flooded by foreign gun manufacturers, Eitarō converted the business entirely to bicycle manufacturing.
Many say Miyata pioneered triple butting, and revolutionized frame building techniques. The first Miyatas were bolt-upright town bikes. Over the decades, Miyata established a good foothold in the bicycle market, becoming contracted by multiple local brands to build their bicycles and ultimately attracting Panasonic Corporation to become a shareholder in 1959.
Panasonic Corporation, for a period the manufacturer of National and Panasonic brand bicycles, was Miyata's largest shareholder from 1959 until 2008, when it sold its remaining stake in Miyata.
The Miyata brand still exists and, while it is no longer distributed in the United States, it remains popular in Europe under the Dutch "Koga-Miyata" brand. As of 2008, there is limited availability of Koga-Miyata bicycles in North America.
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Wikipedia