The Japanese giant dominates the global bike-parts market, thanks to a man in a kimono and trilby hat
ICONS OF CYCLING
Over half of all the bike parts in the world are Shimano. As are over two-thirds of gears and brakes. It’s the S of STI shifters (‘Shimano Total Integration’) and of SPD pedals (‘Shimano Pedalling Dynamics’) among other abbreviations. How come the Japanese company – started by a sole trader called Shozaburo Shimano in 1921 with a borrowed lathe and a shed, in a city more usually associated with making samurai swords – dominates the world of cycling?
Partly luck. In the 1980s its big rival Suntour, after some R&D underfunding and bad breaks, fell apart like a derailleur trashed by a baggage-handler. Shimano has been No 1 since.
But mainly, Shimano thrives through good old-fashioned business sense. It’s embraced change – those new-fangled ‘mountain bikes’ in the 1980s, for instance – but they stick to what they’re good at. (It also makes fishing equipment: over half all record catches are landed with Shimano tackle. But 80% of what it makes ends up being pedalled.) They invest big in computer design and R&D: Di2 shifters are theirs too, standing this time for ‘Digital Integrated Intelligence’. The company rates well on investment sites for steadiness: no boom-and-bust (though please note, this does not constitute financial advice.)
And they keep control. It’s still a family business with plenty of Shimanos on the board (Shozaburo’s grandson, Yozo, is the president). Quality control is vital. When Shozaburo made freewheels for Sakai City’s cyclists in 1922, he offered free replacements (some say two) for any that failed. His diligence and precision have benefited the company ever since.
The company is employee-friendly in the context of Japan’s all-consuming work ethic, and is cycle-focused: the HQ has a huge covered indoor park, and workers spend time in foreign factories to better understand the products and users.
Shimano’s main contenders these days are SRAM and, to a lesser and mainly high-end extent, Campagnolo. But Shimano addresses all bike budgets. The bottom-to-top sequence of its gear range (Tourney–Claris–Sora–Tiagra–105-Ultegr
