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wow... I didn't realize SRAM was as big as it is

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jacksonpt

Turbo Monkey
Jul 22, 2002
6,791
59
Vestal, NY
Just read they own Truvativ, Avid, and RockShox. I had heard that they took over Truvativ, but I had no idea they owned Avid and RS too. How long have they owned RS?
 

MMike

A fowl peckerwood.
Sep 5, 2001
18,207
105
just sittin' here drinkin' scotch
They bought RS in late '02 didn't they? That's why all the '02 boxxers were put together badly because the RS employees didn't know if they were going to be employed by the end of the year.......
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,165
1,261
NC
You're a little behind the times ;) - a Google search yielded the press release date of Feb. 19, 2002.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,165
1,261
NC
MMike said:
They bought RS in late '02 didn't they? That's why all the '02 boxxers were put together badly because the RS employees didn't know if they were going to be employed by the end of the year.......
Jm would tell you that's just how they are every year!
 

MMike

A fowl peckerwood.
Sep 5, 2001
18,207
105
just sittin' here drinkin' scotch
Indeed....

My '02 boxxer had to be sent back because the rebound didn't work. (I know....what a shock!...hey there's a pun in there somewhere I think).

BUt once I got it back it was all good.
 

splat

Nam I am
jacksonpt said:
um, who?

and if you care... it's their not there... before the gramar/spelling police get after you.

Good point on the gramar

I still have some chains that say Sedis sport on them :)

but here
A BRIEF HISTORY OF SACHS BICYCLE COMPONENTS

1867
Ernst Sachs is born on November 22, in Peterhaussen near Konstanz, Germany. He later completes a short sales apprenticeship and begins training in precision mechanics.

1889
Ernst Sachs moves to Frankfurt. This time period marks Sachs as a big competitive racer and an avid biker. His first encounter with Schweinfurt is at a bike race. A serious bike accident which leads to a complicated fracture in the lower left leg forces Sachs to renounce racing.

1894
Following a stay in Bad Kissengen at a health spa, Sachs moves to Schweinfurt in April. He is employed as a mechanic and a salesman, where he first attempts to build a bike hub. In November, he receives his first patent for a bicycle ball bearing with a modular bearing race.

1895
On August 1st, Ernst Sachs and Karl Fichtel found "Schweinfurter Praezisions Kugellagerwerke Fichtel und Sachs" and began producing ball bearings and bicycle hubs. Karl Fichtel is in charge of sales, while Ernst Sachs is responsible for the technical management. Founding capital was 15,000 DM. The production facility was a small single-story house. In the end of 1895, the total workforce grew to 10 employees.

1896
Fichtel & Sachs employs 70 workers, and daily production increases to 50-70 hubs.

1897
Sachs produces its very first free-wheel hub.

1903
Following eight years of production and eight different hubs, Sachs has his first breakthrough with the "Torpedo Freewheel Hub." The operation begins to grow at breathtaking speed.

1904
The Torpedo 2-speed hub makes its debut. 250,000 hubs are produced. By the end of the year, 900 people are employed. Sachs' father-in-law Wilhelm Hopfinger acquires a patent for the first usable ball bearing retainer ring, an innovation still being used in the ball bearing industry.

1905
Production reaches 382,000 hubs. Employee count reaches 1,800. Sachs acquires over 100 patents and makes a name for himself as the most creative inventor in the development field of modern bearings. At almost every car race, the winning cars are using Sachs bearings.

1908
Production reaches 482,000 hubs. Employee count narrows to 1,640. Most racers are switching to the Torpedo hubs.

1913
The Torpedo 4-speed hub arrives on the market.

1914
A total of 833,000 hubs are sold in the last pre-war season of the summer of 1913. War breaks out. During the first four years of the war, Fichtel & Sachs increases its workforce from 3,000 to 8,000 employees. Ernst Sachs and his wife Betty personally create and finance a military hospital in Schweinfurt.

1920
Fichtel & Sachs celebrate their 25-year anniversary. The hard consequences of war and the Treaty of Versailles lead to a sharp reduction in production and workforce. Nevertheless, the company produces 550,000 hubs.

1939
Fichtel & Sachs has a total number of 6,716 employees. In the production program, a shift in emphasis goes into effect. The hubs' share is reduced in favor of motors, clutches and shock absorbers.

1943
By the end of the war, 67 percent of the company's production sites are destroyed. The company is on the brink of collapse. Despite the profound destruction, modest production is resumed by the end of 1945.

1954
Ernst Wilhelm Sachs joins the company. Total turnover increases by 40 percent from the previous year.

1955
Total turnover increases by 32 percent. A modernized facility for motors begins operation. Usable space tops 6,500 square meters.

1957
Ernst Wilhelm is appointed deputy of the board of directors. In order to promote cycling, the Torpedo Team is created. Fichtel & Sachs also generously supports amateur cycling with the Ernst Sachs Memorial Race.

1960
The Nurnburger Herculeus company, Rabeneick and Bradwede become the first subsidiaries of the Sachs group.

1967
Ernst Wilhelm Sachs resigns from the company's board of directors and, together with his brother Gunter, becomes co-chairman of the supervisory board. A new modernized manufacturing facility for fluid drives is completed.

1973
The first automatic hub, the 2-speed Torpedo Automatic, is introduced.

1976
Once updated, the Torpedo remains solid and unchanged for the next 22 years.

1980
Sachs purchases a majority of the French company Huret, a leading manufacturer of derailleur gears and speedometers.

1985
Sachs Huret Inc., a sales corporation for two-wheeled components, is founded in the United States.

1987
Mannesmann AG takes over as a majority shareholder of the Fichtel & Sachs group.

1997
SRAM Corporation takes over as the sole owner of Sachs Bicycle Components. A new state-of-the-art factory is constructed in Schweinfurt, bringing development and production facilities under one roof. This move streamlines both development timelines and speed to market. SRAM invests over $1 million (U.S.) in new engineering and development resources.
 

Dogboy

Turbo Monkey
Apr 12, 2004
3,216
618
Durham, NC
splat said:
1997
SRAM Corporation takes over as the sole owner of Sachs Bicycle Components. A new state-of-the-art factory is constructed in Schweinfurt, bringing development and production facilities under one roof. This move streamlines both development timelines and speed to market. SRAM invests over $1 million (U.S.) in new engineering and development resources.
But their chains are made in Portugal :confused: