When Japanese Bicycles Were King of the Road

Like the Musical British invasion of the early 60’s There was a Japanese invasion of bicycles in the early 1970s. 

After many years of growth in the in their market, Japanese bicycle  manufacturers went after the big market in the United States.

Fuji started the exporting with their popular S10-S model around 1971. At that time there was a huge demand for road bikes in the US. So, Japanese bike builders wasted no time to satisfy this demand.  The big players at the time and somewhat, still known by many were Panasonic, Nishiki, Miyata, Fuji and Bridgestone.

Japanese Bicycles: Great Reviews

Japanese bikes excellent engineering and construction received high praise in their reviews.  Their innovated designs and affordable pricing enabled them to corner the market in the mid tier bicycle market.  At the height of the bicycle boom, Japan was exporting around a million bikes a year to the U.S.  Consumer Reports Magazine rated Fuji number one 3 times in their first 10 years of importing bicycles.

In the mid to late 80s the currency rates between the Yen and dollar fluctuated to the point where it was no longer profitable to import bicycles from Japan.  This weakened the bicycle industry in this country bringing an end to the boom and forcing many U.S. bicycle importers to declare bankruptcy and shut down their operations. However, there are many Japanese bicycle collectors today who are keeping these quality rides in demand.