Cannondale
Probably the best cycling company in the world, in my humble opinion. Joe Montgomery, an ex-sailor who left the Caribbean for New York, founded the $176,000,000 dollar company. The company headquarters is based in Bethel, Connecticut in the United States and it's main manufacturing plant is located in Bedford, Pennsylvania.
Surprisingly though, the first thing to roll out of the Cannondale manufacturingg line was a bike trailer (also known as a BOB trailer) and not a bike itself. It was manufactured on a shelf in a pickle plant in 1971 and introduced to the market as the first bicycle trailer. As the company grew with the success of the trailer, it began to add apparel and other accessories to their product line. It wasn't until 1983 they introduced their first manufactured Cannondale bike.
Cannondale introduced the aluminium frame that was lighter and more flex-resistant that the steel versions that were currently on the market. The new hi-tech design met much criticism but soon after was given way to a flow of imitators from the once skeptical industry.
Today Cannondale is the leading manufacturer of aluminium bikes selling over 80 differant models to over 60 different countries worldwide. Being regarded as a leading innovator in bicycle design doesn't hurt the Cannondale reputation either as it has won a number of design awards such as the "Publisher's Award For Innovation" and the "Technological Development of the Year Award."
Soon however, Cannondale decided that just the aluminium bikes, that were in their own right spectacular, were just not enough. With the craze of extreme sports sweeping the nation, Cannondale announced the marketing of a whole new product line. The company was now to manufacture a whole line of off-road, or motocross, motorcycles and on February 13, 1993 they unveilled the MX400 at the International Powersports Expo in Indianappolis, Indiana.
The new motorcyle featured an aluminium frame and an innovative four-stroke, fuel-injected 432cc engine with electric start (insert grunt here). The motorcyle so impressed the motorsport industry that it soon was awarded the "Bike Of the Year" by Dirt Magazine. Soon after the motorcyle was shipped a new addition was added to the Cannondale family, the FX400.
Cannondale now had an All-Terrain Vehicle to add to it's product line and the industry went crazy over this new addition. 4-wheel ATV Action magazine dubbed the FX400 the "highest-tech quad ever developed." The ATV features a powerful electric-start 432cc motor with electronic fuel-injection and a light-weight, handcrafted CAAD aluminium frame. The Cannondale line now features four high-performance off road motorcycles and four high-performance ATVs.
The company gets many of their ideas for all these innovations in their product lines through the sponsoring of the company's professional racing teams. The feedback provided by the company riders and the flexibility in the Cannondale design insure that the products will be constantly changing with the needs and innovations for the future in cycling, apparel and motorsports.