” You did see ? The Giant Tower has the same shape as Taiwan. » At the foot of the headquarters of the world’s number one bicycle company in Taichung, Sherry Tsou, who works for the Cycle Museum, points to the top of the building. She salutes the work of star architect Joshua Jih Pan and the symbol: the island not only gave birth to TSMC, the global giant of the semiconductor industry, these chips without which our mobile phones, our computers or our cars wouldn’t work. It is also home to the world’s number one and two bicycle manufacturers, Giant and Merida (known in Europe under the Centurion brand). And, behind them, a myriad of suppliers, also leaders in their specialty: chain, saddle, lighting, brakes, derailleurs, batteries…
For half a century, in relative discretion, Taiwan has established itself as the island of cycling, managing over the years to adapt to competition from lower-cost countries, unlike Europe or the United States. -United States which have let their cycle industry slip away. In total, there are nine hundred companies, many family SMEs, which share the sector’s value chain, employ more than 32,000 people and send parts around the world. They are grouped around Taichung, the country’s second city with more than 2.8 million inhabitants, in the center-west of the island.
Half of the suppliers are concentrated in the south of the metropolis, in Changhua, around Merida. The other half is to the north, near the historic Giant factory. In 1992, Decathlon established itself equidistant between these two poles, at the heart of the ecosystem, to in turn become a heavyweight and a center of excellence for cycling. The French company is today one of the biggest clients of Taiwanese manufacturers, but not only that: Jean-François Guislain, who manages Decathlon in Taichung, reigns over nineteen stores, in addition to the production office.
However, the bicycle is not a Taiwanese invention, nor even a tradition. The Cycle Museum created by Yang Liu, also called King Liu, the founder of Giant, gives back to Caesar what is Caesar’s: the oldest two-wheelers exhibited there are European. For example, we see the balance bike – a bicycle without pedals – designed in 1817 by the German baron Karl Drais von Sauerbronn. The route continues with a postman’s bike from Japan. “In the 1960s, we still imported bicycles from this country”explains Mme Tsou.
After the oil shock, the market took off
The industry grew over the following decade and quickly turned to exports. In 1972, King Liu founded the Giant Group, and Ike Tseng, his competitor, created Merida. At the right time: after the oil crisis of 1973, the market took off. “It peaked in 1986-1987, with more than 10 million bicycles produced per year in Taiwan”, recalls Yucheng Cheng, production director at Decathlon. It was also during this period that the brand from the north of France designed its first model and launched itself on the market.
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