When Lance Armstrong won his fifth Tour de France in July, it was not the only cycling victory for an American. As he rolled across the finish line in Paris, he rode a bicycle made in the US by Trek.
A few years ago, to suggest that an American-made bicycle would be used in, let alone win, Europe's biggest bicycle races would be a little like saying that the president of France would drive to state functions in a Hummer.
But American companies like Trek, the Cannondale Bicycle Corp, Scott USA and Specialized, are trying to extend their domestic dominance of the road bike market, not just to France, but to all of Europe. If they succeed, they will become the first bicycle brands to dominate not only in France but in all of the fractured European market
"You could equate it to Germans coming into the NFL or Toyota coming into NASCAR," said Dan Alloway, vice president for sales and European operations at Cannondale, which is based in Bethel, Connecticut.
Faced with rapidly declining sales and shrinking margins on mountain bikes, American bicycle makers are looking to generate growth in Europe, where road cycling remains a popular spectator sport.
Trade figures do not distinguish between sales of road bikes, which have thinner tires and light frames and are meant for use on pavement, and mountain bikes, which are heavier and equipped for off-road use. However, Lou Mazzante, the managing editor of Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, a trade publication, said he thinks that three American companies -- Trek, Cannondale and Specialized -- sell about 50,000 complete, high-end road bicycles a year in Europe at the moment, up from virtually none a decade ago.
Because those three bicycle makers deal at the higher end of the bicycle market in Europe (bicycles priced from US$1,865 to US$6,200 or more), their only retail channels are independent shops like Velocite, a sprawling store in the suburbs of Pau, a city near the French Pyrenees, owned by Frederic Pedegaye, a former amateur racer who has sold bicycles for 18 years. He grinned when asked if he would have carried American road bikes a decade ago.
"No, no, of course not," he said. "American road bikes were completely unknown here."
But now dotted among the famous, and not so famous, European bicycles in the road racing section of Pedegaye's shop are several models from Cannondale and Trek, including a replica of Armstrong's Tour de France bicycle.
"Now there's enormous recognition of American brands," Pedegaye said. "There have been very good marketing campaigns. The Americans now have the reputation for advanced technology and innovation. That was something French bikes used to have, but no more."
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