Post by kickstandman on Jun 29, 2017 0:34:28 GMT
Sunset for Suntour
By Frank J. Berto
The full illustrated text of this article is published in the Proceedings of the 9th International Cycle History Conference by Van der Plas Publications. The text is reproduced here with the author's and publisher's kind consent. You can order copies of the proceedings by phone, fax, paper mail or e-mail from Van der Plas Publications, 1282 7th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122, USA. Telephone: (+1)415-665-8214. Fax: (+1)415-753-8572. E-mail: vanderp@jps.net
SUNRISE - 1912 to 1973
Origin of the SunTour company
The Maeda Iron Works Company was founded by Shikanosuke Maeda in 1912 in Kawati-Nagano. Maeda made freewheels and sprockets for bicycles and agricultural machinery. Maeda was owned by the Maeda and Kawai families. A few months later, Maeda moved to Sakai. The original sprockets and freewheels were called 8.8.8.
It was a good time to start a bicycle component business. WW-I ended bicycle imports into Japan. Osaka was a center of Japan's small arms production. After WW-I, many of the Japan's newly established small arms factories started producing bicycles. Similar swords-to-plowshares transitions took place in Saint Etienne, France and Birmingham, England.
In 1931, Mr. Taizo Kumagai married Shikanosuke Maeda's daughter and changed his name to Taizo Maeda.
During WW-II, Maeda Iron Works merged with eleven other small factories. The new company was called Toa Seiki Kosakusho. Taizo Maeda was elected President. The merged company was taken over by the Japan's military government in 1943. It became a subsidiary of the Kure Military Factory and produced ammunition.
On July 10, 1945, a major B-29 raid on Osaka burned out the Maeda factory. The factory was rebuilt after VJ Day and by 1946, 58 employees were producing freewheels at prewar volumes. Twenty-five year-old Junzo Kawai joined Maeda Iron works in 1946. He moved ahead rapidly and became President when Taizo Maeda passed away in 1975.
At the end of WW-II, there were about 7 million bicycles in Japan. The Japanese bicycle industry was centered in Osaka, which had been heavily bombed. The industry slowly rebuilt after WW-II. There was a large demand for basic one-speed bicycles to provide transportation for a Japanese population that had few motor vehicles and little money for gasoline.
Japan's pre-war experience with multi-geared bicycles had been with British Sturmey Archer and BSA three-speed hub gears. Very few derailleur bicycles were imported into Japan in the early years after WW-II.
In 1949, Junzo Kawai visited Europe. He brought back samples of freewheels and derailleurs. He concluded that Maeda should make derailleurs and multi-speed freewheels.
The company name changed from Toa Seiki back to Maeda Iron Works in 1949.
By 1950, Maeda Iron Works had 122 employees and annual sales of about forty million yen ($110,000).
Continued: pages.citebite.com/o2n1u6u4w3qui
By Frank J. Berto
The full illustrated text of this article is published in the Proceedings of the 9th International Cycle History Conference by Van der Plas Publications. The text is reproduced here with the author's and publisher's kind consent. You can order copies of the proceedings by phone, fax, paper mail or e-mail from Van der Plas Publications, 1282 7th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122, USA. Telephone: (+1)415-665-8214. Fax: (+1)415-753-8572. E-mail: vanderp@jps.net
SUNRISE - 1912 to 1973
Origin of the SunTour company
The Maeda Iron Works Company was founded by Shikanosuke Maeda in 1912 in Kawati-Nagano. Maeda made freewheels and sprockets for bicycles and agricultural machinery. Maeda was owned by the Maeda and Kawai families. A few months later, Maeda moved to Sakai. The original sprockets and freewheels were called 8.8.8.
It was a good time to start a bicycle component business. WW-I ended bicycle imports into Japan. Osaka was a center of Japan's small arms production. After WW-I, many of the Japan's newly established small arms factories started producing bicycles. Similar swords-to-plowshares transitions took place in Saint Etienne, France and Birmingham, England.
In 1931, Mr. Taizo Kumagai married Shikanosuke Maeda's daughter and changed his name to Taizo Maeda.
During WW-II, Maeda Iron Works merged with eleven other small factories. The new company was called Toa Seiki Kosakusho. Taizo Maeda was elected President. The merged company was taken over by the Japan's military government in 1943. It became a subsidiary of the Kure Military Factory and produced ammunition.
On July 10, 1945, a major B-29 raid on Osaka burned out the Maeda factory. The factory was rebuilt after VJ Day and by 1946, 58 employees were producing freewheels at prewar volumes. Twenty-five year-old Junzo Kawai joined Maeda Iron works in 1946. He moved ahead rapidly and became President when Taizo Maeda passed away in 1975.
At the end of WW-II, there were about 7 million bicycles in Japan. The Japanese bicycle industry was centered in Osaka, which had been heavily bombed. The industry slowly rebuilt after WW-II. There was a large demand for basic one-speed bicycles to provide transportation for a Japanese population that had few motor vehicles and little money for gasoline.
Japan's pre-war experience with multi-geared bicycles had been with British Sturmey Archer and BSA three-speed hub gears. Very few derailleur bicycles were imported into Japan in the early years after WW-II.
In 1949, Junzo Kawai visited Europe. He brought back samples of freewheels and derailleurs. He concluded that Maeda should make derailleurs and multi-speed freewheels.
The company name changed from Toa Seiki back to Maeda Iron Works in 1949.
By 1950, Maeda Iron Works had 122 employees and annual sales of about forty million yen ($110,000).
Continued: pages.citebite.com/o2n1u6u4w3qui