Like a lot of places across the Upstate where exciting things are happening, the plain, red brick building on Asheville Highway in Landrum is unremarkable from the outside.
This industrial property in northern Spartanburg County is in some ways a relic of the Cold War, and its 1955 construction reflected some of the fears of the time as evidenced in a still-discernible bomb shelter.
But behind those walls, a vision of this corner of South Carolina becoming a global hub of bicycle manufacturing is quickly becoming a reality.
Perfect timing
When TIME Bicycles was looking to establish operations in Spartanburg County in early 2023, initial efforts to find a suitable site seemed to come up empty.
But a few phone calls by the economic development team at OneSpartanburg turned up a last-minute prospect in Landrum: the former Bommer Industries plant just outside of town.
The 140,000-square-foot building is situated on nearly 30 acres of land with significant frontage along the old Saluda Grade rail line, which is on track to become the 31-mile Saluda Grade Trail. The planned multiuse trail will run north from Inman, through Campobello and Landrum, and into North Carolina.
The site turned out to be a perfect fit for what TIME Bicycles CEO Tony Karklins aims to become a manufacturing hub for the most advanced carbon fiber bicycles in the world.
TIME is part of the Cardinal Cycling Group, which owns the Landrum site. Cardinal also owns Detroit, Michigan-based Detroit Bikes, which manufactures commuter cycles.
Karklins said part of the impetus behind setting up operations in the Upstate is a recognition of the vulnerability of global supply chains and that recent geopolitical uncertainty makes relying on bicycle and bicycle components manufactured in China problematic.
That concern was recently underscored by the imposition in June of tariffs on bicycles manufactured in China.
Karklins said there are about 30 cycling companies already in the Carolinas, and he expects the tariffs to accelerate interest in the area.
“But what we are assembling here in Spartanburg County we believe can be the epicenter of (bicycle manufacturing),” he said.
Teaming up
The drive toward that goal gained ground earlier this year when Greenville-based Boyd Cycling partnered with Cardinal Cycling Group to acquire Munich Composites, an advanced carbon-rim manufacturer based in Germany.
Boyd co-founder Nicole Johnson said the machines included in the purchase have arrived in Landrum from Munich and are being converted to run on an American power system.
Johnson said Boyd’s manufacturing operations in Travelers Rest will move to the Landrum plant this fall, which, she said, will only build on the momentum already at play in the new facility.
“It’s really remarkable how things are evolving,” she said. “Our life today is very different than it was a year ago.”
Much of this rapid development comes down to personal relationships, she said.
Johnson’s husband and company co-founder, Boyd, connected with Karklins through their mutual devotion to cycling. What started as a friendship rapidly coalesced into a vision of what South Carolina could become to the bicycle-manufacturing world.
More than bikes
And not just bicycles.
From the outset, Karklins said a huge part of the appeal to locating in this part of the Palmetto State was the presence of advanced materials and advanced manufacturing companies, particularly those with roots in Europe.
That’s why he considers Epica International’s decision to move its North American headquarters to the Landrum facility late last year as particularly significant.
The company, which set up shop at Spartanburg Community College’s Spark Center in Duncan in May 2021, is a leader in cutting-edge mobile medical-imaging systems and precision-manufacturing robotics.
Karklins said Epica is a great fit because its technology is used in cycling-adjacent applications: automated robotic sanding of composite components for the auto industry and CT scanning for advanced carbon fiber structures.
Both Karklins and Johnson said building an advanced manufacturing and bicycling hub in Landrum is aided in no small part by local and state economic-development partners that are attuned to what it takes for companies to set up operations here.
“Then you add the Saluda Grade Trail onto that and what the area looks like — it’s a dream come true,” Karklins said.
Who’s who in Landrum’s bicycle manufacturing hub?
Location: 19810 Asheville Highway, Landrum
- Cardinal Cycling Group owns the 140,000-square foot building situated on nearly 30 acres. CCG comprises TIME Bicycles and Detroit Bikes
- Munich Composites SC, an advanced carbon-rim manufacturer, is a partnership between Boyd Cycling and CCG.
- Boyd Cycling will move its production operations to Landrum this fall.
Epica International, a mobile medical-imaging systems and precision manufacturing robotics firm, moved its North American headquarters to Landrum in late 2023.
Good to know:
Section 301 tariffs are authorized by federal law and levy import duties on products from countries deemed to be competing unfairly in international trade.
In June of this year, the Biden administration imposed tariffs of 25% on, among other Chinese products, aluminum and steel — principal components of bicycles.
