Upstate South Carolina has long been a cycling hotspot, but two recent developments show it may be on the way to becoming a bicycle manufacturing hub.
In November 2022, Greenville-based Boyd Cycling opened a wheel manufacturing facility off White Horse Road in Greenville County, while in March of this year TIME Bicycles announced it was investing $6.5 million to establish a manufacturing facility for its carbon fiber bikes in Spartanburg County.
Boyd Cycling co-founder Boyd Johnson says he and his wife and co-founder, Nicole, moved to Greenville in 2006, years before starting their company because, in part, of the area’s vibrant cycling scene.
When it came time to found the company and, later, to onshore production of its alloy wheels to this country, Johnson says Greenville was really the only candidate up for consideration.
“Greenville’s been our home, and we knew if we were going to onshore, we were going to do it here,” Johnson says.
For TIME Bicycles CEO Tony Karklins, while the Upstate’s robust cycling culture was attractive, what sold him on locating the company’s first American production facility in Spartanburg County was the region’s wealth of advanced manufacturing and composite-materials companies.
“In our case, uniquely, (the decision to locate in the Upstate) was led by the technology that is there,” Karklins says. “We are kind of the 1% in the bike industry.”
Karklins explains his company makes all of its own products — currently at a factory in Europe — using technology similar to that found in high-end automotive composite manufacturing.
The center of gravity in this sector created by the presence of BMW Manufacturing and its suppliers made the Upstate a natural choice for his company, Karklins says.
Both Johnson and Karklins say supply chain challenges and delays combined with global geopolitical uncertainty make establishing manufacturing facilities in America a sound business decision.
This is especially true in the bike industry, in which the overwhelming majority of manufacturing takes place in Taiwan.
“If Taiwan goes down, there are no bikes (coming to) America,” Karklins says.
He adds that in the next three to five years, he expects to see a significant increase in bicycle manufacturing in the Southeast. With the Upstate’s concentration of advanced-manufacturing technology and presence of major logistical support such as the Inland Port Greer and its connection to the Port of Charleston, Karklins says the Upstate is poised to potentially become a bicycle manufacturing hub.
“It’s really a magical thing going on there,” he says. “With so much international investment, it’s really making for a dynamic place to put companies like this.”
