Ross (bicycles)
| Rosslogornd.gif | |
| Private | |
| Industry | Bicycles |
| Fate | Bankruptcy in 1988[1] |
| Founded | 1946[2] |
| Headquarters | Rockaway Beach, Queens |
Ross was a bicycle brand that manufactured over 15 million bicycles in the United States[3] between 1946 and 1988. The company, which competed with domestic bicycle manufacturers as Schwinn and Huffy, was widely noted for its pioneering marketing of mountain bikes.
Contents
History
Ross was started by Albert Ross as Ross Galvanizing Works in 1940[4] "manufacturing and galvanizing pipes and pipe fittings for the fencing industry and later galvanized steel parts for military ships during World War II."[5] After WWII, it was incorporated as Chain Bike Corp. in 1946,[2] and changed the name to Ross Bicycles Inc. in 1982.[6] Its headquarters were in Rockaway Beach, Queens,[7] and manufacturing was in Allentown, Pennsylvania.[8] Ross moved bicycle production to Taiwan in 1986 and filled for bankruptcy protection in 1988.[1]
In addition to bicycles, Ross manufactured ammunition boxes for the US government at its Lehigh facility and cited the government contract as the source of its financial difficulties at the time of filing for Chapter 11 protection.[1]
The Ross name was purchased by Rand Cycle in Farmingdale, New York, which suffered a recall of 11,000 mountain bikes in 1998.[9] Randy Ross, grandson of Albert, introduced a stair stepper bike in 2007.[10]
Albert Ross' son Sherwood (Jerry) B. Ross (1921-2013)[5] was CEO of Ross Bicycles from 1946 to 1990,[11] held several bicycle-related patents,[12][13][14][15][16] served as President of the Bicycle Institute of America (BIA)[11] and the Bicycle Manufacturers Association (BMA),[11] and acted as an expert witness in product liability cases.[11][17][18][19]
Bicycles
Ross began making bicycles in the 1945s,[20] and by the late 1960s, Ross manufactured about 1 million bicycles per year.[3] By 1985, it had sold 10 million bicycles under the Ross name, and models included children's bike, BMX, touring, cruiser, mountain, racing, wheelie, and stationary exercise bicycles.[2]
In 1968, Ross joined the muscle bike craze with models such as the Marlin with a "Console Mounted Stick Brake", the Barracuda with a "Chrome Twin Stick Shift Console", and the Barracuda Beast with a "Futura Sports Car Steering Wheel".[21][22]
In 1982, Ross introduced one of the first production mountain bikes, the Force One at Interbike,[23][24] and in 1983, they launched the first professional factory sponsored mountain bike race team, the Ross Indians.[25]
References
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