Although the full details aren’t clear yet, Cleveland Cyclewerks has indicated it is moving towards more US production.
Cleveland Cyclewerks is best-known for its entry-level cafe racers and choppers, but it also has an interesting electric bike and supermotos in the lineup. The bikes been sold in Canada for several years now; last year, CCW announced GVA Brands as its new Canadian distributor, and in recent months, its products have started to appear in smaller dealerships here, with more than two dozen dealers listed on the distributor’s website.
For years, CCW founder Scott Colosimo has said he wanted to build bikes in the US, but was unable to get past red tape and general disinterest in domestic manufacturing. As a result, the majority of the company’s production has been in China, although some parts (particularly their accessories) were made in the US, and bikes were partially assembled by Pit Motors LTD in New Jersey.
But now, Colosimo says his company is going to be moving towards more American manufacturing. By email, he told us that “Assembly and manufacturing in the USA, will be on a limited basis for the next 12 months. We will have US EPA and US manufacturing approvals in place by 2017.”
That doesn’t mean CCW won’t be making stuff overseas, he says: “Since Day One, our goal has been to produce high quality and extremely affordable product, we will continue with that goal as we grow, and we will have to look at a balance of US manufacturing and international manufacturing.”
CCW will continue a relationship with Pit Motors in the US, but will manage much more of the operation itself now from its Ohio headquarters.
So, in a few months, will we be looking at made-in-America bikes, assembled from Chinese knockdown kits? Or will most of the parts be actually manufactured in the US? Colosimo wasn’t able to give us all the details, although he did say CCW is looking for investors, to help the company grow more quickly. So maybe if you want to know more, you can buy in? Stay tuned on this one, as CCW is a company that always gets people talking.
Sounds like a tariff dodge to me, and KD isn’t short form for Knock Down. You know what I mean… 🙂
TK4, we are an American company looking to increase our US parts content, assembly and manufacturing footprint. A move that will ensure more American eyes on the product, increasing quality. We will be adding US manufacturing and assembly jobs.
We can only grow as fast as our sales grow. This means there is no exact date that we can give to achieve our ultimate goal of Made in the USA product. As our sales increase, we can invest more money into our US footprint.
It is important to note some facts here, as well. This move is going to increase CCW’s overhead, reduce our margins, but have very little impact on the consumer pricing. This is a win/win for the customer. This business is our passion, this is a move fueled by desire, not fiscal gain.
I wish you all success. Its a tough go, but keep pounding away at it.
BTW. here in the Great White North, KD stands for Kraft dinner. 🙂