In the early 1970s there was a slowdown in high tech industries in the US which found a number of talented engineers and technicians looking for employment. It is not surprising that the bicycle industry was appealing to these people, as the bicycle has always been a high tech machine. Here in California it was not unusual to find that the bicycle shop owner had an engineering degree. The early 1970s also witnessed what was known as the "bicycle boom"as the ten speed bike suddenly opened the market to a very large buying public. Bicycle manufacturers could not supply the demand and there was a waiting list for bicycles at dealerships. Bicycles were in short supply and parts and tools were non existent! Some of the new talent and some of the veteran bicycle professionals saw an opportunity to supply parts, frames, tools, bicycle shop fixtures and aids. The California Bicycle Products Group was formed by some of these small new businesses to cooperate in advertising, sharing booth space at dealer shows and to advise each other on product design and manufacture.

The original members of this group were Phil Wood & Co. (first sealed bearing hubs), Lindcraft (bicycle display and parking racks), Albert Eisentrout (custom frames & forks), Howard Sutherland (bicycle shop aids) and Bicycle Research Products (bicycle tools). Shortly after the formation of the group Emily K (cycling clothing) joined us. After many years the individual members of the group grew in size and found the need for cooperative advertising and booth sharing to diminish. The group became dormant as some drifted away from the formal group and went it on their own.

The members remained good friends and found that they still called on each other for advice and always got together socially at the bicycle shows. It has recently been decided that since they were still close, that they return to the formal cooperative aspects of the group. Current members of the group are: Albert Eisentrout Albert was one of the first quality frame builders of the bicycle boom times and continues to build fine framesets.

Phil Wood & Co.; Phil Wood has expanded their line of sealed bearing hubs, produced the first sealed bearing bottom bracket, the worlds finest spoke machine and now even offers complete high-end bicycles. Phil & Vada Wood have retired and Peter Enwright is now the president of the company.

Lindcraft ; Lindcraft continues to produce the finest bicycle display fixtures for bicycle shops as well as bicycle parking racks.

Bicycle Research Products; Bicycle Research Products continues to design and manufacture unique tools for bicycles, as well as a few parts.

Howard Sutherland ; Howard has gone from his first product, a spoke length calculator to repair and sales documents and "Sutherland's Handbook for Bicycle Mechanics" the bible of bicycle mechanics.

Jim Stein ; Jim is unique to the group in that he lives in Arizona. California has been known to take a lot of Arizonans water so we thought that it would be OK to take Jim. Jim designs and manufactures some of the finest bicycle tools in the world so we have made him an honorary Californian.

Rivendell Bicycle Works Also unique in that Rivendell is not a manufacturer like the rest of the group. They sell an interesting assortment of bicycle parts and accessories via the WEB and by catalog.

The first planned cooperative showing of the renewed group will be at the 1999 Interbike show in Las Vegas. Stop by at the show to see our latest products and say hello.

Be sure to check out the links to member's web pages