It's About TIME

One of the most iconic brands in cycling changed hands last week. This past Monday, it was announced that the Rossignol Groupe has sold the TIME pedal & shoe business to SRAM and the bicycle & component business along with the European composites factory to our new company, Cardinal Cycling Group. It was a complex transaction that took nearly a year to complete, but ultimately the two separate divisions of TIME are in safe hands.  

Founded in 1987 by Roland Cattin, TIME was always about innovation and finding the better solution. They started out by redesigning the clipless pedal in order to introduce a level of float once the rider was clipped in. Cattin and TIME also took control of the off-road pedal segment with the ATAC mountain bike pedal. Focusing on innovation, excellence and engaging in competition at the highest level of sport, Cattin was determined to create the best pedals in the world, which grew into the pursuit to develop the best composite bicycles. 

Anyone who has ever been to the TIME bicycle factory immediately falls in love with the brand. It was through sheer tenacity and determination that Roland Cattin and his team developed and refined their proprietary methods of carbon braiding and Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) to create TIME carbon framesets. The fact that Cattin insisted on building the TIME factory in Europe and mastered RTM composite bicycle manufacturing is the very reason that we acquired the company, including the factory and the workforce. The 30+ years of experience of doing everything in-house will continue to be essential to the identity of the company. 

By being able to weave our own carbon braids, we have a much more controlled process that produces better riding and more durable structures that have perfect carbon weaves and a lot less waste than conventional carbon layups. Something that gets less press attention than our RTM technology is our Lost Wax molding technique. As an essential piece of our frame-making process, it is also a more environmentally friendly and sustainable method than others used in carbon mass production since the wax can be melted down and reused. TIME’s construction process simply produces amazing riding bicycles. Just ask anyone who has ever ridden a TIME.

I have been watching TIME for the last 30 years as a competitor with a mix of admiration and envy. I was impressed first when they developed their carbon fiber forks that were a “must spec” item for every premium bicycle brand for years. Then I watched how they further developed their braiding and RTM technology that was capable of making bikes that dominated professional cycling under riders like Boonen and Bettini. I just knew that their tech was far more advanced than what most the other brands were using and I admired that they always produced in Europe when everyone else was sending their production offshore. To me, TIME is the perfect blend of technology, performance and elegance.  

Over the past several weeks, I have received countless emails from passionate TIME enthusiasts around the globe who are concerned that we will change the TIME technology or move production out of Europe. I understand their concern but they don’t need to worry.  We purchased TIME because of the factory and technology they have built and developed. That is and will remain the heart of TIME.

Keeping your production local is something that I have spent much of the last five years working on. I started out by reshoring composite production to the USA, and though this new project is EU based, the concept remains the same. When you have your design team, factory and production located within the region where the majority of the sales are made, then you can always provide the best service to your market. It is also the best way to protect your intellectual property and gives you the foundation for improving the efficiency and sustainability of your production methods. We want to be able to be good neighbors and invest within the community that ultimately supports us.

We have already put into motion the wheels of development and production for the future of TIME bicycles. We’ve lots of work to do and enlisted top talent to guide our product development and manufacturing team.  We will be developing products not only looking at where the bike industry has gone, but where it’s going. TIME products will retain the ultra-high level of quality that has defined the brand. All that we have to do to succeed is to build on what Roland Cattin started.

Tony Karklins / Co-CEO TIME Bicycles

www.timebicycles.com