Tony Karklins: Made in America isn’t enough. We have to make it better.

At ALLIED CYCLE WORKS we decided to produce our bicycles here, in America, not because we thought it would be easy, but because we thought we could do it better.  We know by doing it here we can manufacture higher performance, more durable and more advanced products that result in a clear advantage to the rider.

One of the key advantages to producing bikes in America is the access to materials, processes and technologies that simply are not available to manufacturers overseas.  A bulk of the energy and resources in the composites are aimed at the Aerospace industry.  These companies are investing billions to improve a relatively young manufacturing process with new materials and technologies being developed at an incredible rate.  For the most part these technologies have just not been explored or are not available to consumer level carbon fiber goods for two major reasons;

1. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR)  are export control regulations run by different departments of the US Government. Both of them are designed to help ensure that defense related technology does not get into the wrong hands.  
2. Most of the companies producing these materials are based in the USA and working to get their materials integrated into an overseas product stream is extremely challenging.

Access to these advanced materials and processes give ALLIED CYCLE WORKS  a huge technical advantage leading to best in class products. .  Our first example of how Allied has applied domestic technology to advance carbon frame manufacturing is our partnership with Innegra Technologies.  

Innegra S Polypropylene Fibers

One aspect that has been significantly overlooked in the bicycle industry is the durability of composite structures.  Our industry has been so focused on lighter, stiffer and faster that is has overlooked one of the most critical aspects of frame engineering: durability.  We have all seen images of frames broken in two or had friends drop a bike and crack a top tube.  ALLIED CYCLE WORKS is working to change this.  

ALLIED CYCLE WORKS and Innegra Technologies of Greenville, South Carolina have entered into an exclusive joint development partnership to bring new technology to the cycling industry through Innegra Technologies high performance fiber material and Allied’s engineering expertise for cycling design.

Innegra fibers are game changing for the cycling industry.  Their Innegra S high modulus, polypropylene fibers are the lightest fibers commercially available and significantly increase the durability and toughness of composite structures.  The Allied Alfa integrates these special fibers mid-laminate in the top tube, seat stays and fork crown to help increase durability and minimize catastrophic failure.  For more information on Innegra Technologies, please visit www.innegratech.com.  

It is our mission at ALLIED CYCLE WORKS to continue to advance bicycle manufacturing and reshore a once thriving industry.  It is through material advancement,  process innovation and strategic development partnerships that this will be possible.  ALLIED CYCLE WORKS:  Made Here.

www.alliedcycleworks.com