Après le voyage d’études des industriels français en Amérique du Nord — Le Cycle, May 1971, by Olivier Dussaix

Olivier Dussaix’s report in Le Cycle n° 119, May 1971, on the French cycle makers’ study trip to North America: the Canadian market and C.C.M., the 12th International Cycle Show in New York, the Bicycle Institute of America and a visit to Schwinn in Chicago, with sales and import figures for 1970 and the lessons for French exporters. The title, byline and signature are transcribed as printed; the text is summarized in Ebykr’s words, and the page images carry it in full.

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LE CYCLE

Après le voyage d’études des industriels français en Amérique du Nord

par Olivier DUSSAIX

(Suite page 13)

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. A delegation of the Chambre Syndicale du cycle and the Syndicat des Fabricants d’Equipements et de pièces pour cycles is back from about ten days in Canada and the United States, an Opération de prospection de l’Amérique du Nord devised by the Ministre de l’Economie et des Finances and run by the Centre National du Commerce extérieur. It flew Paris to Montréal by Air-Canada, found the province of Québec snowbound and partly went on to Toronto. Canada has about 7 million bicycles in use, two million of them in Québec, with 80 % of sales between March and August. Its one maker, C.C.M. (Canada Cycle et Motor Co. Ltd) of Weston, Ontario, builds about 250.000 a year, 40 % of demand, and plans a 10-speed lightweight for 1971. Of over 350.000 imports the Japanese sold nearly 150.000, passing Great Britain; French exports tripled from 1969 to 1970. In New York the group saw the Bicycle Show, the 12 th International Cycle Show at the Hôtel Hilton (about forty firms), and met Mr John Auerbach, Executive Director of the Bicycle Institute of America. In 1970 the United States made nearly 5.000.000 bicycles and imported nearly 2 million, for a stock of 38 million; the light 10-speed leads while the “cooper mustang” and folding bicycles decline, and American safety standards will be studied in France. In Chicago the delegation toured the Schwinn Bicycle Company, with the English firm Raleigh and Murray Ohio Manufacturing Company of Nashville, Tennessee, one of the world’s three largest makers: 1.800 employees, 4.200 machines a day, automated frame tubes and rims from cold-rolled strip. Its Président, Mr Frank V. Schwinn, briefed them (continued on page 13).]

[A large drawing of the Statue of Liberty, printed in gold ochre, stands behind the two columns of text, rising from the foot of the page to the raised torch just below the title; it carries no visible signature. The first two lines of the title are printed in gold and the third in black.]

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LE VOYAGE DES INDUSTRIELS FRANÇAIS EN AMERIQUE

(Suite de la page 11)

Olivier DUSSAIX
Secrétaire Général
de la Chambre Syndicale du Cycle.

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. Continued from page 11: the information given by the Schwinn Bicycle Company covered staffing, promotion and advertising and purely commercial questions. The tour ended in California, first at San Francisco and then at Los Angeles, where the delegation saw how strongly the bicycle appeals to young and older people alike for relaxation and sport. Everything favors it there: a mild and pleasant climate, a road network that allows for bicycles in general traffic and a growing fear of pollution. California alone takes 40 % of the bicycle market of the United States, and France must enlarge its foothold there in the years ahead. Summing up, the author stresses the size of the American market that will open to foreign importers over the next two or three years. The French bicycle, whose quality needs no praise and whose lightweight type suits what buyers now want, has a leading place to win in a country that is becoming France’s first customer. Internal problems will face the French industry in the coming months, and they will decide not only the growth of its exports but the future of the trade as a whole.]

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