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Stronglight is one of the enduring names of French cycling componentry, though its own history folds together two separate companies that only later became one. The firm presently known as Stronglight traces its roots to a steel-crankset maker called Haubtmann, while the Stronglight name itself was born decades later at a different company entirely, Verrot Perrin. The two strands did not become a single company until a merger many decades after either had started.
What follows is a chronological account of Stronglight corporate and product milestones, drawn directly from the company’s own account (relayed through Ebykr correspondent M. Perard) along with period advertisements, catalogues and outside sources cited in the primary Ebykr article. Where the record uses a hedge word such as “reportedly” or “at least,” that hedge is preserved rather than presented as flat fact.
1903
Founding
The company presently known as Stronglight began under the name Haubtmann. Haubtmann started out manufacturing a high-end line of steel cranksets, originally cottered, first under their own name and then under the Solida name, and continued doing so successfully for roughly the next seventy years.
c. 1933
Marketing / Trademark
Verrot Perrin, a separate company from Haubtmann, devised and trademarked the name “Stronglight” around 1933 for its square-taper crank, a design that went on to become the universal crank-to-bottom-bracket interface standard for decades and which still predominates today.
Since at least 1949
Design
Stronglight pioneered the use of needle bearings in headsets, including the “X-type” headsets, in which barrel/roller/needle bearings are aligned back-to-back (symmetrically), providing more spacing between individual bearings and improving the stability of the steerer tube.
1949 (per HubJub)
Product Launch
HubJub, a British shop emphasizing fixed-gear bikes, remarks of Stronglight that its “classic 49D still has staunch adherents among cycletourists, an amazing record for a crankset introduced in 1949.”
By 1957
Racing Achievement
Stronglight model 49 and 49D cranksets had already propelled bicycles ridden by 19 world champions in Road, Sprint and Pursuit disciplines, and were used by winners of every major cycling event of the era, including the Tour de France, Hour Record, Olympic Games, Paris 6 Day, Bordeaux Paris, Tour of Belgium, Fleche-Wallonne, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Paris-Nice, along with the Belgium, French and Swiss Championships.
1970s
Corporate
In the 1970s, about the same time that aluminum was becoming the material of choice for cranksets, Haubtmann merged with Verrot Perrin, the company that had trademarked the Stronglight name decades earlier. Through this merger the combined firm continued producing a prestige aftermarket line as well as house-brand components for era manufacturers including Peugeot, Hirondelle and Mercier.
1985
Industry Shift
A burgeoning Asian bicycle industry reached U.S. shores for the first time. The mid-1980s were golden years for the Japanese road bike and saw the earliest stirrings of the Taiwanese manufacturing giants, while the sudden craze for mountain bikes caught the French bicycle industry unawares, as pioneering companies such as Gary Fisher Mountain Bikes, Ritchey Design, Specialized and Trek came into their own.
1990
Corporate
1990 was, in M. Perard’s words, a “black year” for Stronglight, with capitalization diminishing as the business struggled.
1993
Bankruptcy
The company declared bankruptcy, only to be purchased shortly thereafter by an investment group and a pool of former employees who revived the brand under the same name. As M. Perard put it, “if we tear our eyes from the rearview mirror we will note that the company as it now exists began in 1993.”
2000
Corporate
Stronglight joined with another great French cycling company, Zefal, while keeping its distinct identity and organization intact. Stronglight exploited the financial resources of its new “uncle” by upgrading machinery and extending its reach into new markets where Zefal already had a meaningful presence.
Have a Stronglight story or a date to add?
If you have a catalogue, an old crankset or a correction to the record above, the Ebykr forum is the place to share it. Join the discussion and help fill in the gaps in the Stronglight story.
