Stronglight History: A Timeline of Key Corporate and Product Events

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 chainring maker called Haubtmann, while the Stronglight name itself was born decades later at a different company entirely, Verrot Perrin. The two strands did not come under common control until the early 1970s, when Haubtmann took over Verrot Perrin.

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, catalogs 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.

1906

Founding

The company presently known as Stronglight began under the name Haubtmann. Achille Haubtmann, an Alsatian engineer, settled in the Saint-Étienne region after a long stay in the United States and began manufacturing chainrings under license from Williams, working from a small factory in the La Rivière quarter. Cranksets came later, as the business diversified, sold first under the Haubtmann name and then under the Solida name.

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 took control of Verrot Perrin, the company that had trademarked the Stronglight name decades earlier. Through this takeover 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 catalog, 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.

Visit the Stronglight Forum