If you find yourself in the middle of a bike market that has an endless variety of bike manufacturers and styles, the experience can be quite intimidating if you don’t have basic information on the best bike brands. The most important question here is which one would suit you best? For your convenience, we have put together a list of 8 best bike brands around the globe. You can choose the best from the plethora of bike choices out there.
The Importance of Bikes:
Although the information like when was the first bike built and who built it has pretty much lost to the sands of time, we are briefly enlightening the importance of bikes as follows:
Bikes were introduced in the 19th century in Europe. But to date, they have maintained the status of the most relaxing and fun-filled form of transportation, recreation, commuting and even utility. Take a ride to the history of the bicycle. Then you will know that all the key parts of modern automobiles were first introduced and developed for bikes. We can justify saying that the invention of the bike has had a huge influence on the evolution of automobile technology.
What is Best in a Bike Brand?
Anyone who is willing to buy a bike always wants to be sure of one thing that is “the quality”. Every biker wants to have a bike that’s comfortable and provides speed. Furthermore, the durability should be long-lasting.
The leading bike brands that have earned a reliable status. They usually have strong ties to the biking community, like some reputable brands were founded by famous professional bikers. Hence, their names are on stake, and they are bound to produce the best quality bikes to meet their customer’s expectations.
No doubt quality is the foremost criteria but sometimes it comes down to personal preferences. It is possible that a biker may have an awful experience with the best quality providing brand. Despite being among the top and reputed brands, a cyclist might find their bikes uncomfortable.
How we picked the 8 best bike brands around the globe?
We looked into various factors to include the brands in our top list.
1. How many bikes has the brand manufactured?
2. Does the brand’s produced styles suit the majority of the bikers?
3. What is the price range of the bikes offered?
4. Which type of components they were using in producing the bikes?
5. We did not include the bike brands, who deal in low-quality bikes.
8 Best Bike Brands
Globally, the numbers of bikes are increasing exponentially and they are approximately twice as many as the number of cars worldwide. Bikes have numerous styles and models according to their utilization. From the abundant options, we have listed down the 8 best bike brands around the globe.
- We have seen Trek bike everywhere, it is a very popular brand and it possesses a rich heritage.
- Trek bikes are based in Waterloo, Wisconsin, and they were first produced sometime in the 1970s.
- These bikes were born in a barn, but they have been constantly producing one of the best-performance bikes since then.
- Trek bikes are making the biking industry better from the start. It consists of several brands such as Electra, LeMond racing, diamanté bikes etc.
- Trek makes bikes for all ages and needs such as from children to adults, from beginner to professional bike riders.
- Trek bikes are a combination of value, reliability, and performance. The FX line is the lightweight and versatile range that is popular all around the world.
- Apart from it, Trek bikes produce whole range bike designs. The bike brand is basically from the USA but most production has now shifted outside the USA.
- The cool name Cannondale was taken after a train station across a gear company, who created this bike brand in 1970.
- Cannondale has grounds in Wilton, Connecticut. The headquarters of the Cannondale Bicycle Corporation is now an American division of Canadian conglomerate Dorel Industries.
- At first, they were famous for making bike trailer (the legendary bugger – used to tow bikes all over the world). Cannondale was in the spotlight for their bike accessories and apparels at first. The first real bike was produced in early 1980s and just one year later Cannondale created their first racing bike.
- Then Cannondale continued to bring revolutions in the bike industry. Their innovative products and satisfied customers have made them a one successful bike company.
- Cannondale created a striding history in the 1997 in Tour de France. In this event the Saeco cycling team used Cannondale’s aluminum frames with bigger tubes. The new cannondale product provided increased stiff and enhanced performance of the bikes.
- Cannondale introduced the application of carbon into the bike frames in the year 2004. This aggressive approach brought a boost of fame for the bike brand.
- Cannondale is producing a wide range mountain bikes, road bikes, hybrid, fat tire, CX and Ebikes. They are also offering custom-made bike designs for women and kids. Although they are costly but the quality is guaranteed.
- Kona initiated in 1988, relatively a new arrival in the bike industry. This legendary bike brand was founded in Vancouver BC. The Kona produced bikes are sold in more than 60 countries all over the globe.
- The founders of Kona were two friends and the pair continues to own the company till date.
- Kona claims to be the first company to produce a straight leg mountain bike production fork in collaboration with Bruce Spicer. The design did so well that presently Kona is producing 10 versions of the fork.
- The brand’s raw material include carbon fibre, titanium, aluminium, and steel for making the bikes. Kona created a wide range of freeride mountain bikes and earned tremendous fame for the durability and for handling technical terrain.
- Kona is also known for road, commuter, cyclo-cross along with mountain bikes. They have a whole range of styles, and they have introduced the carbon frame bikes in 2011.
- The price range is comparatively affordable.
- This brand was formed in the year 1974, and it is based in California. At first, Specialized imported bike parts from Italy then gradually they developed their own parts. They managed to introduce the first two Specialized bike models in 1981.
- A road-tire, which was the first Specialized product was released in the year 1976. As they were not satisfied with the tire options available in the market therefore, they end up making their own.
- Finally, they turned to the creation of mountain bikes in 1981. Specialized were able to make their first Stumpjumper model soon. This model was sent to mass-production. The easy availability of the model helped thousands of bike riders to experience the adventurous sport at affordable prices.
- In 2001, Specialized was sold to Meridia Bikes and it was relaunched with even higher spirits and better products. The innovative designs are still one of the predominant brands to produce the best mountain bikes, CX, triathlons, fat bikes and hybrids.
5. Merida:
- Merida, the name is originated from the three syllables that are “Me-Ri-Da”. It was founded back in 1972 by Ike Tseng in Taiwan. The main motive of the brand was to produce pretty looking and beautifully designed bikes that were of the best quality as well.
- The brand has an extensive history of producing high quality and beautiful bikes. In 1988, Merida became an independent bike brand.
- Initially, Scott was launched in 1958 as a maker of aluminium ski poles but soon it started manufacturing other sports bikes as well. It is based in Sun Valley, Idaho. The creator of this brand is a smart engineer Ed Scott, also a ski racer of Sun Valley.
- Scott’s first model of the mountain bike was released in 1986. Soon after this launch in the year 1989 the brand produced the legendary Aerodynamic Handlebar.
- To spread their wings the Scott moved to Fribourg, Switzerland 8 years later of their launch. In the 1992 Scott introduced first full-suspension mountain bike and in 1988 they produced G-zero, that is the world’s lightest full-suspension mountain bike. Currently, Scott is making a wide range of all types of bikes.
- This brand was created in a garage located in Santa Cruz California in the year 1993. Santa Cruz is an award-winning company, that has produced 16 brands of mountain bikes.
- As green advocates, the brand utilizes carbon fibre or aluminium in the making of their hardtails and downhill bikes. They thrive to create a rider’s expected quality and most convenient option for achieving downhill feats.
- Santa Cruz is dedicated to producing wild downhill mountain bikes. They are expensive but it is the best choice if you are one hell of a mountain biker.
- It is accurate so say that they do not make bikes but near-perfect high-performance downhill machines. Their bikes are not for everyone and that’s what keeps them in a different category.
- The bike brand originated in Canada in the year 1995, founded by Phil White and Gerard Vroomen. The grand entry was seen in Toronto Bike show in the 1996.
- Cervelo’s climbing bikes are considered most liked among the bike riders all over the globe. The focus of the brand is to manufacture the world’s fastest bike. Hence, it is not for the beginners or for someone who is looking for a regular bike for commuting.
- On the other hand, if you are feeling the need for speed then Cervelo is the best choice for you. If you intend to start training for Tour de France then Cervelo is the brand for you.
- The brand is relatively new in the market but it is the most sought brand in the entire industry. The reputation is of producing the best machines for races and triathlons.
Some More Canadian Best Bike Brands
Even though the Canadian long and harsh winters are unsuitable for biking. Still, bike riding is considered one of the favourite pastime of the Canadian population. The culture of bike riding is continuously nourishing and so does the Canadian bike making brands are also flourishing.
The bikes made in Canada are traditional and possess world-class quality. There are several staggering local bike companies dedicated to producing unique road bikes. Few of the best of them are listed below:
It is an award-winning mountain bike producing brand, that offers hand made and customized steel gravel. They also deal in road and kids bikes.
The brand was created in Montreal in 1989. Argon 18 was founded by a retired bike rider Gervais Rioux. It has now developed to sell bikes all over the world and even sponsored the team Astana in Hugo Houle’s UCI WorldTour.
This brand is home of Oakville and Racer Sportif, and they deal in triathlon and track bikes. Aquila is the choice of team RaceClean of Canadian development squad and is used by Canadian track athletes as well.
Founded by Al Bergman in 2005, who was a young mountain biker. Unfortunately, he was injured by falling off a cliff when he was trying to escape a forest fire in 2000. Despite being paraplegic he continued to work for his passion and love of bike riding. He participated in wheelchair marathon in the 2004 Paralympics in Greece. His bike brand offers road, dual suspension city as well as mountain bikes.
Founded by Ross Allan in the 1970s and this bike brand is into making lightweights and bespoke bike. Allan himself started manufacturing bikes after the completion of his 18 months training.
Paul Brodie created this brand. He initiated the brand in 1986 and focussed on manufacturing customized steel hardtail for mountain bikes in Vancouver. Later he took up the creation of complete bikes to expand his business. Currently, Brodie has plenty of bike designs to offer.
Summary
So, here we are with the list of best bike brands around the globe. However, this is not a complete list, there are numerous other bike brands that are producing awesome bikes across the world. In this blog, we have tried to write down a few of the most popular bike brands to provide information. Hope this little effort proves to be a guiding light in your next bike shopping experience.