A couple of the responses to my Vitus query mentioned the importers for a couple of brands. That reminds me....
At the retail level it seemed that most buyers thought that they were getting a bike manufactured by the company named on the downtube. Frequently, of course, that wasn't the case. Would someone out there be able to clear this up? Who built the bikes, who designed the frames, who spec'd the parts, etc...?
I'd also be interested in some history lessons on the big names (not necessarily big companies) behind the scenes of the late 70's and early 80's. Sheldon mentioned Ten Speed Drive and Larry mentioned Lawee. I have the feeling that most of the big Japanese brands were created brands but I'm begining to think that this may have applied to some of the European names as well.
Ken Stagg
Tacoma, WA