Quality Bicycle Products (QBP) is a large distributor of bicycle parts and accessories in the bicycle industry,[2] with revenues of $150 million in 2008.[3][4] In addition to wholesaling bicycles and components from other manufacturers, QBP owns and manufactures several brands of its own. QBP also participates in activities which support its community through cycling advocacy[2] and green building.[2]

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Quality Bicycle Products (QBP)

Type	Private
Industry	Bicycle parts and accessories distribution
Founded	1981; 41 years ago (1981)
Headquarters	Bloomington, MN, United States
Key people	Steve Flagg, founder
Revenue	$200 million USD (2014)[1]
Number of employees	690 (2015)
Website	www.qbp.com

History

Founded by Steve Flagg and Mary Henrickson in 1981, QBP operated from a small office in St. Paul, MN.[5] The company did $100,000 in sales during its first year.[6] In the second year sales reached $250,000[6] and in 1983 the company received half a million dollars in sales.[6] Early on, the company's main product was its mountain bikes, and QBP also specialised in importing hard-to-find mountain-bike parts from suppliers in Japan.[6] In 1984 QBP hired its first employee and sold $1 million in parts.[6] In 1996 QBP purchased a 67,000-square-foot (6,200 m²) warehouse on its current site in West Bloomington.[7]

QBP purchased Salsa Cycles in 1997, a California-based mountain-bike manufacturer. The following year, the firm entered the emerging single-speed bike market with its in-house designed Singleton chain tensioner. Later in 1998, this product and the new Rat Ride single-speed frame (soon renamed the 1X1) helped launch the company’s new start-up, Surly Bikes.[8] The company continued developing brands for under-served markets, adding specialty parts with Problem Solvers, value parts and accessories with Dimension, and high-end components with Winwood. It also became the exclusive U.S. distributor for Jagwire, a Taiwan-based manufacturer of bicycle brake and derailleur components including pads, cables and cable housing.^{[citation needed]}

Responding to the growing trend of bike commuting and “transportation-oriented” cycling, the firm created the Civia bike brand in 2007. The following year, it firm transformed Wheelhouse, its dealer-oriented wheel-building service, into Handspun, a consumer-oriented manufacturer of hand-trued and custom-built wheels. It also founded All-City, which offers single-speed and fixed-gear bikes, parts and accessories for urban bicycling.[9] In 2007 QBP received the first annual Carbon Buster Award from U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar.[10] The firm opened a second distribution center in Ogden, Utah in the spring of 2010 that has been awarded LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council,[11] [12] the firm was named one of America's Top Work Places by Outside Magazine in 2011.[13] Later that year the firm opened a third distribution center in Middletown, PA,[14] and moved to new facility in Lancaster, PA in January 2015.[15]

In 2015 Flagg retired from his position as CEO and was replaced with Rich Tauer, previously vice-president of marketing and sales. Flagg continued on as the company's chairman. That year the company opened offices in Taiwan, bringing the company to 690 employees.[5][16] In 2016 the company opened a fourth facility in Reno, Nevada.[17]

In April 2020, the company announced layoffs for 12 percent of its workforce due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[18]

Brands

The company owns nineteen brands including Salsa, Surly, All-City, 45North, Handspun, Foundry, Civia, Whisky, MSW, Problem Solvers, Dimension, Mechanical Threads, R12, Q-Tubes, Buzzy's and iSSi. Through its Q-Active division, the company distributes products to independent ski, run and outdoor retailers. QBP entered a distribution agreement with Fyxation in 2011.[19][20][21][22] The company distributes both bicycles themselves and bicycle parts, in addition to outdoor gear.[23]

References