Greenville bike wheel maker moves rim production to SC from Taiwan

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A Greenville-based bicycle wheel manufacturer, Boyd Cycling, moved its alloy rim production from Taiwan to the Upstate after the pandemic-induced supply chain issues. The alloy rim production is under the company, Olive Manufacturing Group. Provided/Boyd Johnson

GREENVILLE — A Greenville-based bicycle wheel manufacturer has moved its alloy rim production from Taiwan to the Upstate.

Boyd Cycling — founded by Boyd and Nicole Johnson — has been making bicycle wheels in Greenville since 2009 at its facility on Old Buncombe Road.

While the company has always hand-built its products in South Carolina, the parts come from suppliers in different locations. That includes the rim — the outer part of the wheel where the tire gets mounted.

Before the pandemic, the wheel producer shipped alloy rims to the U.S. Since the rims are a large hoop, the company was shipping mostly air.

"And air is very expensive to ship," Johnson said.

The company had to buy an excess of inventory to make filling a shipping container worth it. Johnson eventually decided to bring rim production to Greenville.

"The move to on-shore the production of aluminum bicycle rims will help to make higher quality rims, with increased manufacturing flexibility and decreased lead times," the company said in a news release. "Thanks to improved processes and automations, this change is possible without any increases in costs to the consumer."

The alloy rim manufacturing is under a separate company, Olive Manufacturing Group. The group had machinery made and customized.

Rim production began in November 2022 at the company's facility off of White Horse Road. As of now, one person runs production. Johnson said he expects to hire a second person soon. The plan is to then scale up the workforce as more business is acquired.

Beyond just benefitting his company, the Johnsons wanted to give other domestic bike-making companies the option to make their own alloy rims. Johnson believes the rim production can go beyond adult bicycles but also be attractive to the kid bike and wheelchair industries.

For now, Boyd Cycling's hub and spokes production — the other two main parts of a bicycle wheel — are still based in Taiwan. Johnson said they are looking at aspects of how to arrange the company's future production, "but rims was the first good start."

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Reporter-Greenville

Stephanie Mirah is a reporter for The Post and Courier Greenville.

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