Cane Creek Cycling

Employee Owned & Pedaling Hard To The Finish

It’s not often that you see an international corporate business turn into a local brand, but Cane Creek Cycling Components is just that. Lured to the United States by the beautiful mountains and golf courses of Western North Carolina, Cane Creek Cycling Components began as a Japanese cycling components company and evolved into a renowned local business designing and developing high-quality cycling products. They are now forging the way as one of the most innovative and groundbreaking cycling components businesses in the industry.

From International to Local Business

In 1974, the Japanese company Dia-Compe Japan set up their US headquarters in Cane Creek Valley, North Carolina. With a skilled local manufacturing workforce leading the way in the cycling components industry, they soon began to produce groundbreaking work, including the manufacturing, distribution and sales of RockShox® RS1 suspension fork, the first widely available suspension fork in the world.

With many proverbial meetings and designs on the way, something unique occurred. In 1992, employees of Dia-Compe purchased the company and facility from their Japanese parent company. It was re-established as the employee-owned Cane Creek Cycling Components, and the company has continued their mission of designing and manufacturing groundbreaking cycling products ever since.

Inspiring a Future Of Innovation and Creation

With a strong team of engineers, inventors and designers, everyone on the team is just as excited about using the parts themselves as they are about creating them. As cyclists themselves, they are dedicated to developing the highest quality components, that stand up to the highest standard of performance. With a strong love for cycling, the team at Cane Creek continue to develop premium components for many types of bikes and many types of riders, fueled by a love for the innovation and creation that goes hand-in-hand with their brand.

As an employee-owned company, they also value community involvement and even offer their own Cane Creek Heroes Program that gives the United States military, law enforcement, fire department, and first responder personnel a 20% discount. We encourage mountain bike and cycle enthusiasts to check out their website and see what makes them an entrepreneurial powerhouse and a leader in their industry.

As for why they do what they do, they say it best – “Riding bikes makes life better, we work to make bikes better.”

Forging Ahead with Groundbreaking Products

Soon after acquiring the company, the employees continued their revolutionary designs, quickly revealing their newest invention – the threadless headset. After meeting with inventor John Rader at the World Championships in Durango, a design and patent were acquired to a groundbreaking method for creating headsets with no need for complicated threads. AheadSet® was released as the original threadless headset, paving the way for a revolution in frame and fork design. This initial release paved the way for many more inventions as they pursued their commitment to changing the cycling component landscape with groundbreaking products.

Some of the many great products they released included the development of the Speed Check disc brake system, the original Thudbuster suspension seat-post, the best-in-class 110 headset, and the game-changing rear suspension technology of the Double Barrel. With a drive for entrepreneurship and a devotion to creating the best innovative products in the industry, Cane Creek Cycling Components entered into a partnership with the industry-renowned inventor and product designer Craig Edwards to manufacture and distribute their hallmark ultra-light eeBrake system.

Assembling A Legacy By Hand

Ever since they acquired the original facility in North Carolina, the team at Cane Creek Cycling Components has been designing, testing and hand-assembling some of the industry’s finest cycling components. Every product is designed and engineered in-house, undergoing rigorous tests to ensure top-grade performance.

As stated by Brent Graves, the President, and CEO, nearly 40% of their workforce is dedicated to assembling, packing, and shipping product every day. Every “Creeker”, as they call their employees, gets involved on the floor in some aspect. The tools, fixtures, test machines, and more that are used in production are designed and made at Cane Creek. They manage all of their suppliers directly, including enforcing Quality Assurance analysis and methods. Every shock and every fork is run on a dyno at least once to verify the damping forces are as they should be and there are no leaks. And they also manually check every air shock for air spring leaks. In total, every fork, shock, post, brake, and headset is made in-house. Even all the marketing is done in-house, and they take great pride in interacting with all their customers directly, performing clinics for distributors, OEMs, retailers, media, and consumers almost year-round!