Surprisingly for the off season, January 2012 has been one of our best months yet for sales, buoyed in part by an exciting new development within our company: overseas distribution. We have agreed with a Japanese firm, Groovy International, that they should be our first distributor outside the USA, bringing in our mountain bike components for sale to the burgeoning Japanese MTB market. We’re excited to bring our wheels to a whole new biking community, and to be involved with an excellent company to help us make our mark among Japanese cyclists.
Headed by former Japanese national Four-cross champion, Hiroshi Shirakura, Groovy International specializes in the importing and distribution of boutique American mountain bike parts like ours. Situated in the town of Joetsu, Niigata prefecture on Japan’s west coast, the firm occupies a favorable a mountain biking area. Sandwiched between the sea and the mountains, Groovy International is close to the site of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, and all that region’s terrain, conducive to both skiing and world-class mountain biking. It is a natural situation for them, therefore, to supply the growing Japanese mountain bike market with high-quality parts.
We are confident that we’ve found an excellent match overseas, and look forward to Japanese riders and racers ripping it up with our wheels!
