The Cannondale Corporation was founded in 1971 by Joseph Montgomery. Just as Bill Gates is for Microsoft, Joseph Montgomery is both the founder and CEO. Cannondale is based in Connecticut with manufacturing facilities in Bedford, Pennsylvania and subsidiaries in Japan, Holland, and Australia. Cannondale's initial product was the industry's first bicycle trailer. In 1983, the company raised industry eyebrows by introducing their first "affordable" aluminum framed bicycle. What made the bicycle so unique was its durable, flex-resistant aluminum tubing that the frame was made of. The new design proved to out perform industry standard bikes that were made of steel frames. Today, Cannondale sells more than 90 different bicycle models in over 60 countries . Not only are they industry leaders in bicycle engineering and development, but in 1999 they ventured into motor powered bicycles when they introduced their 432cc Motocrosser aluminum bicycle. In addition to this breakthrough, Cannondale followed up in 2000 with its FX400 ATV (All Terrain Vehicle). Cannondale also makes bicycle accessories such as CODA and HeadShok suspension forks and apparel. .
Market .
In 1982 there existed 200,000 mountain bikers in the United States. Ten years later, the market had grown to more than 8 million mountain bikes and mountain bikes sales accounted for 54% of all bike sales. There are over 1 billion bicycles in the world. Many of these bikes are used for transportation (70%) while the rest are used for recreation and racing events (29% and 1% respectively).
Competitors.
The major competitors for Cannondale in the high-end bicycle industry are Giant, Pacific Cycle (GT, Pacific, Mongoose, Schwinn, and Roadmaster) Specialized Bicycle and Trek. Trek is the #1 maker of these high performance bicycles and Specialized Bicycle is the second largest . .
Geographic Scope .
For Cannondale, their biggest customers are western Europeans, which represent 115 bicycle owners.