BIKE BLOWOUT

0 Comments | Register-Guard (Eugene, OR), November, 2004

Byline: Sherri Buri McDonald The Register-Guard

All that's left now of BikeE, a once-popular Corvallis-based bicycle maker that outsourced work to Taiwan to cut costs, is the name and a thick, growing file of legal papers in U.S. District Court in Eugene.

BikeE's demise and ensuing legal problems provide a cautionary tale for a growing number of small Lane County manufacturers that are trying to stay competitive by using overseas contractors to make their products.

BikeE stopped selling its distinctive semi-recumbent bikes in 2002. For the past two years, BikeE and two of its former investors have been entrenched in a messy legal dispute with Taiwan-based Giant Manufacturing Co., which had made bicycles for BikeE.

Faced with a cash crunch...