Domestic carbon fiber frame manufacturing has traditionally been limited to big brands like Trek, and small custom builders like Argonaut, and (in limited numbers) at Cervelo’s small facility in California. But a new player has entered the arena: HIA Velo has set up a high-end, high-volume composite bicycle production facility in Little Rock, Arkansas. The writing was on the wall in February, when HIA Velo purchased all of the assets of bankrupt Guru Cycles in Montreal, Canada, and it took just 90 days to assemble all five shipping containers' worth of equipment into the new facility.

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HIA Velo set up its facility in Little Rock Arkansas – an area that also happens to have great road an and mountain bike riding. ron koch

The new production company boasts years of experience. Founder Tony Karklins is HIA’s Managing Director, and also happens to be the former founder of Orbea USA. HIA Velo was formed as a partnership between Karklins, Douglas Zell, and Sam Pickman, an 11-year veteran of Specialized’s senior engineering team. Pickman is now HIA Velo’s Director of Product and Engineering, and brings with him Chris Meertens, a former co-worker from Specialized, now HIA’s Senior Composites Engineer. Olivier Lavigueur joins as Composites Production Manager after working in the Guru composites department for nearly 11 years. David Woronets, founder of Zen Fabrication in Portland, Oregon, brings 15 years of steel and aluminum production experience and is now HIA’s Metal Product and Production Manager.

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In July, HIA Velo also purchased Cyclart from Vista, California to handle all of its paint needs, and plans to relocate the company to Little Rock this fall. "Cyclart will handle all production paint for HIA Velo products and continue to offer premium refinishing, restoration, and repair services to the industry, including composites repair," says Karklins.

HIA Velo’s first brand, Allied Cycle Works, is set to launch by the spring of 2017, and the company is in discussions with other brands and joint-venture opportunities within the bicycle industry. “Throughout the fall, HIA Velo will have several limited-edition product releases as production scales up, and as we prepare for the launch of the Allied Cycle Works brand,” says Karklins.

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