Twenty years ago, Hayes changed the face of mountain biking forever with the release of the HFX-Mag. The Mag was a brake system that was durable, reliable and didn’t need someone in a lab coat to explain how to set it up. The design set the standard for most offerings available today. We have continuously refined our products base on the ever-changing demands of riders – while still avoiding headaches for the backyard bike mechanic. Take a look at some of the milestones of our history.

 

LEADING THE PACK SINCE 1946

Hayes Disc Brakes began as a Milwaukee manufacturer of outboard motor parts in 1946. In 1956, the company (called H&H Products Company) designed its first brake caliper for go-karts, and two years later it began manufacturing a line of disc brakes exclusively.

 

AN ACQUISITION AND NAME CHANGE

In 1968, another company that was known as an innovator of automotive disc brakes acquired H&H and changed the company’s name to Hayes Industrial Brakes. That same year, the company was awarded several brake patents.

 

THE EARLY STORY CONTINUES

In the ‘70s, Hayes started supplying disc brakes to the agriculture and construction markets, as well as to major snowmobile manufacturers. In 1972, the company entered the bicycle arena, developing the first disc brake for Schwinn. In the ‘80s, it also began supplying master cylinders to the powersports industry, and by 1985 it was the exclusive supplier of brake systems for Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

 

POWER SPORTS INDUSTRY AND HARLEY DAVIDSON

The company began supplying master cylinders to the power sports industry, and Hayes became the exclusive supplier of Harley-Davidson’s motorcycle brake systems. Another milestone: The Brenlin Group purchased the company.

 

BRINGING EXTENSIVE BRAKE KNOWLEDGE TO THE CYCLING WORLD

Here’s where the story gets juicy for mountain bike riders: In 1997, Hayes introduced the first hydraulic disc brake and revolutionized the mountain bike industry. The next year, Hayes sold 12,000 brake systems to Trek Bicycles. The company formed Hayes Disc Brake to expand its foothold in the mountain bike industry. Innovations continued in other markets, too, with a heavy-duty mechanical brake and a patented SAHR developed for Caterpillar. 

 

ROLLING OUT A COMPREHENSIVE BIKE PORTFOLIO

In 2005, Hayes made strategic acquisitions to offer a full portfolio of bicycle products and systems to service the needs of more than 250 original equipment bicycle manufacturers and enthusiasts worldwide. By 2006, Hayes owned SUNRinglé, Manitou, Wheelsmith, and ProTaper/Answer.

 

OUR MEASUREMENT OF SUCCESS

Built into each Hayes disc brake is the power, feel and dependability you need to get the most out of every ride. Today, confidence is the benchmark for everything we develop and produce. We now serve customers in more than 50 countries with warehouses in the U.S., Europe and Asia. With more than six decades of brake experience, we’ve earned the trust and respect of elite riders worldwide.

Why Hayes Disc Brakes? Because brakes are the lifeblood of our business. Our sole focus is to develop products that outperform in your application and outdo your expectations. Hayes has been surpassing industry standards and setting the curve in performance for decades. The people who design our brakes are the same people who listen to other riders and ride themselves. We continually enhance, redesign or introduce products with stopping power and safety features that you won’t find in other brake systems.

 

OF COURSE, WE STARTED IN A GARAGE

In 1986, Manitou began in Manitou, Colo., in the place where most bike-tinkering happens: a garage. The goal was to produce the most technologically advanced products imaginable. Our founder Doug Bradbury was an icon in mountain biking and a Mountain Bike Hall of Famer. He had a maverick spirit and was a bit of a mad scientist who saw the need for suspension in the “new” sport of mountain biking. He was the driving force behind the first-ever suspension fork introduced in 1989.

 

A SHOCKING REVELATION

Since the start, we’ve been on the hunt for the perfect balance of weight, durability and performance. We know the eyes of mountain bike riders are constantly searching for the next obstacle to clear. So is Manitou. Our suspension is a tribute to the searchers, racers, diggers, oil sniffers and weight weenies – who all have their own definition of smooth.

 

THE SCIENCE OF SMOOTH

Yeah, Manitou pioneered mountain bike suspension and became the first brand of its kind, but we didn’t stop there. We’ve continued to pursue the “science of smooth” with decades of extensive R&D. Testing at national and global levels has resulted in Manitou earning a reputation for having some of the most reliable suspension products on the market.

 

REAL RECOGNIZES REAL

In 2006, Hayes Performance Systems acquired Manitou. It made perfect sense that a pioneering brake company, passionate about riding and innovation, would want to expand its offerings by joining forces with a pioneering mountain bike suspension company. It was, and is, a win-win situation.

 

A LONG HISTORY OF SUCCESS

Sun Metal Products, which dates back to 1946, originally owned SUNringlé. The Warsaw, Ind., company manufactured a wire-spoke wheel line, and developed wheels for lawnmowers, garden utility vehicles and stationary bicycles. Twenty years later, they began producing alloy rims for high-performance, off-road motorcycle racing. In the 1980s, Sun also began developing high-end alloy rims for bicycles. In the 1990s, Sun expanded their production facilities and built manufacturing plants in China to meet the needs of the growing Asian bicycle manufacturing industry.

 

WINNING WHEEL RIMS

Sun Products was recognized as one of the world’s best rim makers with numerous victories in the World Cup, NORBA Nationals and a silver medal at the Olympic Games held in Atlanta. In 1997, Sun Products purchased Ringlé Racing Components and formed the SUNringlé brand.

 

HAYES WHEELED IN FOR CONTINUED GROWTH

In a strategic move to strengthen its bicycle offerings, Hayes Performance Systems acquired Sun Metal Products in June 2005, and with it came the successful SUNringlé brand of wheels, wheel sets, hubs and other bicycle components. As part of the transaction, Hayes also acquired two manufacturing facilities in China to produce rims, build wheels and assemble hubs.

We are committed to engineering the highest quality carbon bicycle wheels that inspire, excite and improve the cycling experience . Using innovative technology, relentless testing and quality manufacturing, we know that every Reynolds rider will experience the difference.

We are very proud of our long heritage in the cycling industry as an innovator in carbon wheels. Our goal is to produce the lightest, fastest, highest quality wheels in the world to meet all the major performance cycling segments. Those include mountain, gravel, road, tri along with emerging niches like eBike carbon wheels.

At the end of the day a company comes down to outstanding products and extraordinary people working together with passion and purpose to do their very best. We are fortunate to be able to produce something that improves the quality of life for cyclists around the world, and we appreciate your support and feedback.

Ride fast, ride safe, ride Reynolds.

Dedicated Pursuit of Perfection

Designing performance mountain bike cockpit products is nothing new to us. Back in the day when ProTaper was Answer Products, we were the first to develop a variable wall thickness handlebar for mountain bikes.

Ever since, we have been in pursuit of engineering the most advance mountain bike components available, giving every rider the awesome control they want. Why? Because we are passionate riders ourselves who have a high standard for performance mountain bike components. Our product development and engineering teams don’t just sit behind a desk, we ride the same trails you do, day in – day out testing and perfecting each design. ProTaper is committed to engineering products with a clear goal in mind – deliver light-weight products with an unmatched combination of strength and stiffness.

A LEGACY THAT BEGAN MORE THAN 40 YEARS AGO

company to truly challenge the status quo in the bicycle wheel market. Our founders were Ivy-League-educated mechanical engineers who wouldn’t settle for the best available at that time. The very first Wheelsmith spoke was born out of extensive raw material testing and an exhausting number of design iterations. Over the decades, we have kept this drive for purity in performance and have maintained our reputation for undeniable craftsmanship. We pioneered high-end race wheels and were the first company to perfect mass-production of stainless steel bicycle spokes.

 

WHEELING INTO MILWAUKEE

In 2006, Hayes Performance Systems purchased Wheelsmith, and manufacturing was moved from Montana to our current facility in Milwaukee, Wis. Wheelsmith spokes are built with a proprietary 304 stainless steel using a variety of cold forging techniques. All of these processes work to increase strength and fatigue resistance and to ensure remarkable consistency. We offer butted, bladed, ovalized and straight-gauge stainless steel spokes.

 

STILL ROLLING STRONG

Wheelsmith spokes continue to be the finest available. We apply our decades of wheel knowledge to not just developing an ideal spoke but also the nipples and wheelbuilding tools necessary for those seeking a better bicycle wheel – whether building one wheel for a world record attempt or 1,000 wheels on a production machine. Now, more than 200 OEM customers worldwide specify our products.