Just a few days before the start of Taichung Bike Week, Glory Wheel has acquired Fratelli Industries and its brand Spank Industries. With this move, the new owner expands its product portfolio significantly.
The Spank brand and Fratelli Industry, as the parts manufacturer behind it, started out as a cooperation of South African Gavin Michael Vos and Sven Mack, the founder of German distribution specialist Sports Nut. Based on its own factory and a close cooperation with professional mountain bike athletes, Spank Industries specializes in developing and producing parts from aluminum.
Despite the overwhelming push towards carbon, the brand stuck to aluminum for reasons of sustainability and affordability. It has done so with considerable success as its handlebars, stems and wheels can be found on the bikes of some of the fastest riders in the Downhill Worldcup. One major factor of success are innovations such as the Vibrocore foam that is injected into handlebars and rim profiles to efficiently absorb the kind of high-frequency vibrations that fatigue muscles quickly.
On September 18, the official M & A agreement and thus the acquisition of Fratelli Industries and Spank by GW – Glory Wheel was signed ceremonially in Taichung by Gavin Vos and Charles Lee. The latter founded GW back in 2001, at first focussing on producing headsets and then expanding into hubs, thru-axles and suspension seat posts.
With the acquisition of Spank and Fratelli Industries Glory Wheel now adds rims, hubs, full wheelsets, handlebars, grips, stems, pedals and saddles to its product portfolio – with only a tiny overlap regarding wheels for gravelbikes. About a year ago, Glory Wheel had opened its second, state-of-the-art factory in one of Taichung’s industrial parks, and this year the company has added another factory in the South of Vietnam. Glory Wheel also runs service centers in Italy’s Milano region and in Salt Lake City, United States.
Glory Wheel’s Chairman Charles Lee comments as follows: “This merger will deliver exceptional products and international services, catering to the growing market demand. We look forward to leveraging our combined strengths in technology, R&D, and market positioning to provide global cyclists with higher quality and more innovative products.” Through his companies The Gravity Cartel and VOG Design, Gavin Michael Vos is also linked to iXS as a maker of bike wear and protective gear, sharing offices in downtown Taichung with this brand for many years.
Are you interested in more industry news? The Show Daily team will again produce the daily editions for this year’s Taichung Bike Week. Freshly printed copies of the newspapers will be available throughout the event days at the Evergreen, Splendor, and Tempus hotels – keeping Taichung Bike Week visitors informed with the latest reports on the fair and insider stories about current trends in the bicycle industry.