25 Years of Precision: How Genio Bikes Navigates a Changing Industry. The Show Daily editor Laurens van Rooijen spoke with Deputy Sales Manager Calvin Lin.
You may be forgiven for not being familiar with Genio Bikes, but this Taichung-based frame maker has celebrated its 25th birthday last year. Founded in 1999 by Jeff Lin, who still is the company’s General Manager, Genio Bikes operates three facilities in the Houli area, within five minutes’ drive of each other. The business model of the company, which is co-owned by three families, is to build frames to customer specification while offering some open models as well. One of the firm’s open models was used as the base for Pinkbike editor Mike Levy’s wild ‘Grim Donut’ concept enduro bike.
“Our staff peaked at 200 in 2022, and currently stands at roughly 150,” notes Calvin Lin, a deputy sales manager at the company. “Genio Bikes build frames from aluminum and some indoor training equipment from steel, with an annual output of 70,000 units in 2022 and a maximum capacity of 100,000. Apart from painting we can perform all frame production in-house, which is a big advantage for end-to-end quality control.” Currently 60 percent of the aluminum frames produced are for e-bikes and the other 40 percent for muscle bikes, and as well as hand-welding, Genio Bikes has used robot welding since 2017.
“As a company we have profited from a diversified portfolio: while the demand for bicycle frames has dropped due to the slump in demand, the market for indoor training equipment has been more stable,” adds Lin.