Originally Posted by
topflightpro
Several years ago, there was a document posted here that listed the actual manufacturer of all the major brands. IIRC, Giant, Topeak and Merida are the three largest manufacturers. And I believe Merida actually owns half of Specialized.
The story behind Giant is that they got their name because they were so big, they were just known as the giant bicycle manufacturer.
But Giant started out quite small in the 70s and built only on contract for other brands. They gained traction by grabbing a Schwinn contract in the late 70s to make lower end bikes, gained more traction in the early 80s when Schwinn's Chicago plant was on strike, and made bikes for various other brands all thru this time too. They started branding their own bikes in the early 80s when they werent known as a giant in the industry and once Schwinn really transitioned away from them to China around 87, Giant was able to fill the void with in-house branded bikes.