The story of Mavic belongs to cycling, to the bicycle and to all enthusiasts of two-wheeled pedals. After the difficulties of recent years, mainly due to changes of ownership, The Annecy-based company is back to spinning its wheels at high speed, within a world that has never forgotten that yellow symbol. We have been to their new home, we are opening its doors together.
Mavic is an acronym, a summary of words that almost no longer exist. Manufacture d'Articles Vélocipédiques Idoux & Chanel (Charles Idoux and Lucien Chanel are the founders, it was 1889).
Maybe not everyone knows that…
The first “Dura” metal alloy rim (Dura is also used nowadays for transmissions….) was created by Mavic. It was for tubulars and the year was 1934It was used by Antoin Magne and won the Tour de France. When was the first clincher rim for a clincher tire and inner tube created? In 1975, Mavic in collaboration with Michelin develops and produces Module E, an aluminum rim with a double bridge and hooked walls to engage the tire.
In 1979 it comes the first Mavic transmission was produced, but it was in 1999 that the transalpine company showed the first derailleur with wireless operation. It is true that its success was limited, as was its market penetration, but something was certainly changing by then. In between, however, there is 1997, where it is used the first three-spoke carbon wheel and the first pre-assembled wheel is supplied to climbers: the Helium.
In 2010 Mavic introduces the very first wheel/tire system to the market and the increasingly insistent rumours about tubeless road tyres are taking on more and more tangible contours. 2016 is the turn of the first carbon wheel, without aluminum braking track and the technology is officially introduced iTGmax laser for composite fiber processing.
A further step forward is made in 2020, when it is produced in first full carbon tubeless UST rim that does not require internal tape. Furthermore, the Fore Carbon technology for spokes that engage directly into the rim, for a package with high rigidity and record-breaking lightness.
History is not forgotten
The French brand remains a sort of family management until 1994, the year in which it joined the Salomon group, then Adidas and subsequently the entry into the Finnish group Amer Sports. From here the unfortunate passage inside the American Regent Fund and the return to a group of French nature, which coincides with the real, tangible and substantial relaunch of Mavic. It is Bourrelier Group which owns 100 percent of it.
The Bourrelier family has invested over 10 million of euros exclusively for the design and construction of the new Mavic house, a futuristic building which also has the task of becoming the beating heart of the company. Today Mavic has 182 employees e five direct subsidiaries run by Mavic (meaning they are not distributors): Italy and Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom, but also in Japan.
A two-year period to start again
Between 2020 and 2022 Mavic has partly disappeared, even if in reality the company was laying the foundations for its rebirth and relaunchThe transition, first from Amer Sport and then from the Regent fund, required a complete reset, also in terms of internal organization. Not only that, but during this period the new working group and the new ownership were able to bring production almost entirely back to Europe.
Mavic produces 97 percent of its wheel components on European soil (France and Romania). The goal is to raise the bar even further and make use of increasingly Made in Europe production, even with regards to equipment. Italy also plays an important role in this.. Furthermore, over 90 percent of the processed materials are recycled.
Sponsorships are back
In 2023 Mavic will be involved in the team's co-sponsorship activity St. Michel-Auber93, with the men's and women's teams. Furthermore, the yellow machines of the Neutral Technical Assistance Service have already resumed support activities during the 2022 season.
