During their recent trip to Oregon for the MADE Show, the Blue Lug team stopped by the Bike Friday factory and got to witness firsthand how Bike Friday has turned raw steel tubing into over 41,000 folding bikes since 1992. Seeing how Bike Friday folding bikes are hand built was a special experience for the Blue Lug team. Their visit not only strengthened our partnership but also sparked exciting conversations around future collaborations and even inspired our current offer.
Blue lug, renowned around the world for their top-notch bike building skills, focus on building custom bikes to their customers’ exact specifications. As one of our Japanese Bike Friday dealers for the last few years, they have been a valued partner in helping to expand our presence in Japan. Since the first half of 2024, they have also managed the Bike Friday Tokyo Blue Lug store in Tokyo, Japan. We cherish their feedback as we develop and improve our product offerings at Bike Friday. We are so inspired by their unique take on the cycling culture.
While Hanna, Daniel and Willie were setting up for the 2024 MADE Show in Portland, Oregon, Clint, Isshu and Wakako, were welcomed by Walter for a Bike Friday factory tour and behind the scenes look at our production process. Walter began the factory tour by showing them our kitting process, a process in which parts are ordered and put together for each individual bike order. This process ensures we have the exact piece our customer desires without having unnecessary components around the factory.
Next in the tour, Walter explained how raw steel tubing, which we receive every few days, is cut, shaped and welded using one of two welding jigs. As Blue Lug shared on their blog: “Designing, welding, painting, assembling…pretty much everything is done by themselves in their HQ at Eugene.”
Each Bike Friday is then sandblasted before going through a powder coat painting process, which results in a highly durable and repairable paint job.
During their visit, Walter even brought out a very rare 25th Anniversary Bike Friday. This 25th Anniversary Limited Edition is one of just 25 commemorative models built using Made in USA components. Some of the component highlights include: White Industries Crankset, Thomson Seat Post, Chris King headset and wooden fenders–you don’t see those very often! This rare model came back to the Bike Friday factory as a trade-in and will now be kept as part of our in-house collection of some of our favorite Bike Friday models.
Besides touring the production side of Bike Friday, they also got to see one-of-a-kind Bike Friday frames, legacy models, and even a glimpse of the Burley influence throughout the factory. One of these rare Bike Fridays is a pink diamond frame Bike Friday from 1991, back when Bike Friday Co-Founder Alan Scholz built bikes under the Advanced Training Products name.
Blue Lug recently published a Bike Friday model overview video on their Youtube channel. There they share some of their favorite Bike Fridays and more about why they enjoy riding Bike Fridays.
View the video below!
Thank you for visiting the Bike Friday Factory Blue Lug!
Follow them on Instagram @BlueLug or check out their website.
All photos are courtesy of Blue Lug.
