American Classic Profile
Company Description
American Classic is emerging as a bicycle industry leader in the wheel and component design arena. We embrace improvement, fearlessly fusing engineering technology, quality and style into our product line. We are actively shaping the future of the bicycle industry and not sitting still to react to what others do. Bill Shook, the founder and engineer of American Classic leaves the beaten path to seek new and innovative ways to improve bicycle technology with the single-minded purpose of making bicycle sport enjoyable for all who want to ride and race. We remain true to that chosen path. We strive for excellence and pave the way for a successful tomorrow with big picture creative thinking with the cyclist, in mind.
Bill started riding at the age of 14. He trained hard and became a champion road and track cyclist, earning a place on the US National Team. While racing, Bill started his design career building his projects in his Dad’s garage. In 1974 he created and fabricated the first large tube aluminum bicycle in the world and raced it all over the country. While racing professionally, Bill strove to find the best equipment, the lightest tires and rims. In the 1970’s in the US, fine equipment was hard to find and that is what sparked the idea of American Classic - a place where Bill could design and distribute high performance components for riders every where. After retiring from a successful racing career, Bill received a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Ohio State University. Now he had the engineering expertise and everything was in place for American Classic to become a reality. The first products were new concepts, the lightweight water bottle cage and the revolutionary lightweight adjustable seatpost. The rest is history.
American Classic now has two facilities including our own testing facility and quality control center and our assembly plant. For 2010, American Classic has a broad variety of unique designs in all disciplines including road, track, triathlon, cyclo-cross, cross country, all mountain, downhill and new handcycling. All this, because Bill couldn’t find the right wheels to race in the 70’s.
Bill started riding at the age of 14. He trained hard and became a champion road and track cyclist, earning a place on the US National Team. While racing, Bill started his design career building his projects in his Dad’s garage. In 1974 he created and fabricated the first large tube aluminum bicycle in the world and raced it all over the country. While racing professionally, Bill strove to find the best equipment, the lightest tires and rims. In the 1970’s in the US, fine equipment was hard to find and that is what sparked the idea of American Classic - a place where Bill could design and distribute high performance components for riders every where. After retiring from a successful racing career, Bill received a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Ohio State University. Now he had the engineering expertise and everything was in place for American Classic to become a reality. The first products were new concepts, the lightweight water bottle cage and the revolutionary lightweight adjustable seatpost. The rest is history.
American Classic now has two facilities including our own testing facility and quality control center and our assembly plant. For 2010, American Classic has a broad variety of unique designs in all disciplines including road, track, triathlon, cyclo-cross, cross country, all mountain, downhill and new handcycling. All this, because Bill couldn’t find the right wheels to race in the 70’s.
