02 July 2020 – Greenville, SC - Boyd Cycling, the South Carolina family-run boutique wheel brand, is getting good at managing adversity. Despite a nationwide economic slowdown that has had both negative and positive effects on bike shops and the industry as whole, Boyd Cycling has been on an upward trajectory.
In November Boyd Cycling hired SpinCycle Brand Management, headed up by cycling industry veteran, Kendall Young, to manage OEM sales and broker US distribution. Of the addition of Young, Managing Director, Nicole Johnson commented, "We've been fortunate as we've grown to be working with like-minded people who value the people part of this business. Kendall exemplifies this. His entire career, his experience and industry knowledge can be attributed to the lengthy, rooted relationships he has nurtured throughout the last thirty years. It's a defining component of his personal brand."
The fruit of SpinCycle's labor comes first in the form of a 2021 OE forecast and subsequent production line of OEM wheel models. The second piece comes with the announcement of HLC as Boyd Cycling's first USA distributor partnership.
"Hawley is an ideal fit far beyond our shared South Carolina home-base," commented Managing Director, Nicole Johnson. "Their core message is 'discover the human side of the bicycle business', the blueprint of what we do every single day. Developing and building relationships with both our retail and OEM partners provides us with the building blocks toward continued growth."
Echoing that sentiment, HLC's North American President, Pat McGinnis, commented, "I couldn't be more excited about our new partnership with Boyd Cycling. As a fellow South Carolina-based bike industry business I have tremendous respect for Nicole and Boyd. They run a great business, they're community-focused, and they're the embodiment of supporting the growth of cycling. I look forward to nurturing both our sport and our businesses together in the coming years."
Having introduced four new products already in 2020, the small company has been on upward trajectory and has been prepping for both the growth as well as the uncertainty that has come with the global pandemic. Earlier this month Boyd Cycling added Brandon Hirokawa to the inside sales team that included the newly hired Brad Reece. Prior to that Johnson was a one-women sales force. In the last six months Boyd Cycling has increased their dealer network by 20% and sees few signs of slowing.
In April the company applied for and secured a Payroll Protection Plan offering assurance that their entire team would remain intact. Having been named the 2017 and 2019 Small Business Administration's Exporter of the Year and a 2019 Small Business of the Week recipient, the Johnson's have built both a local and statewide network and were afforded insight that assistance could be possible. "It was key to us," said Boyd, "that we not have to have furlough anyone on our team, including our outside contractors. Everyone has been part of our success and everyone is part of our future."
