King Liu, founder of Taiwanese bicycle brand Giant, passed away yesterday at the age of 91. Liu founded Giant in 1972 and built his small business into the world’s largest bicycle manufacturer, producing more than 6 million bicycles per year at its peak.

Liu was also passionate about bicycle culture, even though he himself had hardly ridden a bicycle for a long time. It was only at the age of 73 that he decided he really needed to understand the product he was selling.

He undertook a 927-km bicycle tour around Taiwan in 15 days. “When I was young, I saw bicycles as a business. Now I see them as a way of life,” Liu said at the time.

With the help of the iconic Schwinn

Before King Liu, born into a wealthy family, entered the bicycle business, he was involved in something completely different: eel farming. However, in 1971, his business was wiped out by a typhoon. With the little capital he had left, he decided to switch to bicycle manufacturing.

He started Giant in 1972 in his hometown of Taichung in central Taiwan, choosing the name because he dreamed of something big. At the beginning, the company, with 38 employees, primarily produced bicycles for foreign brands. It was a bumpy ride, and in the early years, Giant even came close to bankruptcy.

The rescue came from the now-defunct American brand Schwinn. Giant started as an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and made the bikes that Schwinn put their logo on. In the 1980s, however, Schwinn decided to move production elsewhere to keep costs down.

Instead of giving up, Liu decided it was time to put Giant on the world map as its own brand. This happened at a time when the label ‘Made in Taiwan’ was synonymous with cheap, high-quality products, and bicycles were still seen locally as a means of transport for low-income people.

To better understand the product, Liu even cycled to work in the early years of Giant, but that habit was abandoned as the company grew. Over the years, the company shifted to high-quality production and began promoting cycling as a leisure sport, along with the associated accessories.

Today, Giant is a global player, with annual sales of more than $2 billion and the manufacture of millions of bicycles each year, including major brands such as Trek, Scott, and Colnago.

Around 13,700 employees worldwide

Giant currently has nine large production facilities spread around the world: Taiwan, with its flagship factory producing one million bicycles per year; China (three factories, mainly producing aluminum frames and bicycles); Vietnam; the Netherlands (with Lelystad as the European hub, where assembly mainly takes place); and Hungary (Gyöngyös, mainly e-bikes).

Approximately 13,700 people worldwide work for the Giant Group. In 2024, it manufactured around 3,9 to 4,5 million bicycles. Almost a third of total sales now come from e-bikes, the largest growth market for Giant, especially in Europe.

Maestro suspension

King Liu’s impact on the bicycle industry and cycling culture in general, especially in Asia, should not be underestimated.

Under his leadership, Giant became the first company to mass-produce carbon frames at affordable prices (the famous Cadex series). While the competition still clung to steel, Liu recognized that weight and rigidity were the future, giving Giant a huge advantage in the 1990s.

With the launch of the Maestro suspension, Giant also proved that it was not only a smart manufacturer but also an innovative leader. The system was introduced around 2004 and was designed to optimize the pedaling efficiency, braking power, and comfort of mountain bikes (MTBs) by providing active, independent suspension on rough terrain.

It helped Giant, who immediately applied the system to its entire MTB line, shake off its image as a ‘cheap copycat’ once and for all, making it a premium brand that professional riders wanted to ride.

Giant also became the sponsor of the cycling team ONCE, introducing their revolutionary Total Compact Road (TCR) bike to the peloton. During this era, riders included Laurent Jalabert, Alex Zülle, Johan Bruyneel, David Etxebarria, Carlos Sastre, Abraham Olano, Joseba Beloki, and a young Alberto Contador.

YouBike

King Liu, who “passed away peacefully”, also used his success to transform cycling culture in Taiwan completely. At the age of 73, he started cycling seriously again.

“I was an old man thinking about retiring, but strangely enough, I discovered a new side of myself instead,” Liu said of his great cycling journey, more than 900 km along the island’s rugged coastline, which he undertook in 2007. “It boosted my confidence and my health, and I became more willing to learn new things and take on new challenges.”

Two years later, he also convinced the government to build hundreds of kilometers of bike paths and launched YouBike, the successful bike-sharing system in Taipei.

He later described his bicycle advocacy campaign and the launch of YouBike as “the most meaningful job of [his] life,” because “bicycles can reduce pollution, make people healthier, and help cities function better.”