Panasonic

The bicycle division of the proud Japanese electronics manufacturer Panasonic, founded in 1952 as National Bicycle Industry, began supplying equipment to the prestigious Dutch professional road racing team Panasonic Sports Life in 1990. Over the next three years, the team won major races such as Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Amstel Gold Race and the Tour de France (five stage wins). Needless to say, the foundations of bike building, honed in these demanding European professional races, are firmly embedded in the company's current products.

While major manufacturers are turning to carbon frames, the company has placed titanium and steel at the heart of its range, offering users original, high quality, domestically produced models. In particular, the over-beading process for titanium frames is a world-first initiative, a technology that only Panasonic is capable of. Steel frames are also synonymous with high quality and performance, with originally designed dropouts and frame accessories based on precise stress calculations.

Although a mass manufacturer, the company was the first in the world to introduce a build-to-order system called POS (Panasonic Order System) in 1987. This revolutionary system, which allows bikes to be ordered by colour and size (easy order) and delivered to the customer within a few weeks of the order, amazed cyclists. The content of the point of sale has evolved over time and is now divided into two lines: "custom order" and "complete order system".

In the first case, the cyclist chooses a basic model, the design and colour of the frame, and is fitted with special equipment in a bike shop offering the POS service before the frame size is determined. The models include road, cyclo-cross and adventure models. Steel and titanium materials are available. The latter is a full ordering option, with dimensions ordered in mm increments, tube type, dropout type, etc. Steel track models (bike racing = NJS) are supported; Shintaro Sato, winner of the 2019 KEIRIN Grand Prix, also rides one.