page_title: Huffy
section_title: Modern Era
hierarchical_section_title: Huffy / Modern Era
caption_attribution_description: this bike was actually not built by serotta as some of the huffy 7-11 bikes were. While Serotta did build many Huffy frames, the black Crest branded Huffy frames were built by Dennis Bushnell == Summary == Shown here is an example of a rare Team Crest Huffy built by Ben Serotta. Some of the original gruppo has been changed over the years, but the masterfully built steel frame is what makes these Serotta bikes a target for both collectors and enthusiasts alike. Many experts say that it is nearly impossible to duplicate the ride and feel of a Serotta built steel frame using modern technology and materials. Along with the Team Crest 'Huffy' race bikes, Ben Serotta also built many of the Team 7-Eleven bikes.
context_page_description: The Huffy Corporation is a supplier of bicycles with headquarters in Dayton, Ohio.
context_section_description: In 1970, the Huffy Corporation was founded as an umbrella company to house the Huffy Bicycle division, as well as Huffman Manufacturing Company's emerging sporting goods line. Huffman purchased YLCE (Yorba Linda Cycle Enterprises) and converted that Southern California Company to a national service company, assembling bicycles and other products for mass merchants such as KMart, Target, Sears, and Walmart. Other divisions were purchased and added to the Huffman stable of companies, including Gerry Baby Products (Denver), Washington Inventory Service (San Diego), Raleigh Bicycle USA (Kent, WA), and True Temper Garden Products (Pennsylvania).
  In 1977 the company name was changed from Huffman Manufacturing Company to Huffy Corporation.
  The growth of the corporation during the 1980s was significant and Huffy (HUF on the New York Stock Exchange) was nearly a Fortune 500 Company. In the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics, United States athletes riding Serotta-built bicycles racing under the Huffy brand won two gold medals, two silver medals, and one bronze medal. A technical development center housed in the Huffy Corporate Offices in Dayton, Ohio was formed to research and create next-generation carbon fiber road and time trial bicycles. It was led by Mike Melton and Steve Bishop, two legendary custom bicycle builders. Sponsorship of world class and professional cyclists was only partially effective, as famous teams and riders, such as Greg LeMond and the 7-Eleven team used the Huffy sponsorship for financial support while openly maligning the company and even using different bicycles for competition while sponsored by Huffy. The subsequent fallout in the cycling community was devastating to Huffy, but not surprising considering the nature of the athletes involved. Huffy spent $500,000 to be named the Official Bicycle of the 1996 World Cycling Championships, held in Colorado Springs, the first time the World Championships has been held in the United States.
  Huffy Bicycles had manufacturing and assembly facilities in Azusa, California (closed in the late 1970s), and Ponca City Oklahoma (closed in the early 1980s), but largely manufactured most of their bicycles in Celina, Ohio, and at one time was  Celina's largest employer. At their peak, the bicycle division manufactured over two million bicycles per year and were the free world's largest bike company.
  By the mid 1990s, Huffy was in deep financial trouble.  The U.S. Bicycle industry had consolidated, sharply reducing the number of channels for selling bikes.  High-volume retailers had claimed three fourths of the U.S. market, gaining tremendous leverage over bicycle makers.  Wal Mart in particular was pressuring Huffy: it ordered 900,000 bikes at one time, but insisted that Huffy lower its prices significantly.  To remain a major player in the bicycle market, the Ohio company had little choice but to agree.  Even with Huffy's other non-unionized manufacturing plants, it could not make a profit selling bicycles at the prices Wal Mart, its biggest customer, was willing to pay.  After requesting and getting a pay cut for its unionized workforce in Ohio, Huffy returned to profitability for two years only to again crumple under the pricing pressure applied by Wal Mart.  This forced Huffy to close its Celina, Ohio plant and lay off all 935 employees.  Their other two factories in Missouri and Mississippi soon fell to the same fate for the same reason.  Even after subcontracting production to China, where plant workers earned only 25 to 41 cents per hour, it remained unable to operate at a profit.
  In 1996, the bicycle division received a major blow when U.S. courts ruled that surging imports of low-cost, mass-market bicycles from China did not pose a 'material threat' to the last three major U.S. bicycle manufacturers - Murray Inc., Roadmaster, and Huffy.  Huffy closed its Celina, Ohio plant in 1998, and quickly thereafter closed two smaller bicycle manufacturing plants (in Farmington, MO. and Southhaven, MS.) which had been opened as a last-ditch effort to avoid the higher union manufac
caption: Huffy racing bicycle, frame built by Dennis Bushnell
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