In February 1999, sold its garden tools and wheelbarrow business to U.S. Industries, Inc. for $100 million, stripping the company of $123 million in sales. With the proceeds from the divestiture, Huffy planned to reduce its short-term debt and to finance the company’s ongoing program of buying back its shares. The last year of the decade also saw Huffy introduce an electric scooter called Buzz that was rechargeable from a standard 110-volt outlet. In the wake of 1995’s loss, a rebuilding process began that saw the company reduce its size in some departments and expand into new business areas. Management cut workers’ wages, considered new product lines to stimulate profits, and looked to divest underperforming businesses.
Bicycles that have a green dot on the inside of the quick release lever are not included in this recall. High output 5 LED taillight for the Buzz® electric scooter. Push button switch on back of taillight activates steady or blinking mode.
Until recently, mongoose bmx bike had been an exception to the outsourcing trend. The company hung on until 1994, when it cut its workforce by more than half in a struggle to keep costs down. Then last year it closed its main factory in Ohio, putting 1,000 people out of work. Brunswick Corp., of Lake Forest, last year shifted some production of its Roadmaster brand bicycles from its Olney, Ill., plant to Mexico.
The High Rise had a long banana seat with supporting struts and tall “ape-hanger” handlebars. Huffy hesitated for several months before agreeing to make the bike, on the condition that if the bike failed to sell that Mole would buy all the leftover parts and frames. The new bike, informally designated the Penguin, began appearing in retail stores by March 1963. The Penguin was the first of the banana-seat chopper bicycles to reach the U.S. market.
From then until 1949, Huffman continued to manufacture and sell bicycles under the “Dayton” brand. Set of two 12 Volt 15Ah batteries for the Buzz® electric scooter. These 15Ah batteries provide 25% more mileage range than the 12Ah batteries sold above. Two years earlier, Horace Huffman, Jr., who was known by the diminutive “Huff,” had joined the company on a full-time basis.
In addition, a greater portion of advertising dollars was spent on television commercials, particularly during the hours when children’s programs aired. After it became apparent that continued U.S. production of low-cost, mass-market bicycles was no longer viable, Huffy had bicycles built by plants in Mexico and China, starting in 1999. The relationship with the Mexican plant was severed shortly thereafter. In federal bankruptcy court in Dayton, Ohio, in 2004, Huffy’s assets were turned over to its Chinese creditors. In 2004, Huffy sold its Huffy Sports division to Russell Corporation.
Don’t get mad, but Huffy is also the brand name of a cool bicycle. This adjective has been around since the 1600s, from huff, which first meant “exhale,” and later “bluster with indignation.” Wenning’s father, Werner, was one of the company’s first employees. He proudly remembers his father’s first day on the job _ July 5, 1955. Wenning grew up riding Huffys _ perhaps some that were fashioned by his father’s hands _ around his western Ohio town. There have been some more recent bikes of the late 1960’s to 1980’s that are also of world class quality.
From its peak in 1973, bicycle sales dropped 50 percent by 1975. Huffman was forced to close its Celina plant for two months and lay off 25 percent of its workers. As a result, the company quickly outgrew its physical plants, and in the early 1950s Huffman acquired a building in Delphos, Ohio, and moved the Automotive Service Equipment division to that location. New facilities were built in Celina, Ohio, to house the bicycle and lawnmower divisions.