The founder of Giant Bicycles has passed away, leaving a legacy that is bigger than just the millions of bikes his company has built.
King Liu, the founder of Giant Bicycles and a leading figure of the cycling industry, has passed away peacefully at the age of 93. In a statement from the company, Liu was remembered “not only [as] our Founder, but a leader who consistently guided the organisation forward while remaining attentive to the people around him.”
Liu was born in Taichung, Taiwan, in 1934, and took a circuitous route to the cycling industry, working in a range of industries, including eel farming, through the early decades of his adulthood. After a typhoon destroyed the eel farming business, the entrepreneurial Liu started a bike manufacturing business in Taichung in 1972 – where Giant is still headquartered – initially manufacturing for other brands.
By 1981, Liu’s company had begun to launch products under its own name, with a number of milestones to follow: the Cadex (1986) was the first mass-produced carbon fibre road bike, with the TCR of the late 1990s proving similarly disruptive to the geometry of road bikes.
Giant’s role in the growth of the cycling industry, especially in Taiwan, can barely be overstated; the country is now considered a global leader of the bike trade, but that was not always the case. When Liu founded the company, Taiwan was struggling to shake off a reputation as a producer of low-cost, low-quality goods. Liu’s leadership of the company saw the reputation of the entire nation’s cycling industry rise; the company’s partnerships with local bike shops and international distributors helped build the domestic industry, and Giant’s global presence.
“Through a strong commitment to quality and a clear long-term vision, he led the company onto the global stage and helped the world recognize the strength and capability of Taiwan’s bicycle industry,” the company said in a statement.
Liu’s passion for bikes transcended the professional requirements of his role, with the ageing founder discovering a passion for cycling late in life, returning to riding as a hobby at the age of 73. “I was an old man contemplating retirement, but funnily enough, I instead discovered a brand-new me,” he told AFP in 2016.”It boosted my self-confidence, my health, and I became more willing to learn new things, to take on new challenges.”
One of those new challenges became an annual feature of the Taiwanese cycling scene: the Ride Like King (also known as Formosa 900), developed into a major mass participation event with Taiwanese riders and international visitors alike riding around the island’s 927 km (576 miles) coastline. The ‘Ride Like King’ concept was expanded internationally, with Liu involved in similar long rides from Shanghai to Beijing, in the Netherlands (Giant’s European base), and Japan.
By the time Liu stood down from day-to-day operations in 2016, with Bonnie Tu succeeding him as company chairman, his vision of the company as a major player was realised. The Giant Group today makes more than US$2 billion in sales each year, manufacturing millions of bikes both under its own branding and for others.
“Throughout his life, Mr Liu devoted himself to bicycles, believing they represented not merely a business but a meaningful way of life,” a statement from Giant read. That is reflected in not just the products of the company he founded, but across Taiwan as a whole – Giant’s statement notes that he became “one of Taiwan’s leading cycling advocates, urging government agencies to build bike paths and promote the sport’s health benefits. Liu’s efforts as a self-described “missionary” for cycling culture were far more than lip service.
Giant Bicycles noted that the timing of Liu’s death coincided with Lunar New Year, and shared the news “with the same humility and discretion that Mr Liu upheld throughout his life.” The leadership of the business remains in the Liu family, with King Liu’s daughter, Phoebe Liu, continuing as CEO.
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