Cycling has been one of the most popular sports since the first bike race took place way back in the 1800s. Since then, we’ve seen a boom in cyclists and, as a result, a drastic increase in bike brands. This increase is a good and bad thing for consumers.
If you’re interested in finding a good bike, you would’ve likely seen it very difficult to figure out which bike and cycling brands are the best. We say the increase in bike companies is bad because since it is difficult to weed out the good bike brands. But once you do, it becomes a good thing as you get some outstanding bicycle options.
We’ve put together this list to help you figure out which bicycle brands are the best among the hundreds of bike manufacturers out there. Before we go on, we want to point out that there is no “BEST” among these companies as they all have strong points and specialties. As such, this bike brand list focuses only on the 30 most popular bike companies.
30 Best Bike Brands:
- Giant
- DiamondBack
- TREK BIKES
- Cannondale
- Specialized
- Schwinn
- SIXTHREEZERO
- Vilano
- FUJI BIKES
- Giordano
- FIRMSTRONG
- Marin Bikes
- Felt Bicycles
- Colnago Bikes
- GT Bikes
- Raleigh Bikes
- Kona Bicycle Company
- 6KU
How did we choose the best bike brand names?
With so many different cycling brands out there, we obviously can’t include all of them on the list. As such, we focused on the popularity of each manufacturer, its size, and lastly, the age of each brand.
We decided to use those criteria to select them as we felt that they would be the most important things to you.
Popularity & Age
If the manufacturer has survived for a few decades and remains popular means that they are doing something right. And if that’s the case, it means you can buy one of their bikes without having to worry that the company will disappear tomorrow.
Company Size
We looked at the size of the cycling brands to see the number of models they’ve produced, and how their products are selling. We feel that having a more extensive bike inventory adds to the company’s popularity. Moreover, if they have a wide bike inventory, it’ll be beneficial to you since you get more options.
Bike Brands Reviews
But without further delay, let’s get into the details of each cycling brand.
GIANT Bicycles
Founded in 1972 – Revenue 1.9B USD in 2017 – Known for Manufacturing Bikes
Giant takes the top spot as one of the best bike brands in the world for many reasons. They’ve been in business for over four (4) decades, since 1972, and have remained one of the leading bike companies. Giant is a Taiwanese brand and manufactures more than just bicycles. Furthermore, Giant, as the leading bike manufacturer, makes bikes for some of the other brands, such as Trek, Colnago, and Scott Bicycles.
They produce quite a number of bike types from all the main bike categories. However, they are mostly known for their Road, Mountain, Gravel, and Kids Bikes. You can also find electric bikes that are produced by Giant. So while they aren’t as some of the manufacturers below them, the truth is as the top bike producer, Giant deserves the top spot.
You can also find every type of bike gear from the Giant brand. The fact that they manufacture so many items is a huge plus to buying a Giant product as you can easily find anything you need to repair or enhance your cycling experience.
Pros
DiamondBack Bikes
Founded in 1977 – Known for Mountain Bikes and BMX bikes
DiamondBack is a top contender for the best bike brands in the world. They’ve been around since 1977 as a BMX brand and have been very popular since. Diamondback’s manufacturing popularity is mostly due to its incredible BMX and Mountain bikes. However, they also offer road bikes for different disciplines.
Diamondback also offers quite a few bike accessories and is known to be a very reliable manufacturer. You can sometimes find bikes from other cycling categories with the diamondback branding; however, most of those are currently out of stock.
Pros
Trek Bikes
Trek is one of the world’s most popular mountain bike brands. They have been around since 1975 and have seen tremendous popularity among cyclists. Most riders aren’t aware that many of Trek Bicycles are built by Giant.
However, Trek bikes are often of a higher quality than Giant bikes. We’ve made a comparison of these two companies that you can check out here.
In terms of bike inventory, Trek boasts one of the largest among bicycle brands. They have sold all the main types, such as MTBs, Fat Tire, Road, Hybrid, Cruiser, and even Kids bikes. Any bike you want will be easy to find from Trek. Moreover, they also offer different cycling gear for almost every aspect of biking.
Pros
Cannondale
Cannondale is one of the more popular cycling brands that has been around since 1973. They offer a wide variety of bicycles but are more well known for their Road, Mountain, Electric and Kids bikes. The company is an American company that is owned by Dorel Industries, which is a Canadian group.
One of the key things that have led to Cannondale’s popularity and success is that they mostly sell high-end bikes. Cannondale bicycles are among the most stylish design bikes and feature very high-end components. That means if you decide to buy a Cannondale bicycle, you should expect that it will cost you.
Pros
Related Article:
Cannondale vs Specialized – Which brand has the better Bikes?
SPECIALIZED
Specialized is short for Specialized Bicycle Components, inc. It is a company based in the US and has been around since 1974. This bike brand, like Cannondale, also offers really high-quality bicycles.
Specialized brand is most widely known for producing some excellent mountain bikes. However, they also have electric and road bikes available for sale. You can also find cycling gear in the Specialized company name for different things for both men and women. They also have a vast inventory of bike components, so you can definitely find parts to kit out or repair your Specialized bicycle.
Pros
- Specialized use only high-quality parts.
Schwinn
Schwinn is one of the most popular bicycle brands in the world hands down. They’ve been around for more than 100 Years! Yep, you read that right. Schwinn was founded all the way back in 1895 and has dominated the American cycling industry throughout the years. They are a sub-brand of Pacific Cycle, which is also a part of Dorel Industries (part of the same group that owns Cannondale).
Since they’ve been around for such a long time, you can expect that Schwinn bicycles have seen great improvements. As such, these days, most Schwinn bikes are of very high quality. The good thing about Schwinn and one of the reasons they’ve survived so long and remain popular is because their bikes are affordable.
Moreover, you can always find a bike from Schwinn for whatever type of riding you plan to do. Schwinn has it all, from MTBs, Road, Cruisers, Hybrid Bikes, Kids Bikes, and even Tricycles. You name it, and Schwinn should have it.
Pros
SIXTHREEZERO
Sixthreezero is one of the more recent bike brands, but it has gained great popularity among leisure cyclists. This biking brand was started in 2005 and started off selling mostly beach cruiser bikes. But as time progressed, they gained a following and have branched out to other types of bicycles.
You can get the best comfort, cruiser, and hybrid bikes from sixthreezero at a very affordable price. They do offer other bike types such as kids’ bikes, commuter, fat-tire bikes, and even tricycles.
Pros
MONGOOSE BIKES
Mongoose is one of those long-standing bicycle brands that have been around for many years. The brand was started back in 1974 and became popular for BMX bikes. Today, Mongoose is still very popular for manufacturing BMX bikes; however, they’ve since spread their wings and start making Mountain, urban, and kids bikes.
They also have one of the most popular fat tire bikes the Mongoose Dolomite, Malus, and Argus. You can check them out in our full Mongoose Bikes Review.
Pros
Firmstrong
The Firmstrong Bike brand is an American bike company from California. They’ve been around since 2010 and has since gained tremendous popularity for their cruiser and comfort bikes. Firmstrong bicycles are stylish and feature good quality components.
In addition to cruisers, Firmstrong also offers a few other bike types such as hybrid and commuter bikes. So, if cruisers and comfort bicycles are your thing buying a bike from Firmstrong bikes is the way to go.
Pros
Tommaso
Tommaso is an excellent bike brand that manufactures a wide range of models. They’ve been around since 1985 and have become one of the most well-known brands in cycling. Most persons know Tommaso not only for their bikes but for their impressive range of cycling shoes.
Tommaso offers some of the most well-built road bikes and became very popular from them. However, they’ve started offering fixed gear, cyclocross, MTBs, and kids bicycles. This brand is rated highly by cyclists, not just for their stylish bike designs but also for the lifetime frame warranty that they offer.
With a bike from Tommaso, you can expect only the best as they have good quality control. Moreover, their bikes are delivered almost fully assembled so that you won’t have any hassle putting it together yourself.
KESTREL
Kestrel has been a part of the cycling community since 1986. Their bikes were among the first bicycles to introduce carbon fiber frames on road bikes. Moreover, they were the ones that essentially introduced carbon forks to the market and influenced the other brands.
Kestrel mainly produces road, triathlon, and mountain bikes. Their products mostly target the high-end market; as such most cyclists wouldn’t know much about them. With that said, we’ve reviewed a number of Kestrel bikes and found that they were very impressive.
PURE FIX BIKES
Pure Fix or Pure Cycles has been around for a short six (6) years, but they rapidly gained popularity among riders. This bicycle brand is well known for producing Fixie Gear/ Single speed bikes. Their fixies are incredibly affordable and are great entry-level bikes to get started with.
For commuters, Pure Fix is definitely a brand that is well known to them.
This brand also has some excellent road, city, and adventure bicycles. If you are on a budget, the Pure Cycle brand is a good brand for your bike selections.
SALSA CYCLES
Salsa Cycles is another American bike manufacture that has been around for more than a few decades. Founded in 1981, Salsa bikes are more popularly known for making bike components and frames. However, they also have their own bike inventory of mountain, fat-tire, gravel, and touring bicycles.
Moreover, they even offer quite a few other cycling accessories that will be helpful to cyclists.
BIANCHI
Bianchi Bicycle Brand is the oldest bike manufacturing company that is still around. Bianchi was founded in Milan, Italy in 1885 and has established many impressive bike components that we now use in modern bikes. Their products are stylish and really high-end.
Most cyclists know Bianchi for their road and fixed gear bikes. But Bianchi also has some very impressive Mountain bikes and Gravel bikes in their bike inventory.
In recent years, Bianchi has pioneered a new system that they call the Bianchi CV that greatly reduces up to 80% of road vibrations. It is a feature that will be found in their carbon frames and forks. Truthfully, there aren’t that many other top bike brands apart from Bianchi and Schwinn that has managed to stay with the current trends for more than 100 years.
Marin Bikes
Marin was founded in 1986 and is a reasonably popular cycling brand. They are well known for making very good mountain bikes. Over the years, Marin has branched over into other types of bicycles like gravel, E-bikes, and bikes for kids. If you really need a mountain bike, Marin is definitely a good bike to select.
Pros of Marin Bike Brand
- They make an outstanding mountain and pavement bikes.
- Marin is known for having some really high-quality bikes.
Santa Cruz Bicycle Company
Santa Cruz Bicycles has been in the business of manufacturing high-end mountain bikes. This company was founded in 1993 and has developed a good following for high-end bike lovers. Santa Cruz bikes typically range from $1500 and up, so if you aren’t particularly interested in high-end bicycles, you might need to look elsewhere.
Their bicycles generally sport all the best components, such as carbon frames to Shimano components. Moreover, they seem to have mastered their craft in producing MTBs as their bikes perform very well on the trail.
Santa Cruz also sells bike wheels and cycling gear.
VILANO
Vilano ks another big bike brand that has been producing some very good bikes. They’ve been around for a few years and have dabbled in most of the more popular bike categories. So you will find that they have a very large bike inventory of Road, Hybrid, Folding, Mountain bikes, and Kids bikes.
They don’t have many high-end bikes, but you can easily find good quality beginner bikes with the Vilano brand.
FUJI
This bicycle brand is a Japanese based company that has quite a few years of foundation in cycling. It was established in 1899 and focuses primarily on Mountain Bikes, Road, and Pavement bikes like cruisers and comfort bikes. They also offer a good mix of high end and budget-friendly bikes.
Over the years, Fuji has designed some very stylish bikes that we’ve reviewed here. Their bikes provide a very good balance of performance and top-quality components. In recent years, Fuji has increased its bike inventory to include Electric and Kids bikes.
Retrospec – Critical Cycles
Critical Cycles was a good starter bike brand that offers good bikes. They recently moved over to Retrospec, which now offers the same bikes. Their main focus was on Hybrid, Fixed Speed, Folding, and urban commuter bikes.
Retrospec also sells a wide array of sports items that cater to many other types of activities like skating, paddleboarding, etc. They also offer cycling accessories like bike car racks, chains, helmets, and other gear.
GIORDANO
The Giordano cycling company is one of the top cheap bike companies that will certainly have a bike that is easy on your pockets. While their bikes are inexpensive, they are mostly high-quality bicycles. We’ve reviewed multiple bikes from Giordano and found them to be well worth their prices.
With Giordano, you can purchase road, gravel, and Hybrid/Comfort bikes. They don’t offer any other type of bikes, but if you are looking for a cheap bike, they are the best bike brand to look to.
Felt Bicycles
The Felt Bicycle brand is another all-time one of our all-time favorite cycling companies. It is an American bicycle brand based out of California, like most bike brands in the US. Felt Bicycles was founded back in 1991 and focused mostly on racing type bikes.
If you need any high-performance bike Felt is one of the manufacturers that we will definitely recommend trying. They offer Road, Triathlon, Gravel, Cyclocross, Track , and Mountain bikes. They also sell a wide variety of bicycle parts and cycling gear.
Colnago
Colnago Bikes are bike manufacturers out of Italy that was founded in 1952. They’ve been around for years and has seen tremendous success in cycling events from their bikes. They are most popularly known for their high-performance road and triathlon bikes. However, they do offer other bike types such as E-bikes, Gravel, and a Cyclocross bike.
If you are a competitive cyclist, Colnago is definitely a good company that will offer you a top-performing bicycle.
Cube Bikes
This German bicycle company is one of the best German bike manufacturers in the world. Cube bikes were founded in 1993 and have become popularly known for its impressive Mountain bikes. They also make road and hybrid bikes.
GT Bikes
GT bikes cycling company are a good bike brand that was founded in the United States. This company was started in 1972 and is well known for its BMX and Mountain bikes. They are now a part of the Dorel Industries conglomerate, which owns some other top bike brands like Cannondale, Schwinn, and Mongoose.
Like most well-known companies, GT also offers Road bikes, Kids bikes, and bikes for women. You can even find a good deal of cycling gear manufactured by GT bikes online.
Orange Mountain Bikes
Orange Mountain Bike is a bike company based out of the UK. It was found in 1988 and features quite a few high-performance bikes. They are widely known for their high-end mountain and road bikes.
Orange Mountain bikes are highly versatile and feature only the highest quality components. So while their bike inventory is limited to only mountain and road bikes, they offer a high number of models within those categories. However, since they are high-performance bikes, you can expect that the prices aren’t cheap.
Raleigh Bikes
Another popular bike brand based out of the UK is the Raleigh Bicycle company. This manufacturer has been around more than a century and has outlasted many other bike brands. It was founded in 1888, making it among the top 3 oldest cycling companies in the world.
Raliegh is known for their wide selection of electric, mountain, and Pavement bikes. Moreover, they have options suitable for kids between 2-4 years, 3-5 years, 5-9 years all the way to bikes for kids just below 12 years old. Their most popular bike category though, is still their pavement bikes.
Kona Bicycle Company
Kona Bicycle company is a good mountain bike brand that was founded in Canada. This bike company was first started in 1988 and has sold many types of bikes over the years. Currently, Kona produces mostly high-end bikes; however, they also offer budget-friendly options for Urban, Electric, and drop-bar bikes. Nonetheless, they are still one of the largest bike brand based in Canada.
6KU
The 6KU brand is more popularly classified as a very good brand to buy starter bikes. They offer some good high-quality bikes, but the majority of them are for beginners. 6KU doesn’t have a very large inventory, but the bikes they do offer are pretty good.
They are more popularly known for their Fixie bikes. However, they do sell quite a few bike components and cycling gear.
FAQ
What type of bike do you need?
The first thing you need to do is identify which type of bike you need. We’ve compiled all the best brands based on bike categories below so you can choose from those companies.
Best Mountain bike manufacturers
The best brands for mountain bikes are:
- Fuji
- Giant Bikes
- DIAMONDBACK
- Specialized
- Orange Mountain
Those brands have a large inventory of mountain bikes that varies from high-end MTBs to budget-friendly options. You should be able to find a bike that suits you from any of them.
Best Road Bike Brands
The best road bike brands are:
- Colnago
- Bianchi
- Cannondale
Those brands all offer high-performance road bikes that have won lots of titles. Moreover, they’re innovative, and all feature the highest quality components that truly make their road bikes stand out as the best.
Triathlon Bikes
If you are after the best triathlon bike brands, then we definitely recommend going with either Kestrel or Cannondale.
Urban/Commuter/Comfort Bikes
For the best urban and comfort bike brand, we recommend looking at Sixthreezero, Firmstrong, and Schwinn bicycle brands.
What are some good bicycle brands for gravel bikes?
Some of the best bicycle brands for gravel bikes include Salsa, Open, Trek, Ritchey and Yeti. These brands offer a range of gravel bikes that are built for adventure, long-distance riding, and versatility.
What are the best electric bike brands?
The best electric bike brands include Bosch, Shimano, Yamaha, Rad Power Bikes and Giant. These brands are known for producing high-quality, reliable, innovative electric bikes that adapt to different riding styles.
What are the best BMX bike brands?
The best BMX bike brands include GT Bikes, Diamondback, Santa Cruz, and Haro. These brands have a long history of producing high-performing, durable, stylish BMX bikes for different riding levels.
What are some good hybrid bike brands?
Some good hybrid bike brands include Giant, Trek, Specialized, Kona, and Electra. These brands offer a range of hybrid bikes that are designed for a mix of city and off-road riding, with different features to adapt to different riders’ needs.
What is a good US-based bicycle brand?
A good US-based bicycle brand is Specialized. The company has been around since 1974 and is known for producing high-quality, innovative, and diverse bikes in various categories such as road, mountain and adventure.
What are some popular bike brands for touring?
Some popular bike brands for touring include Surly, Trek, and Cannondale. These brands offer a range of touring bikes built for long-distance, adventure riding, and comfort, with different features and styles to adapt to riders’ preferences.
What are some of the best road bike brands?
The best road bike brands include Colnago, Bianchi, Cannondale, Pinarello and Scott. These brands are known for producing high-performance road bikes that have won many titles in the Tour de France, and for their innovation, lightweight and aerodynamic designs.
What are some popular Japanese bike brands?
Some popular Japanese bike brands include Fuji, Giant and Bianchi. These brands have a long history of producing high-quality, reliable, and stylish bikes for different cycling disciplines.
What are some good brands for building custom bikes?
Some good brands for building bikes include Canyon and Kona. These brands offer a range of bike frames and components that can be used to build a custom bike.
What are some good brands for adventure bikes?
Some good brands for adventure bikes include Salsa, Surly, and Trek. These brands offer a range of adventure bikes that are built for long-distance and off-road riding.
What are some good carbon fiber bike brands?
Some good carbon fiber bike brands include Pinarello, Scott, and Canyon. These brands are known for producing high-performance and lightweight carbon fiber bikes.
What are some good brands for city bikes?
Some good brands for city bikes include Electra, Firmstrong, and Schwinn. These bicycle brands offer a range of urban and comfort bikes that are designed for city riding.
What are some good brands for fat bikes?
Some good brands for fat bikes include Surly, Salsa, and Trek. These companies provide an array of fat bikes specifically designed to take on snow and terrain that’s difficult to traverse.
Last Updated on October 14, 2023 by Editor