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S&G Cycles
S&G Cycles 1) was founded by Drew Lawson and Ari Hadjipetrou “during a card game in an ex-pat bar in Saudi Arabia.”
2)
S&G Cycles imported Araya's MuddyFox mountain bike into the UK from 1983 until around 1991, replacing the S&G branding with the simple “Muddy Fox” around 1985. The Muddy Fox Bicycles brand continues today (Muddy Fox), with new owners and they're no longer made by Araya nor in Japan.
3)
Arraya continue to make their own line of MuddyFoxes along with many other bicycles, presumably in Japan 4)
They had to come up with a new name and realised that this new market warranted a grungier name than S&G Cycles. The Araya Bikes were named as 'Fun Picnic' and other such tosh but one was called “Muddy Fox” so they picked that as their name - it sat nicely with off-road biking. retrobike and wikicorporates
It's not likely that S&G imported more than a couple hundred Muddy Foxes into the UK before dropping the Security & General Finance from each bike. Otherwise, no other Araya branded mountain bikes seem to have ever escaped Japan to the west.
So, is this an S&G? An Araya? A Muddy Fox? Answer: it's all three, but S&G comes first on the branding, so it wins the entry in the timeline. Araya is undoubtedly the designer and manufacturer - and deserves a page of its own.
There remains a small bike shop in Cambridge, England, named “S&G Cycles.”5) Probably unrelated - but …
S&G Cycles, Cambridge
google map pics
Ali & Drew
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Araya Bicycles of Japan
Araya started making wooden bicycle rims in 1903 in Yamanaka, Japan. 6) In 1980 it launched its industry changing 7x bmx rim: a light weight, highly robust, 32mm wide aluminum rim. Not only did it drop pounds off klunkers, it could brake when wet, it could survive Repack and it was cheap 7). What most people outside of Japan
8)
don't know is that Araya makes mountain bikes 9).
In 1983, Araya's series of mountain bikes spanned a range of twelve models 10), all of which were called MuddyFox. Prices ranged from $800 for a fillet brazed version 11) to $260 for a basic lugged, but quite competent, complete mountain bike.
2021 Araya Catalog
araya 2021 catalog
1983 S&G Muddy Fox made by Araya
Date verified by serial number. Missing grips but seems to match Araya's 1983 catalog: http://araya-rinkai.jp/catalogue.html
1983 S&G Muddy Fox
retrobike
1984 S&G Muddy Fox made by Araya
Appears to be later than a 1983 due to component and sticker upgrades. Araya's “MB-MF26A” early model number is clearly shown. This model wasn't available from Araya later years. This was their mid range Muddy Fox.
1984 S&G Muddy Fox
flickr
1985 Muddy Fox Courier
The branding change-over occurred in 1985 and sales improved while heading more down market.
1984 Muddy Fox Courier
retrobike
Production Notes
[1]. ?
1)
S&G comes from the name “Security & General Finance”, see: retrobike
2)
Short review in bikebiz of the documentary: Mountain Biking: The Untold British Story
4)
See Araya's web page: http://araya-rinkai.jp.
7)
And only came in 20“ and 26” sizes for BMX bikes, setting mt. bike rim standards for decades.
8)
And Thailand: http://www.arayathailand.com/index.php/bikes/. In the US, the Araya website is all about rims: https://www.araya-usa.com/about-us
9)
Starting in 1983 and lasting through today. See: http://araya-rinkai.jp
10)
Probably the most of any maker in 1983 - but the differences were minor.
11)
See 1983 catalog: http://araya-rinkai.jp/catalog
sng/start.1628815131.txt.gz · Last modified: 2021/08/12 17:38 by gchandler