At a time when the Jacksonville City Council continues to hear complaints from taxpayers about providing large companies with tax incentives to bring jobs to Jacksonville, small businesses continue to emerge without much help beyond a bank loan.
One of those businesses is Velocity Worldwide, a bicycle parts manufacturer whose main products are bicycle rims and wheels.
The company plans to move its factory from Brisbane, Australia, to Jacksonville and plans to have the factory operating by mid-February.
“When we researched moving the factory, Florida looked like a fairly business friendly state. I read where it is considered the third most business friendly state in the country,” said John Black, who owns the company with his brother, Tom Black.
“We produce aluminum bicycle rims and there are several high quality aluminum extruders in the area. They can provide better quality metals at a better price than we are paying now in Australia. Also, wages are not as much (in Jacksonville) as compared to Australia,” he said.
The decision wasn’t purely business-based.
“My brother and his wife like it warm, and they will oversee the factory,” said John Black.
The company is negotiating to lease a 17,500-square-foot building in Jacksonville, but did not reveal the location pending completion of the agreement.
The company plans to start in 10,000 square feet of space and expand as needed. The move will allow Velocity to offer “the only U.S.-produced aluminum rim in the cycling industry,” it claims.
The company plans to hire 8-10 people, mostly for general factory work.
The brothers are from Grand Rapids, Mich. Tom Black founded Velocity in the late 1980s while living in Australia and started the company by selling to the Australian market, but that market soon was outpaced by demand in the U.S., he said.
The company offers traditional aluminum rims as well as rims in different colors and patterns to allow riders to personalize their rides. Patterns include bass boat blue, snakeskin, lumberjack plaid and fish bone.
Velocity opened its U.S. distribution center in Grand Rapids in 1992. That location will become the company’s global headquarters.
The Australian facility will become a distribution center for the Asian and Australian markets.
Taking care of customer needs is one of the reasons for the company’s longevity, said Tom Black.
“We have always tried to provide our customers with the products they want and will do almost anything to keep them happy. We can respond quickly to changes in the market and offer a large range of rim profiles in all the colors of the rainbow,” said Black.
“It’s a good company and they’ve been in business for a while, so you know they have to make a good product. It will be interesting to see them open up the factory here,” said Scott Gross, owner of Open Road Bicycles in Avondale.
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