An Arkansas-based bicycling company has purchased Time Sports bike and frame businesses from the Rossignol Group.
Cardinal Cycling Group, led by Tony Karklins and Martial Trigeaud, have purchased Time Sports’ carbon-frame factory, as well as the intellectual property and trademarks associated with the company’s bikes and frames, Bicycle Retailer reports. Rossignol Group is keeping Time’s pedal and shoe business, however.
Karklins is a well-known figure in the cycling industry, having founded and served as the CEO of HIA Velo, the parent company of Allied Cycle Works. Karklins brought HIA Velo and its manufacturing facilities to Little Rock, but he left the company in 2018 and filed suit, claiming a breach of contract due to the company firing him without cause. This lawsuit was settled in 2019. According to his LinkedIn profile, Karklins has served as the owner of ACK Enterprises, which specializes in North American distribution and manufacturing services in the cycling industry, since July 2019.
Trigeaud, a former semi-professional cyclist in France, is the chief operating officer for health tech startup Vascugenix. He is also a former consultant consultant with the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center. According to his LinkedIn profile, he is a partner in ACK Enterprises, and he is listed as CEO of the Cardinal Cycling Group.
Cardinal Cycling Group is a recently formed entity, with both Karklins and Trigeaud listing January 2021 as the start date for their positions on their LinkedIn profiles. A search of the Arkansas Secretary of State’s business entity search page did not yield any results for “Cardinal Cycling Group.”
Arkansas Money & Politics has reached out to Trigeaud for comment.
Time Sports was founded in 1987 by Roland Cattin, and the company was sold to Rossingol Group in 2016. Rossingol moved part of Time’s bicycle manufacturing to Slovakia from its facility in Vorepe, France.
In March 2020, Bicycle Retailer reported that Rossingol Group was planning to downsize or sell the Time Sports business and its frame factory, located in Gajary, Slovakia. The publication cited a statement from Rossingol’s public relations agency, which stated that sales Time brand frames and bikes had slumped in the preceding year, falling by almost half. The company said that its costs did not enable it to “offer competitive prices against high end bikes competitors.” Rossignol later announced a sale of its Time bike and pedal division – including is Slovakian factory – to e-bike brand WhaTTfornow, which fell through, according to Bicycle Retailer.
READ MORE: Venture Center Opens Applications for 2021 FIS Fintech Accelerator
Images courtesy of Contender Bicycles
