Shimano

Shimano was founded by Shozaburo Shimano in 1921 and started making bicycle freewheels.
In 1973 the very first Dura Ace road groupset was produced and in 1982 the first Deore XT MTB groupset was introduced.
In the 25th Anniversary year of Dura Ace 1998 Oscar Camenzind won the world championship using Shimano Dura Ace 9sp.
1999 marked the first time a Shimano equipped rider won the Tour De France with Lance Armstrong.
Today Shimano Dura Ace components are used by many professional teams including Credit Agricole, CSC, Dicovery, Euskaltel Euskadi, Francaise Des Jeux, Gerolsteiner, Milram, Rabobank and T-Mobile.