Arnold Kamler's Fathers Bicycle Company, Philkam Cycle Supply Co. in 1958.

In 2013, the Chairman and CEO of Kent International Inc., Arnold Kamler, decided to try to bring bicycle manufacturing back to the United States.

Kent has been business since 1958 and Arnold’s family has been in the bike business for more than 115 years and in operation for over a sixty years with Arnold being the 3rd generation CEO.

Having previously manufactured bicycles in the USA decades prior, Kent switched to importing bikes along with nearly every other bike company and closed their USA plant in 1991.

In 2013, we attended a Walmart Supplier Summit in Orlando Florida.

and there was a big push by Walmart. They asked their major suppliers to strongly consider changing all of some of their production back to the United States.
 
During this conference we met with many Governors but we were super impressed with the Governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley, and she assigned several top aides to help us find a potential location.

We found a suitable location after 4 months of looking but this old manufacturing plant had one major problem. No natural gas for 5 miles and natural gas would be needed to power the factory including the modern equipment that would be needed.

One day later, Arnold received a call from Governor Haley and she said “Arnold, if I can get South Carolina to bring the natural gas lines to Manning SC, will you make a commitment to build your factory here.That was the clincher for our move.
So far we have made investments in building improvements and machinery of more than $8 Million and $5 Million more is planned for the next 2 years.

Governor Nikki Haley with Arnold Kamler and Walmart Sr. VP Cindi Marsiglio.

Governor Nikki Haley and Arnold Kamler review the BCA Assembly Line.

Bicycle Corporation of America's Manning, South Carolina Facility.

After 18 months, with so many things to do, BCA opened its doors in October of 2014.

We initially hired 47 local workers and started producing bicycles immediately. We trained every worker from scratch.

In 2017, we installed a 4 million dollar, fully automated powder coating operation. An additional 4 million dollars in robots and co-bots have been purchased and are currently being used in assembly.

We now have 145 employees. We are producing 20-25,000 bikes per month and are working on frame and fork building, which will expand our capacity to 50,000 bikes per month with only one shift.

Learn more about our factory below!

“I’m proud to be a part of Kent International and the legacy the Kamler family has built in the bicycle business over the years. Here at Bicycle Corporation of America we have an incredible team that is dedicated to providing a top-quality bike that is assembled here in the USA. I look forward to our continued growth at both locations here in South Carolina.”

Tad Mcintosh, General Manager of BCA

"I couldn't be happier to bring bicycle manufacturing back to the United States. The team we have down in South Carolina is fantastic, and I'm incredibly proud of their commitment to the product."

Arnold Kamler, Chairman of BCA Parent Company, Kent International Inc.