IN BRIEF
The board of directors of Sun Race Sturmey-Archer has unanimously approved the appointment of Sandy Hsu as president of the Taiwanese group. She is the daughter of Tony Hsu, founder and outgoing president, and has worked at the company for more than thirty years, where she has led corporate finance, international legal affairs and global operations among other divisions. The group, founded in Taiwan in 1972, manufactures drivetrain components and has owned the British brand Sturmey-Archer since 2000; SunRace dates the invention of the three-speed hub to 1902.
Bicycle drivetrains are measured in decades rather than in seasons. At Sun Race Sturmey-Archer, the handover just announced says a great deal about that timescale: the founder is passing the presidency to their daughter, who joined the company more than thirty years ago.
Sandy Hsu takes over as SunRace president
The press release, published by BikeBiz, leaves no ambiguity about the process: “Sun Race Sturmey-Archer Inc. (“SunRace”) has announced that its board of directors has unanimously approved the appointment of Sandy Hsu as the company’s new president, in a move the company presents as a decisive and strategic leadership transition for the 54-year-old industry member.”
The new president is not an outside hire. “The newly appointed president, Sandy Hsu, is the daughter of the founder and outgoing president, Tony Hsu, and has already devoted more than 30 years to SunRace,” the text states. She “has led core divisions including corporate finance, international legal affairs and global operations.”
Tony Hsu marked the departure with a turn of phrase that blends family and trade: “She is not only the guardian of our family’s long-standing commitment to this industry, she is also a seasoned operational strategist within SunRace, having fought on the front lines with our teams for three decades.”
Sandy Hsu is not stepping up from a holding role: the press release states that she previously served as spokesperson and vice-president of the group, and that she had sat on the board of directors for more than five years. She sets out her own line: “SunRace has spent more than five decades building a fortress of engineering excellence and patent integrity,” the new president says. “As we move forward, we are leading a highly disciplined transition towards lean management and elevated manufacturing standards.”
Sturmey-Archer, from Nottingham to Taiwan
The company’s full name tells two stories. On the Taiwanese side, “SunRace was born in Taiwan in 1972, initially supplying entry-level products particularly to North and South America,” the brand’s website states. Today the group describes itself there as a manufacturer of “high-end drivetrain components for all types of bicycle”.
On the British side, the brand it bought is a piece of cycling history. Sturmey-Archer “was first established in England in 1902, when they invented the 3-speed internal gear hub,” SunRace recalls, dating its acquisition to the year 2000. The invention was born in Nottingham: Frank Bowden’s engineers “worked with patents from Henry Sturmey and James Archer, resulting in the first Sturmey-Archer three-speed hub in 1902”.
The brand remains associated with a speciality that few manufacturers still cultivate: according to the group, “for more than one hundred years, Sturmey-Archer has been a pioneer in the design of internal gear hubs, hub brakes and dynamo lighting” — parts found today mainly on city bikes and utility bikes.
