Clark-Kent was a bicycle frame manufacturer based in
Denver, Colorado
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
. The name Clark-Kent was a hybrid of the names of the company owners, Pat Clark and Dean Kent, and had no connection with the alter ego of
Superman
Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...
beyond name recognition. Nor is it related in any way with
Kent Bicycles of
Parsippany, New Jersey.
History
Clark-Kent started building bicycle frames in 1989. The company built both road and mountain bike frames in steel and titanium and were the early builders of
Greg LeMond road and mountain titanium frames, before LeMond production went to
Litespeed
Litespeed is a U.S. bicycle manufacturer founded in 1986 in Ooltewah, Tennessee by David Lynskey. Litespeed makes titanium and carbon fiber frame road racing bicycles and mountain bikes. Titanium bicycle frames are famed for their ride qualit ...
and later
Trek Bicycle Corporation. Clark-Kent sponsored the Coors-Light domestic professional cycling team which included well known road racer and olympic gold medalist
Alexi Grewal, and also sponsored Colorado based elite junior cycling squad Horsetooth Racing Team in 1993, which included US Junior National Team members. The company employed master-welders Ivo Vinklarek and Don Herr, however welding on later frames was outsourced with some quality problems which contributed to the demise of the brand. Pat Clark was part owner of the famous Denver Spoke bicycle shop, and also owned a group of bicycle shops known as Premier Cycles across the greater Denver area. The company went defunct in the mid-1990s and production was halted.
Models
Road:
* Europa Ti
* Ti-300
* Ti-500
* AX-1
Mountain:
* F-12
* F-14
* F-16
References
Info on Clark-Kent BicyclesBikePedia list of 1995 Clark-Kent models
Cycle manufacturers of the United States
Mountain bike manufacturers
Defunct manufacturing companies based in Denver
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