Company Spotlight, Factory Tour, Gear, Lezyne - December 11, 2013

Lezyne World Headquarters Tour

Lezyne revamps San Luis Obispo facility and ramps up from strong industry response and sales of their line of LED bike lights.

Lezyne started back in 2007 in San Luis Obispo, CA and was created by Micki Kozuschek, the man who founded Truvativ Components which was later purchased by SRAM. Where Truvativ specialized in cycling components, Lezyne started with mini-pumps, multi-tools, saddle bags, patch repair kits and other accessories. Now in its seventh year, Lezyne has grown from a mechanical company into an electronics company. Their number one selling line is their innovative and affordable LED bike lights. They have ramped up from starting with 3 models of bike lights to over 12 currently (all within a 4 year span, including 2 years of development before launch.)

We at Mtbr.com visited our friends at Lezyne recently as part of our Lights Shootout testing. They are one of two companies within driving distance of the Mtbr offices that has a light measurement integrating sphere. They take their R&D and testing seriously and graciously allowed us to bring our collection of the latest bike lights (from Lezyne and other brands) to test and measure for accurate, real world data. Mtbr uses two separate labs for light output measurements so we can cross-check our results.

Lezyne recently revamped their headquarters, so we have a first look at their new layout and offices. One side of the facility is their sales and marketing offices and the other side is dedicated to their R&D, testing and warehouse. In total, there are about 21 employees at the SLO headquarters. The facility has a CNC machine, 3D printer, lathe, presses and a full on (spotless!) workshop.

With the creation and further development of their LED lights, Lezyne is experiencing a real growth spurt. They design and engineer everything in-house and they have their own proprietary factory in Taiwan. They have two CNC machines in their Taiwan facility where they manufacturer many of the parts themselves (such as the bodies of their Femto and SuperDrive line of lights.) All product assembly is done by Lezyne and their Taiwan facility has about 130 workers (the number fluctuates based on season and product delivery schedules.) All quality control is done in-house as well and one interesting fact is that every single Lezyne light is clicked on and cycled through its light levels before it leaves the factory.

The bike industry moves pretty fast when it comes to designing and developing innovative new products and for a company like Lezyne, this means registering patents when it makes sense to do so, but not waste time when it does not. Patents can be hard to protect, so sometimes it makes more sense to keep ahead by innovating. Lezyne does have patents pending for certain designs, like their ABS bleed head, as well as the belt clip for the Femto lights. They have also recently designed a new dual head valve for floor pumps.

Given that the headquarters is in SLO and the big office and factory is in Taiwan, meeting rooms play a big role in the day to day operations of Lezyne. Thus, the meeting room at Lezyne HQ is quite impressive. Besides housing the latest products and POP (Point-of-Purchase) displays, it holds a big screen and Skype conferencing hardware. During the busy season, there is a meeting with Taiwan every day. Lezyne also has their own dedicated fiber optic line for super speedy downloads and uploads.

With all the big expansion in their business and sales, Lezyne is ramping up their sales team with more reps to help handle their distributors as well as their direct sales efforts. The warehouse in San Luis Obispo mainly handles products for Lezyne’s US distributors and direct customers. There are actually two warehouse sections in SLO and both were packed full floor-to-ceiling during our visit.

We had a fun time touring the new facility and having lunch with Patrick, Greg, Chris and the rest of the Lezyne crew. We even had a chance to do some real world light testing during a night ride in Irish Hills. We are happy to see the great gang at Lezyne doing well and continuing to design and build cool, new products. They told us that they have plans to expand into other realms of electronic devices soon, but they wouldn’t tell us exactly what market that would be. Care to guess, anyone?

Check out this Mtbr video featuring highlights from some of Lezyne’s latest products. Patrick Ribera-McKay (Lezyne Worldwide Marketing Manager) shows us the new digital pumps with a digital custom gauge and new riding lights that include the Deca Drive, improved Mega Drive and the Zecto Drive Pro.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8iR7iqEW7I

For more info: https://www.lezyne.com/

To find out more about Lezyne’s products: Read Lezyne Product Reviews on Mtbr.com

Be sure to check out ALL the photos from our tour in the gallery below.