SRAM is a bicycle parts manufacturer based in Chicago, USA. SRAM introduced a very unique product to the road bike market in 1988 with the grip-shift (or twist-shift) shifter, and in 1991 brought the technology to mountain bikes and SRAM grew rapidly.
It begins in early 1987 with founder Stan Day participating in triathlon training and racing. Convinced there was a better way to shift, Stan found reaching for the downtube to shift was awkward and inefficient. So he asked, "Why can't you put the shifter on the handlebars?" "I thought if I could rotate the grip, it would change gears." I gave a presentation. Sam went back to his garage in San Diego, tinkered with it for a few months, and by the end of the spring had a prototype twist shifter. This was the birth of Grip Shift. Stan assembled a group of like-minded entrepreneurs and cyclists to bring this product to market and set to work. As the Long Beach Show approached, we needed a name for our company, so we combined the initials of our founder to name it "SRAM." I decided to make a name for it. Manufactured in the immediate vicinity of SRAM's current global headquarters, Grip Shift was originally designed for road use, was later modified for triathlon and MTB, and has transformed itself into one of the world's largest bicycle component suppliers, through mergers and acquisitions. As a result, the SRAM Group now has the brake parts manufacturer AVID, the suspension fork manufacturer ROCKSHOX, and the German manufacturer SACHS / Sachs' bicycle parts division. Became a bicycle component manufacturer.
