A brief history of Parkpre USA.

Parkpre started in 1989 after Cozy Yamakoshi, a product and development manager, left Diamond Back to start his own company. Parkpre USA were based in Moorpark, Southern California, USA., Producing bikes from the early 1990's until sometime in 1998 when they closed.

Company
Parkpre is the product of Cozy Yamakoshi. The actual name of the business was Integra Precision Corporation, it would not fit on the down tube, the Parkpre name came from Cozy's friend and mentor, Mr. Park, who was originally from Korea but changed his name upon moving to Japan. The Pre (precission) part of the name caused some consternation when Pre Skis got all hot and bothered over the Parkpre logo. Ever wondered what Parkpre USA's distribution centre looked like here are some pictures.

Parkpre frames were made at the Fairly Bike Manufacturing Co Ltd factory in Taiwan, where Cozy had a relationship. Cozy designed a few other things, he designed the original Timbuk II tyre, and had something to do with the Porcupine tyre. A Californian guy originally designed Pulstar Hubs, featured on many Parkpre bikes, Cozy took the design overseas, mass-producing it for the inventor. I think that this was the Hubs downfall, as the bearings and races used were of inferior quality, the hubs failed long before the wheelset should have. I'm sure many of you can verify this, I can.

Cozy was a famous frame designer before starting his own company... he built frames for REI under their own brand name (Novara), and designed and built the Kastle ski brand bike.

Cozy Yamakoshi has been in the bicycle business for over 30 years. Cozy was a Product Development manager at Western States Imports for many years. WSI was the company who made Centurion and Diamond Backs. He was instrumental in the manufacturing of BMX bikes in Japan and importing them to the United States.

People
Craig 'Stikman' Glaspell [Leigh Donovan's husband / bike mechanic] raced XC for Parkpre in 1992. Go to his web site and check out the racing picture, very retro.

Allen Bean was the team trainer/coach from 11/91 to 01/93.

Dr. Terry Wheyman was the team doctor/chiropractor from 1991 onwards.

List of riders who have ridden under Parkpre sponsorship throughout the world, I am sure there are many that I have missed. If you can add to this list use the contact form.

Parkpre sponsored many top riders including most notably Paola Pezzo, 'Pistol' Pete Loncarevich and Christophe Sauser.

Article from Cyclingnews.com about a guy who has made up a cyclo-cross bike from a Parkpre MTB frame.

Parkpre Today
Ken Yamakoshi (Cozy’s son) is in the process of re-launching Parkpre in the US. Firstly introducing road bikes into the US market. The grand plan includes time trial, mountain and time trial frames. Focusing on high-end frame and forks only and not complete bikes. You can visit the website at ParkpreUSA.com. Ken has also sponsored a US based UCI Division professional team for 2005 and is very excited.

Parkpre Bicycles [Italy] were an official supplier to the Toyota-F1 team for 2003 season. Have you seen the Parkpre-italy.com site. Very slick. The bikes are hand made in Italy, the bikes can be made in custom or off-the-shelf sizes, they supply bikes to some professional teams including Edilsavino [women's] team, Daver-Nestlé team, MontiPisani Team, Gasprini team and Team Parkpre-Sella Italia (the official team) plus many smaller teams.
More to follow on Parkpre-Italy and their race activities soon.

Help required
I need you to fill in the large gaps in this short history. Do you know anything about Parkpre USA? Did you, or someone you know, work for the company? Any information will be appreciated. Either use the message board or Email me.