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Shimano Factory Tour – This is why they’re masters of the metal

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters
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Shimano’s factory is a closely guarded fortress of modernity and manufacturing. Walk inside and you’re greeted with an amazingly spacious, clean lobby with cutaways of their top components for both cycling and fishing. It’s a surface level of finely crafted wood and metal and glass that is the perfect introduction to what is perhaps the cleanest cycling component manufacturing plant we’ve ever visited.

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

Our tour began, however, well outside their walls, with a well curated tour around Osaka to provide context for what they do.

A Brief History of Metalworking

Shimano was started in 1921 by Shozaburo Shimano, who wanted to create a more reliable freewheel. His father was a metal worker, a craft that has a long history in Japan’s Sakai region, where Shimano is based. (The video above is a quick run through of their Shimano Square concept “store” in Osaka, and there’s a bit that shows one of the original freewheels, a very rare and hard to find item these days. It also shows closeup details of the exploded-view components you’ll see in photos below.)

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

Here, steel was imported to build tools 1,600 years ago in order to build the tombs for their emperors. Digging and cutting tools allowed them to create trenches and giant burial mounds more efficiently, as well as cut stone. The largest such mound is the Nintoku-tenno-ryu Kofun, which is part of the Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group in Osaka. It measures 486m long with a series of three moats around it. The dirt pulled up to create the moats was piled up to create the keyhole shaped burial mound, which was then covered with neatly arranged stones to prevent erosion. Built in the early 5th century, it has since overgrown with trees

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters
Jun Mizuno is a 5th generation knife maker at Mizuno Tanrejo (literally Mizuno knife factory). Here, he blends Tama Hagane (Jewel Steel) with iron to make about 15 blanks per day, which he spends the next 2-3 days turning into finished knives. While he doesn’t make many swords these days, there were definitely plenty of unfinished models hanging on the walls!

Over time, iron forgers began crafting Samurai swords for generations, as well as armor and helmets. As the warrior class system fell away and carrying a sword on the streets became illegal, the bladesmiths switched to making knives.

worlds largest matchlock rifle from japan
This gun is the largest remaining example in Japan, thought to be an experimental design capable of firing 1.6km. It’s about 10′ long.

In 1553, the Portuguese introduced guns to Japan, who then used their expertise to perfect the Match Lock type of rifle and, eventually, bicycle frame repair and manufacturing. More than a millineum of metal working has progressed to all manner of forging, and that’s where Shimano comes in. Based in Osaka, this history and culture becomes evident as we tour their factory.

It Starts with Forming

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

Shimano’s campus takes up several city blocks and continues to grow. Raw material arrives in the form of sheets and rods of metal, then goes first to the forming room. Once cut to size, sheet metal is pressed into cassette cogs. Modern 11-speed cogs are stamped into shape over multiple steps to reach their final shape with all of the holes. This multi-step process shapes the metal slowly to so it won’t crack. The finished product is 1.6mm thick with tooth profiles narrowed to just 0.2mm thick at their edges…with a tolerance of just 3 micrometers!

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

They stamp the titanium cogs here, too, but they take more pressure to cut, so the internal dies and parts have to be swapped out when switching materials.

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

Alloy blocks are cut into blanks, which are then stamped into shape in a cold forging process they’ve been perfecting since 1962. The largest machine produces up to 2,000 tons of pressure. Each arm takes several steps to reach its final shape, it can’t just go from blank to finished arm in a single press.

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

Two-piece arms, like the higher end Dura-Ace, Ultegra, XTR, XT, etc., use a blend of hot and cold forging. The front of the arm is cold forged, and the rear is heat forged at 500ºC after spending anywhere from 30-60 minutes being warmed up to soften the metal. Once complete, they two pieces are bonded together.

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

They turn out a few thousand crank arms per day, usually batching different models throughout the day. Shimano operates other facilities off site, too, but they produce most of the parts for XT, Saint, SLX, Ultegra and 105 here. XTR and Dura-Ace are 100% made at this plant. They produce more cassettes than cranks, partly because they’re a higher wear item, but also because not everyone specs a complete Shimano group, but Shimano cassettes are almost always included.

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

The lever bodies, if they’re made of metal, are die-cast. This is another process they’ve refined over the years, reducing the number of parts in the mold to simplify it without requiring additional post-production machining.

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

Rim brake arms start life as solid aluminum coil before being forged into shape. Why so much forging? Because it maintains the inherent crystal structure of the metal, which results in a stronger, more resilient piece.

Disc brake calipers are “hot closed die forged”, not die-cast or machined, to get their basic shape. Shimano uses high frequency induction heating to speed up the process, and it yields a nearly complete part in a single step, which is how they get such a smooth one-piece caliper. The process allows them to get more complex shapes than they could with forging, and is more appropriate for certain materials (like magnesium). The internal cavity is then machined out to create the piston bores, etc. Which brings us to…

Machining means Milling, Turning & Broaching

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

After forging, parts are brought to the machine room to be finished, bringing them within required tolerances. In particular, the cranks receive plenty of attention to ensure the inner and outer faces will be perfectly fitted to one another. And chainrings need to mate with those with zero play, and the hole where it slides into the spindle must also be perfectly aligned.

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters
Left to right shows the progress from final forging to machined part ready for next steps. The cylindrical item on the bottom is part of a fishing reel.

Different lines machine different parts, but the same workers oversee the process for cogs, cranks and derailleur parts, as well as fishing equipment. It all gets finishing work done here.

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

Adjacent to the machining room, a process control room monitors the entire factory, from each individual machine’s performance to air quality to sound levels and more. If a machine is acting weird, they can message its operator to inspect it.

Surface Treatments

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters
How much would you pay for a chrome finished Dura-Ace crankset?

This particular area was closed to our tour because it’s where they suffered a fire in early 2018. It’s still being repaired, but also, probably not nearly as exciting as how the parts are actually made.

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

Parts are heat treated before machining to add rigidity, hardness and flexibility. Those may seem like opposing characteristics, but think back to the virtues of Japan’s legendary knives and swords. They must be hard to retain their edge, but flexible so they don’t break upon impact. Steel, titanium and aluminum – they all get it.

Bonding

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

Once the parts are treated and machined, a fully automated system of computer controlled robots applies the glue and bonds together the crank arms, hollow chainrings, calipers and other parts. This process lets them use longer, larger hollow sections to save more weight than they could with a one-piece hollow forging.

If you pull up that date code sticker on the back of your cranks (or just press firmly on it to feel underneath) you’ll find a small screw. This closes the hole used to suck air out of the hollow section during bonding, helping to pull glue into all of the nooks and crannies for a completely sealed bond. It’s not a vacuum, but it gets the job done.

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

Once the parts are pressed together in a jig, they go into the oven. Shimano won’t disclose baking time or temp. The bonding agent is their own formula they worked with the glue manufacturer to develop.

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

Once out of the oven, the excess glue that squeezes out is machined off, then they go back to the finishing room for final anodizations and surface treatments.

Around the House

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

The home where Shozaburo Shimano first created that freewheel has been relocated to a very posh part of town, across the street from the moats surrounding the Nintoku-tenno-ryu Kofun. It now serves as a meeting place, somewhere offsite to take visitors and business partners for a lunch or casual talk.

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

Its upkeep is pristine, inside and out, with beautiful gardens, manicured trees and perfect paths surrounding it. Inside is a showcase of Japanese minimalism, and an homage to the homes of the era. Paper walls let them transform the space to meet their needs, creating privacy or large party rooms, while letting light fall through. Windows are on the lower half of the walls and doors because they sat on the floor, not up in chairs and couches.

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

Back at Shimano’s headquarters, the clean aesthetic remains. High end wood decking runs throughout, inside and out, joining upper level rooms and providing a bird’s eye view of the forging machinery.

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

On the roof is a massive garden, broken into rows by skylights. Elsewhere, reflectors bring light into lower levels through a system of tubes and mirrors, reducing their energy needs.

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

Employee parking provides spots for 1,000 bicycles in multiple locations. This room holds up to 543 bikes, and they say they can fit 13 bikes in the space it would take to park one car. Up to 40% of their employees bike to work thanks to incentives that pay them for commuting.

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

Around the factory, driverless robotic forklifts shuttle raw materials and parts where they’re needed, pulling from an automated warehouse with robotic platforms keeping everything where it needs to be.

Bikerumor Shimano Factory Tour provides an inside look at how Shimano cranks brakes and cassettes are made at their Sakai City Osaka Japan headquarters

All photos from inside the factory are courtesy of Shimano. We were allowed to direct the photographer, but not bring our own cameras or phones into the building. While they were very accommodating and answered any questions we had, any photos needed to be screened in advance. Which is normal for such places, few companies will open up to any photo from any angle. Here, it’s in large part because they have some new things coming…

Huge thanks to Shimano for the hospitality and opportunity. Stay tuned to Bikerumor on Friday for more news!

Bike.Shimano.com

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22 Comments
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Todd Jones
6 years ago

Ha, I wonder what they are launching?! 1×13?

Greg
Greg
6 years ago

1x specific parts-a-coming.

realistic fan
realistic fan
6 years ago

Love Shimano. Shit just works. Sure they tend toward the conservative, but when they’re ready to bring something to the market, it almost always represents a real improvement solid functionality. Campy and SRAM are great too, but for different reasons and with different appeals. Shimano 4 life, yo.

Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot
6 years ago
Reply to  realistic fan

Would agree, outside of the occasional munching of a shifter cable head their products are cheaper than everyone else but function fantastically. The difference between 105 and Dura Ace is almost imperceptible these days and both groups are equal/superior to higher end options from the likes of SRAM. I break everything and over the last 4 years the only Shimano products on 5 of my bikes I’ve managed to break outside of crashes was a front derailleur which still worked but was difficult to move, and an SLX shifter which I think was $16. In comparison I’ve had numerous other cycling bits and bobs fail that cost way more than Shimano.

BillyBob
BillyBob
6 years ago

Boy, that looks an awful lot like an Eagle derailleur, am I right? Will Shimano be the first to skip a number and go from 11 to something higher than 12? Also, what an amazing tour!

joby
joby
6 years ago

Was wondering when and how they were going to introduce the 1×12 XTR kit. Details to ponder:
* 10-51 cassette on new (smaller diameter) freehub similar to CL brake mount
* Di2 Wireless in addition to cable actuated
* 4 piston race calipers

What ever the details are, I think it will work (as usual) to high Shimano standards.

boom
boom
6 years ago

These are super cool pictures and info
For the teaser, I’m sure it will be rad, but we also won’t be able to actually buy it for ~6 months

JBikes
JBikes
6 years ago

A lot of commuter bikes given no workers to be seen in any numbers.

Bob
Bob
6 years ago

What are those die-cast metal lever bodies? I thought they were all plastic.

pmurfdesign
pmurfdesign
6 years ago
Reply to  Bob

I’ve got the same question! Must be from a gruppo I’ve never seen close up…

Eggs Benedict a.k.a Darth Baller
Eggs Benedict a.k.a Darth Baller
6 years ago
Reply to  Bob

I think the lever bodies from their 685 and 785 non-series levers are metal.

typevertigo
typevertigo
6 years ago

Yep. The RS685 STI lever bodies are made of aluminum. At the time, Shimano thought of using channels inside the lever bodies to route the mineral oil.

https://handsonbike.blogspot.sg/2018/01/shimano-road-hydraulic-disc-brake.html

Eric
Eric
6 years ago

I would pay good money for a group set like that raw polished crank arm.

cousin it
cousin it
6 years ago

For the price of buffing wheel, some polishing paste, and a sixer of some hoppy beverage (40-50 USD) you too can own a mirror finished DuraAce crankset.

you heard it here first.

MTB922
MTB922
6 years ago

Shimano will never do 13s. 13 is an unlucky number in Japanese culture, hence the patent on 14s.

Matt
Matt
6 years ago

I want to live in that building.

s4t1sfy
s4t1sfy
6 years ago

“Shimano uses high frequency induction heating to speed up the process, and it yields a nearly complete part in a single step, which is how they get such a smooth one-piece caliper.”

one-piece caliper? which model?

Darth Baller
Darth Baller
6 years ago
Reply to  s4t1sfy

XTR for sure, and probably Dura Ace.

William
William
6 years ago

Can anyone visit for a tour or is it press only? Visiting Osaka in September. I know about the shimano bicycle museum close to the HQ. Be cool to have a gander.

Mike
Mike
6 years ago

So what about the fishing reels?

J Terasawa
J Terasawa
4 years ago

I live in NYC and in Osaka/Hyogo on occasion, where I grew up. You’re less inclined to go sightseeing in your hometown so it was a thrill to see Shimano. The engineer in me was entertained by your great description of their forging process. And the part about knives and swords… I had no idea we had such a blade maker in Osaka. Sweet! Thanks.

Patrick Hyland
Patrick Hyland
4 years ago

In the section on ‘Surface Treatments’ it is stated that heat treatments are performed to “add rigidity, hardness and flexibility.” This is inaccurate and a common misconception with materials science.

It would be more accurate to say heat treatments add “durability by improving hardness (ability to resist scratches and dings) and toughness (a material’s ability to absorb damage).”

Heat treatments modify the hardness, yield strength and ductility of a metal. Balancing the yield strength with the ductility will produce the highest toughness (ability to absorb damage by plastic [“permanent”] deformation. The flexibility (inverse of rigidity) of a particular metal object describe it’s ability to elastically [“temporarily”] deform and is determined by the geometry of the object and the elastic modulus of a metal (a property which does not change with heat treatment, forging, or alloying).

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