IN THE NEWS

It started as a college assignment. As an aeronautical student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, David Montague found himself interested in business. In an entrepreneurship course, he had to write a business plan for an imaginary business. For inspiration he turned to his father. “ My dad had invented a folding bicycle and he allowed me to use his design as a basis for a company for the class,” says Montague. The assignment went well: Montague’s professor liked it so much he wanted to invest in the company. More than 15 years later, Montague Corporation become a leading manufacturer if foldable mountain bikes. The company has made bikes for companies such as BMW and Schwinn while also producing bikes under its own name. All told the company’s annual revenues are about $15 million.

Montague, 39, says the key to his success has been to build bikes that are not compromised by the folding process. ”We like to say that we make bikes that fold, not folding bikes.”

In 1997, after nearly a decade in business, the company was approached by the Defense Advanced Projects Agency, the agency that developed the Internet. DARPA funded the research and development of a series of folding bikes that could be used by the military, particularly by paratroopers. Such benefits are being put to the test: Montague’s military bikes are currently being used in Afghanistan.

The success of the military bikes led to the recent creation of a civilian version.
Dubbed the Paratrooper, the $649, 24-speed mountain bike folds within 30 seconds without the need for tools.

A lean operation—the company has between 15 and 20 employees at its Cambridge, Massachusetts, headquarters—allows Montague to focus on design and product development. The company makes five domestic models with up to 20 configuration variations. And while success in the United States has been steady, the larger portion of Montague’s business is overseas, in locations where space is at a premium, such as Europe and Japan.