history
RIEJU is a motorcycle manufacturer which was founded in 1934 by two businessmen, Luis Riera Carre and Juanola Farres. The name of the company is actually a mix of their names: Riera and Juanola. In the first years of existence, RIEJU was actually manufacturing bicycle parts, the two owners planning to gather funds in order to build their own factory. Although they managed to start the construction, the building has never been finished due to the Spanish Civil War, the Republican government using it for the army.
After the war was ended, the two businessmen re-launched their company, trying to set up a bicycle parts manufacturing line. In 1942, the Riera and Juanola registered their company, which had a capital stock of no less than 1 million pesetas. Although they remained focused on bicycle parts, the company started manufacturing their first bicycles, namely the Emporium and the Marathon. At that time, the 35 employees of the company had the ability to build approximately 30 bicycles per week.
The time passed by and RIEJU finally managed to build its first motorcycle in 1947. The bike came with a 38cc French Serwa engine, a two speed gearbox and 1 carburetor, being able to reach a top speed of 40 km/h. Dubbed No. 1, the motorcycle served as the base platform for No. 2, the second bike manufactured by RIEJU in July 1949 which was equipped with a French 50cc engine.
If in the past the company only used motorcycle parts from other manufacturers, RIEJU managed to build its own bike in 1953, when it released the 175cc motorcycle. This model was produced in partnership with FITA, no less than 5000 units being sold between 1953 and 1961.
As the company grew up, new and more advanced models were released by the company but one of the most important bike is surely the Marathon released in 1979. The motorcycle was available in multiple flavors, including 50cc and 74cc, all of them officially introduced at the Barcelona Exhibition which took place the same year. Thanks to the fact that the Marathon represented a real success, RIEJU became pretty interested in off-road motorcycles, a different part of the industry in which the company had to evolve a few years later. At the same show which took place in Barcelona in 1985, RIEJU came out with Sprint, a new bike mostly based on Marathon.
During the same year, the company received a prestigious award from the Spanish government, namely the Silver Plate for Motorcycle Achievement, after it took the second place in the Enduro World Championship.
In the next few years, RIEJU became quite a popular brand on the motorcycle manufacturing market and it managed to sign deals that could make its bikes more attractive for the interested consumers. For instance, it equipped the 125cc 4T MRX and SMX motorcycles with Yamaha engines, the bikes being sold in no less than 19,530 units.
At this time, RIEJU's headquarters has no less than 12,500 square meters, the company planning to roll out even more advanced motorcycles in the near future.
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