Brian Riley stumbled into the bicycle business after a family accident. Two decades ago his grandfather flipped over the handlebars after grabbing a front brake when a car cut him off. Riley and some classmates later developed a different braking system, called SureStop, that links front and rear brakes to a single lever to prevent that kind of forward flip.
When Riley tried to sell SureStop to established bike makers, he discovered an industry that had largely moved overseas. For decades most bicycles sold in the U.S. have been imported, and familiar American brands have been manufactured abroad. Determined to change that, Riley founded Guardian Bike Company in Seymour, Indiana, with the goal of building bikes on American soil.
Guardian’s move has also turned Riley into an advocate for trade policy. He has asked the Trump administration to extend the 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum to the metal used in bikes and bike parts assembled overseas, arguing that higher import costs would help U.S. makers compete. The petition has become a test case for whether tariffs can be used to revive domestic manufacturing and has drawn heavy opposition from retailers and importers.
Seymour, a town of about 22,000 between Indianapolis and Louisville, was chosen for its central location, access to roads and rail, and a workforce with manufacturing experience. Nearby mills can supply steel for frames, and Guardian initially assembled imported components before moving to producing complete “Made in the USA” bikes last year. The company now occupies several buildings in a local industrial park.
To fight lower-cost Chinese factories, Guardian relies on automation. Robots, high-powered fiber lasers and automated welding take on much of the heavy frame work. Riley points out that one $1.2 million laser and robotic welding lines let small crews produce hundreds of frames daily; four workers can turn out four- to five-hundred frames a day because machines handle the most demanding tasks. Starting wages at Guardian are about $22 an hour plus benefits, and the company keeps its supply chain short—frame tubing comes from a mill roughly 20 miles away in Columbus, Indiana—so it can respond quickly to surges in demand, such as a sudden rush for pink bikes after a popular movie.
Guardian concentrates mainly on children’s bicycles, selling directly to customers through its website. Selling direct allows the company to highlight safety features like SureStop and avoid retailer markups, but it also places Guardian in a higher price tier: its bikes range from roughly $150 to $400, compared with many imported children’s bikes sold at big-box stores for under $100. Riley says tariffs that raise the price of imports would give U.S. manufacturers a “tailwind,” helping Guardian expand faster and perhaps encouraging other companies to bring production back home.
Imported bikes already face varying tariffs depending on origin, but Riley’s petition asks for a blanket levy similar to the existing steel and aluminum tariffs. The timing is notable: after the Supreme Court struck down parts of earlier import taxes, the administration faces pressure to find alternate trade remedies, which may make it more receptive to new requests.
Retailers and importers have pushed back hard. More than 2,500 bike shops and importers sent a joint letter to the Commerce Department opposing Riley’s petition, warning that higher tariffs would raise prices and put bikes out of reach for some families. Industry advocates emphasize that the children’s bike market is extremely price sensitive; with fewer children per household, they say, discouraging early purchases could mean losing future riders and customers.
Riley frames his request as a national-security matter: not because bicycles are critical hardware, but because preserving manufacturing know-how matters. He argues keeping skilled production onshore maintains the capacity to “spin up” industries if truly essential defense or industrial needs arise.
Inside Guardian’s factory—parts of which once housed an ironing-board plant—dozens of workers mount tires, fit brakes and handlebars, and perform final quality checks. The company employs about 250 people and expects to sell roughly half a million bikes this year. Positive reviews on consumer sites have helped sales, though some buyers remain skeptical of SureStop’s promise.
Riley stresses that Guardian can survive without new tariffs, but he believes protection would accelerate growth and attract other manufacturers to recreate local supply chains. There are early signs of that: a plastics firm in Seymour now makes Guardian’s training wheels. Whether Guardian needs tariff “training wheels” to keep pedaling or can sustain and expand without import protection is the central question as the company tries to rebuild a domestic bike industry.