National Cycle celebrates 75th anniversary
Accessory manufacturer influences industry with its innovations
With the raise of a few dozen glasses of champagne and a toast from president and CEO Barry Willey, National Cycle celebrated its 75th anniversary from its booth at Dealer Expo in February.
The company was founded in Chicago in 1937 when Gordon Willey built a motorcycle accessory business, then known as The Nation’s Cycle Center. Since then, the company has been making an impact on the industry, becoming the windshield manufacturer with more distribution than any other such company in the world.
Gordon Willey first developed new designs and patents for rearview mirrors, fender tips, saddlebags and windshields. Since becoming National Cycle, the company has also developed polycarbonate windshields, windshield hardcoating, quick release windshields and accessories, metric cruiser accessories, scooter windshields and its aeroacoustic VStream windscreen designs. National Cycle’s patented cone-back mirror still shapes the industry’s rearview mirrors today.

National Cycle was built on “total customer satisfaction,” which Gordon Willey believed a successful business required. The company has built many partnerships throughout its decades in the industry, and it is an OEM supplier for BMW, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Kawasaki, Polaris, Suzuki, Triumph and Yamaha. National Cycle also holds more patents for the design and production of windshields than any other company in the industry.
National Cycle is now being led by the second generation of the Willey family, with Barry at the helm. The company is based in Maywood, Ill., and it is proud to continue to design, engineer and manufacturer all its products at its U.S. headquarters.
