Univega is a brand of bicycles, created during the bike boom

Bike boom

Bike boom or bicycle craze refers to several different times when, for a period of a few years, many people in many parts of Europe and North America wanted to buy and ride a bicycle. In brief, they occurred in 1819, 1868, the decade of the 1890s, and the 1970s...

 of the 1970s by Ben Lawee (1926–2002), who founded Lawee Inc. to design, specify, and import bicycles initially manufactured in Italy by Italvega

Italvega

Italvega is a brand of road bicycles designed, specified, imported and marketed by the California-based bicycle distributor, Lawee, Inc., founded by Ben Lawee, who also created the Univega and Bertoni bicycle brands....

, and subsequently in Japan by Miyata

Miyata

Miyata is a Japanese bicycle and unicycle manufacturer that has been in operation since 1892.Miyata claims to have been the first Japanese manufacturer of flash-butt welded frame tubes and the first to use electrostatic painting ....

.

Prior to creating the Univega brand, Lawee had been the importer of Motobécane

Motobécane

Motobécane was a French manufacturer of bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, and other small vehicles, established in 1923. "Motobécane" is a compound of "moto", slang for motorcycle; "bécane" is slang for "bike."...

 bicycles in the U.S. and had created the Italvega

Italvega

Italvega is a brand of road bicycles designed, specified, imported and marketed by the California-based bicycle distributor, Lawee, Inc., founded by Ben Lawee, who also created the Univega and Bertoni bicycle brands....

 and Bertoni bicycle brands manufactured in Italy.

Lawee marketed the Univega brand using the taglines "Discover the difference" and "Ride it your way" and began marketing their Alpina series of mountain bikes in the early 1980s. In 1985 Lawee moved Univega Headquarters to Signal Hill California in his new building designed by Randy Morris and Brian Corntassel of Phelps Morris Architects, Long Beach, CA. Univega now had a competitive look that would last another 11 years of success.

Univega competed in the U.S. with domestic and European bicycle manufacturers including Schwinn, Raleigh

Raleigh Bicycle Company

The Raleigh Bicycle Company is a bicycle manufacturer originally based in Nottingham, UK. It is one of the oldest bicycle companies in the world. From 1921 to 1935 Raleigh also produced motorcycles and three-wheel cars, leading to the formation of the Reliant Company.-Early years:Raleigh's history...

, Peugeot

Cycles Peugeot

Peugeot was a manufacturer in the French bicycle industry through the 20th century.-History:Peugeot was a French manufacturer of bicycles founded by Jean Pequignot Peugeot who, in the 19th century, made water mills...

 and Motobecane

Motobécane

Motobécane was a French manufacturer of bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, and other small vehicles, established in 1923. "Motobécane" is a compound of "moto", slang for motorcycle; "bécane" is slang for "bike."...

 — as well as other Japanese manufacturers including Miyata

Miyata

Miyata is a Japanese bicycle and unicycle manufacturer that has been in operation since 1892.Miyata claims to have been the first Japanese manufacturer of flash-butt welded frame tubes and the first to use electrostatic painting ....

, Fuji, Bridgestone, Panasonic, Nishiki

Nishiki (bicycle)

Nishiki was a brand of bicycles designed, specified, marketed and distributed by West Coast Cycle in the United States, initially manufactured by Kawamura Cyles in Kobe, Japan and subsequently by Giant of Taiwan. The bicycles were first marketed under the American Eagle brand beginning in 1965 and...

, Lotus

Lotus (bicycles)

Lotus was a brand of bicycles designed, specified, marketed and distributed by Lotus International Corp. of Syosset, New York, which had been founded by Sid and Ernst Star...

 and Centurion

Centurion (bicycle)

Centurion was a brand of bicycles created in 1969 by Mitchell M. Weiner and Junya Yamakoshi, who co-founded Western States Import Co. in Canoga Park, California to design, specify, distribute and market the bicycles. The bikes themselves were manufactured initially in Japan by companies...

. Bikes manufactured in Japan succeeded in the U.S. market until currency fluctuations in the late 1980s made them less competitive, which lead companies to source bicycles from Taiwan.

In 1996, the parent company of Raleigh Bicycle Company

Raleigh Bicycle Company

The Raleigh Bicycle Company is a bicycle manufacturer originally based in Nottingham, UK. It is one of the oldest bicycle companies in the world. From 1921 to 1935 Raleigh also produced motorcycles and three-wheel cars, leading to the formation of the Reliant Company.-Early years:Raleigh's history...

, Derby International, absorbed Univega along with the Nishiki

Nishiki (bicycle)

Nishiki was a brand of bicycles designed, specified, marketed and distributed by West Coast Cycle in the United States, initially manufactured by Kawamura Cyles in Kobe, Japan and subsequently by Giant of Taiwan. The bicycles were first marketed under the American Eagle brand beginning in 1965 and...

 brand of bicycles.

Ben Lawee

Ben Lawee, who was born in Baghdad, Iraq and emigrated to the U.S. at age 19, attended business school at Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

, and became a sales representative for George Joannou Cycle Co. of New Jersey and Miami, Florida. He later purchased Jones Bicycles in 1959 — growing a single store into a multi-store chain. He sold the retail chain in 1965 and began importing Bianchi

Bianchi

Bianchi, a plural of bianco , is a frequent proper name; notable people with that surname include:*Andrea Bianchi, an Italian film director*Bianca Bianchi , stage name of Bertha Schwarz, German/Austrian opera soprano...

 and Legnano

Legnano

Legnano is an Italian town and comune with 59.147 inhabitants in the province of Milan, about from Milan.It's crossed by the river Olona, and it's the 13th town for inhabitants in Lombardy....

 bikes, as well as becoming the national distributor for Raleigh and Motobecane

Motobécane

Motobécane was a French manufacturer of bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, and other small vehicles, established in 1923. "Motobécane" is a compound of "moto", slang for motorcycle; "bécane" is slang for "bike."...

 — later founding and operating Lawee Inc. He sold the Univega brand to Raleigh in 1996 and retired from the bicycle industry.

Lawee had two children, David and Monique, with his wife Ariela. He died November 8, 2002.

Models

Univega marketed road

Road bicycle

The term road bicycle is used to describe bicycles built for traveling at speed on paved roads. Some sources use the term to mean racing bicycle...

 and touring bicycle

Touring bicycle

A touring bicycle is a bicycle designed or modified to handle bicycle touring. To make the bikes sufficiently robust, comfortable and capable of carrying heavy loads, special features may include a long wheelbase , frame materials that favor flexibility over rigidity , heavy duty wheels , and...

s and later, also mountain bike

Mountain bike

A mountain bike or mountain bicycle is a bicycle created for off-road cycling. This activity includes traversing of rocks and washouts, and steep declines,...

s.
Activa

Activa 200

Activa Action

Activa Country

Activa ST

Activa Sport

Activa Trail

Alpina

Alpina Country

Alpina Pro

Alpina Sport

Alpina Team

Alpina Ultima

Alpina Uno

ArrowPace

Arrow Speed

Arrow Star


Boralyn

Carbolite

Competzione

Custom Maxima

Custom Ten

Custom Ten

Gran Premio

Gran Rally

Gran Record

Gran Sprint

Gran Sprint - S

Gran Tech

Gran Touring

Gran Turismo

Ground Force

Ital Sport

Land Rover 12

Maxima Sport


Maxima Uno

Metro Ten

Metrothree

Modo Volare

Modo Vivere

Nuovo Sport

NuovoTech 450

Nuovo Ten

Nuovo Touring

Pathfinder

R7.2

RAM 970

Range Rover-ES

Rover

Rover-ES

Rover Sport

Rover STI

Safari


Safari Ten

Specialissima

Sportour

Superstrada

Super Special

SupraSport

Tandem Sport

Tri-Star

Ultraleggera

Via Carisma

Via de Oro

Via Montega

Via Laser

Viva Activa 300

Viva Sport

Viva Touring

Vivatech

Bertoni

Bertoni was a brand created by Ben Lawee. The frames were manufactured in Italy, it has been rumored that Bertoni " Ben Lawee " and bianchi teamed up to make this company as many of the italvega/univegas may resemble many of the Bertoni bikes manufactured. The line emphasized function over flash and received favourable press. The line itself was fairly large, comprising nine bicycles in 1988. The line included a disc-wheeled TT bicycle and a Bador (Vitus) aluminum model, in addition to top line model you referenced.
Models

• Corsa Mondiale - a high end model found normally with shimano 600 components. most common models are the later years such as the 87' which can be found in a pinkish orange color which looks amazing still up to today after almost 25 years later it still looks great to see coming down the road as the color just stands out.

Italvega

Italvega bikes were designed and hand-built within the noted Torresini workshop at the Torpado factory in Padua, Italy. They were built beginning in 1970 and continuing through the mid- to late-70s before manufacturing was moved to Japan under the name Univega. All Italvega bicycles were made in the Torpado factory, but not all were high-end bicycles. Torpado made a broad variety of bicycles for different uses (including worker, comfort, BMT, ATB, and even motorized)

Models

Models manufactured under the Italvega marque include (in order of increasing quality):

• Viva Sport
• Nuovo Sport
• Nuovo Record
• Super Record
• Super Speciale
• Super Light

The top-end models were built with double-butted Columbus tubing

Columbus Tubing

Columbus is a manufacturer of steel tubing used in bicycle frames, located in Settala, in the Province of Milan. The company was founded in 1919 by A.L. Columbo and was taken over by Columbo's youngest son, Antonio, in 1977...

 and Campagnolo

Campagnolo

Campagnolo is an Italian manufacturer of high-end bicycle components with headquarters in Vicenza, Italy. The components are organised as groupsets and are a near-complete collection of a bicycle's mechanical parts. Campagnolo's flagship components are the Super Record, Record, and Chorus...

Record and Nuovo Record components. The low-mid level framesets have the inverted triangle Columbus foil decal, while the better models have the rectangle Columbus foil decal. The lowest models have no Columbus decal.