The story
The company was founded by Dutch mechanic Andries Gaastra in 1974, who had left his position at his father's company Batavus. The name Koga is a combination of his surname and that of his wife Marion Kowallik. The addition of Miyata came from the cooperation with Japanese manufacturer Miyata. Koga Miyata relied on Japanese components from manufacturers such as Shimano.
From 1980 Koga Miyata sponsored the IJsboerke cycle team which a year later changed their main sponsor to Capri-Sun. Dutch rider of that team, Peter Winnen, won the 1981 Tour de France 17th stage on the Alpe d'Huez and the white jersey of the best young rider. The next Tour he won the 17th stage towards Morzine, leading to wider recognition. In 1991-1992, Koga Miyata was subsponsor of Tulip Computers and also main sponsor of an amateur team, which would be a good development team for the professionals.
In 1992, Gaastra sold his company to the Atag Cycle Group, which had acquired Batavus six years earlier.
KOGA is owned by the Accell Group since 1998.
From Wikipedia’s article on KOGA, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4
