Our Story

USA Brand Spokes was established over 20 years ago by Joe Hunt, Jr (Big Joe) in Olney, Illinois after Union Bicycle Spokes disbanded. Big Joe started promoting the brand (under the name Joe Hunt & Associates) out of his vehicle at BMX races across the country. Once the brand started to gain some footing in the industry, Joe started to sell the product out of the basement of his house.

In 2006, Joe hired Chris Foust to run the day-to-day operations. Chris continued in this role for the following 8 years, all while Joe Hunt and Associates kept growing and eventually expanded into a new 2500 square foot facility. In 2014, Joe and his wife Melinda took back over the day-to-day operations as Joe had recently retired from the auto industry and Chris had moved on to a new endeavor. Joe and Melinda continued running the day-to-day activities until Chris’s wife, Samantha, was brought in to the fold to run the operations in 2018 due to Joe wanting to step back and deal with some health issues.

Unfortunately, Big Joe lost the fight after a courageous battle with Multiple Sclerosis and cancer in the Fall of 2021. Joe was a “bigger than life” kind of person whom we miss every day. We will continue to grow the business, all while becoming better each day. We take extreme pride in our product and the best customer service around, just as Joe did for the “best kept secret in the bike industry”, as he liked to say.

After Joe’s passing, Chris and Samantha purchased Joe Hunt & Associates from Melinda and her two sons in January of 2022. The business was moved to a new location within Olney, IL, and the name was changed to USA Spokes. Samantha continues to run the day-to-day operations and carry on the legacy that Big Joe had created.

In the Fall of 2023, USA Spokes purchased another bicycle industry secret, Lilly’s Precision Products. Lilly’s provides aluminum anodizing, titanium anodizing, and stainless black oxide processing that have been the standard in the bicycle industry for years. Lilly’s Precision Products had been owned and operated by Jason Lilly for close to 30 years and had also been a superior vendor not only to USA Spokes but also to Joe Hunt and Associates and Union prior to that. Lilly’s also provided finishes for other industry leaders including but not limited to DT Swiss, Wheelsmith, and many others over the years. We are excited and proud to have brought these processes into the USA Spokes fold and to have Jason working with us.

This is us, with USA Spokes – you get our word and that is our gold standard!!!