Background 

Tabor was established in 1965, after five companies in the region of Águeda, which manufactured saddles and operated in the same market, realized that often competed with each other and did not take advantage of the products manufactured. They decided to organize themselves and formed the company "Tabor, Organização Ciclista da Borralha Lda". The 5 companies then stopped producing saddles, having delivered all their means of production to Tabor.

During the 70s, Tabor verified a market opportunity to manufacture shock absorbers and motorcycle forks. This market was very strong in the region of Águeda and continued so until the end of the 80s. In the 90s the motorcycle and bicycle market suffers a profound change: the world manufacturers of motorcycles entered Portugal and national manufacturers could not survive. In the bicycle area the market also suffered significant changes: on one hand components started to be imported from Asian countries, among them the bicycle saddle and, on the other hand, the leather bicycle saddle, the only saddle produced by Tabor, with some sales expression, was no longer used.

By 2001 the company Ciclo Fapril acquires part of the capital of Tabor passing to it some surplus work once it demonstrated production capacity; for example: small manual welding, drilling of manual parts, small finishing parts, among others.

In 2008, Ciclo Fapril outlines a strategy to autonomize the cutting and stamping of sheet metal, as it had already done with other processes, proposing to Tabor to keep this valence because the products it manufactured were still in decay (leather saddles, shock absorbers and forks). Tabor embraces this project and builds a new industrial building dedicated to sheet metal cutting and stamping, expanding its manufacturing area, also reinforcing its team, recruiting new employees and keeping some of Ciclo Fapril's human resources on its staff, namely people with experience in sheet metal cutting and stamping.

Ciclo Fapril transfers all its sheet metal stamping and cutting machines to Tabor on loan, and all the volume of sheet metal parts made in CF until then is now made in Tabor.

Present Day

Over the past few years Tabor has made some strategic investments, namely in 2012, with the acquisition of a laser plate cutting machine, thus opening the possibility to attract new customers and new markets.

Although the market for leather saddles, the product that gave rise to the company, has gone through a time of crisis, it is currently a very interesting niche market, particularly in Nordic countries, due to the fact that the saddles are very comfortable and also because urban or "city bikes" are in vogue, usually equipped with a wider and more comfortable saddle, where the weight of the product passes to second place being given privilege to quality, comfort and more traditional look. Tabor never abandoned the production of handmade leather saddles, having always kept alive the memory of bygone times, now understood along with their comfort as a status symbol and personal identity. In this sense, Tabor demarcated the marketing of saddles from the rest of its production area, creating its own identity for this product: Tabor Saddles.

Sustainability, integrity, customer satisfaction and social responsibility are some of the values that have always allowed Tabor to remain until today producing high quality saddles.

 Markets