Sinanen Holdings Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President and CEO: Masaki Yamazaki, hereinafter "Sinanen Holdings") offers comprehensive services related to energy, housing, and daily life. Sinanen Bike Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President and Representative Director: Nobuaki Nakanishi, hereinafter "Sinanen Bike") is a Sinanen Holdings subsidiary that manufactures and markets bicycles. Sinanen Bike has concluded an exclusive distribution agreement with TESS Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, President and Representative Director: Kenji Suzuki, hereinafter "TESS") to offer the COGY, a pedaling wheelchair, through our Cycle Plaza Daisharin (Below: Daisharin) brand retail stores from August 28 (Saturday).

This is the first exclusive distribution agreement for COGY in Japan's bicycle industry, and Sinanen Bike's first time dealing in rehabilitation care products.

■Utilizing expertise gained from working with bicycles to support rehabilitation

COGY is the world's first pedaling wheelchair launched by TESS in April 2010. It is mainly used by those with disabilities undergoing rehabilitation. Until this agreement, it was primarily sold through the online stores of TESS and its distributors, with a total of more than 6,000 units sold as of July 2021.

Sinanen Bike was founded in 1963. It has operated Daisharin, Japan's first large suburban bicycle store, since 1973. The company currently has 36 stores, mainly in the Tohoku and Tokyo metropolitan areas. They provide customers with a comprehensive bicycle service, offering everything from sales to maintenance.

Daisharin has previously utilized the technical expertise developed in its bicycle business to provide some wheelchair maintenance at the request of customers. Cerebrovascular disease is one of the main causes of ambulatory disabilities in Japan, with about 1.11 million people affected by it (according to the Annual Health, Labour and Welfare Report 2018). Taking into account other causes like diabetes, respiratory diseases, and lower back and knee conditions, rehabilitation of people with walking issues will become ever more significant as Japanese society continues to age. Sinanen Bike has leveraged the community-based character of its business with shops operating near its customers and has concluded its exclusive COGY distribution agreement with TESS in order to contribute to local care.

Under this agreement, Sinanen Bike will be able to sell and offer maintenance services for COGY at all Daisharin stores.

This exclusive distribution agreement for COGY with Sinanen Bike is the first in Japan's bicycle industry.

■Gradually increasing the number of stores that sell COGY, starting from seven stores in the Tohoku and Tokyo metropolitan areas

Sales will begin on August 28 (Saturday) at seven Daisharin stores in the Tohoku and Tokyo metropolitan areas. Until now, only TESS and affiliated distributors' online stores had offered COGY sales, repairs, and test runs. Now people can try the COGY out, make a purchase, or request maintenance on the spot at Daisharin stores.

At the time of launch, Sinanen Bike will assign one or more TESS certified COGY sales and maintenance staff with bike mechanic qualifications to each store carrying the product. Doing so let us help our customers with their rehabilitation needs by providing dedicated COGY sales and maintenance.

We plan to gradually increase the number of stores selling the product, and from 2022, we plan to offer it at all Daisharin stores, as well as wholesale to corporate customers.

Bicycles will continue to be Sinanen Bike's core business, aiming to assist each and every customer in their comfort and mobility. Through our business activities and products, we will contribute to the achievement of the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): "3. Good health and well being" and "10. Reduced inequalities."

■Pedaling wheelchair COGY
http://cogycogy.com/
COGY was developed by Professor Emeritus Dr. Yasunobu Handa and his research team from Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, and is the world's first nursing care and welfare device manufactured and sold by TESS from April 2010. If a person is unable to walk, yet can move one of their feet even slightly, the walking reflex will kick in and the opposing leg will move, allowing them to pedal with both feet. Marketed as "the wheelchair for those who still believe," it helped people rehabilitate who have had a stroke and are partially paralyzed, who can't walk because of lower back or knee conditions, or are similarly incapacitated.
More than 6,000 units have been sold up to now, and the company has also expanded sales overseas to Ecuador, Colombia, Vietnam, and Thailand. COGY has been gaining global attention in recent years for its part in embodying the principles of the SDGs.

【Overview】

COGY is available from the following Daisharin stores (as of Saturday, August 28, 2021):
・Daisharin Wakabayashi Store (5-11-23 Wakabayashi, Wakabayashi-ku, Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture)
・Daisharin BRANCH Sendai Store (1F BRANCH Sendai West, 2-21-1 Chomeigaoka, Izumi-ku, Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture)
・Daisharin Wako Store (1-15-3 Shirako, Wako City, Saitama Prefecture)
・Daisharin Takenotsuka Store (1-14-23 Nishihokima, Adachi-ku, Tokyo)
・Daisharin Ito-Yokado Yotsugi Store (1F Ito-Yokado Yotsugi, 2-21-1 Yotsugi, Katsushika-ku, Tokyo)
・Daisharin Ito-Yokado Kokuryo Store (1F Ito-Yokado Kokuryo, 8-2-64 Kokuryo, Chofu City, Tokyo)
・Daisharin Kawasaki Taira Store (2-4-40 Taira, Miyamae-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture)

■About Sinanen Bike Co., Ltd.
https://www.sinanen-cycle.jp/
A wholly owned subsidiary of Sinanen Holdings Co., Ltd., the company currently operates a bicycle retail business and a bicycle manufacturing and wholesale business for corporate customers. The company seeks to promote an environmentally-friendly lifestyle by providing safe, secure, and comfortable bicycle-related products, while maintaining close ties to its customers, local communities, and society at large.

■About Sinanen Holdings Co., Ltd.
https://sinanengroup.co.jp
Founded in 1927, Sinanen Holdings Co., Ltd. is a group holding company offering comprehensive services related to energy, housing, and daily life. With the mission of the Group to contribute to realizing a comfortable life for all customers in their communities through energy and home & life services, we provide Retail/Wholesale Energy & Related Business for consumers, Energy Solution Business for corporations, and non-energy businesses such as bicycle sharing, environmental and recycling, system development, antimicrobial, building management and maintenance, and other services.

[Contact for inquiries about this release]
Katsumata or Sakamoto, Retail Sales Department, Sinanen Bike Co., Ltd.
Tel: +81-3-6478-7840 E-mail: sinanencycle.info@sinanengroup.co.jp


[Media inquiries]
Yoshida and Kimura, PR/IR Team, Corporate Planning Dept., Sinanen Holdings Co., Ltd.
Tel: +81-3-6478-7807 E-mail: kouhou@sinanengroup.co.jp