Okuma bikes history?

[An3]

A friend of mine gave me an old hybrid bike. According to the sticker it is an Okuma. Okuma is known for their angling equipment but I have not heard of any links to cycling. There are a few other Okuma bikes listed for sale on various websites (Gumtree etc). It looks to me as if somebody imported a lot of entry level bicycles and branded them with Okuma stickers. Can anyone please shed some light on the existence of this bike / brand?

Edited August 9, 2020 by An3

[MTBeer]

Okuma also a well known manufacturer of CNC machines

[Mohs]

1994 my first MTB was an Okuma...it came out with Rapit-fire shifters so I was the coolest kid for like two days until my friends got Haro bikes with Huge horn bars. Did all the Paarl trails on a daily basis and helped build and test ride the Paarl Playgrounds and DH Tracks on that tank.

[Bikalot]

Also had an Okuma back in the 90's, but at @Mohs it also had bull horn bars it was a chrome silver colour which would actually be quite cool again.

[dr5mn]

I bought this chromed Okuma back in 1998. Had those twisty gripshift shifters.

 

Lent to a fellow res student in varsity. He later then stole it to sell for booze money.

[Fleming]

When I was a teenager one of my buddies bought an Okuma with full STX groupset. I think even the headset which is a place most bike companies skimp. That bike was pretty sweet and definitely not a Game/Makro bike. Think this was around 1996.