Founded on Christmas Day 1948 by the fabulously named USSR Automobile, Tractor, Motorcycle and Bicycle Industry Council, in typical Soviet bureaucratic style it took another two years before the first Eaglet bicycle rolled off the production line in what’s become an immensely prolific factory as well as a great source of both pride and employment for Šiauliai. Now privatised and 50% owned by the German bicycle manufacturers, Panther, the Baltik Vairas plant boasts seven assembly lines producing a range of bicycles for the domestic and international markets.