BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
What bikes do you own and where’s your favourite place to ride?
I own a dozen bikes for various needs. Some are already historical like the first folding bike (Micro bike), a Cannondale I bought in 1990, through to my race bike from Cilo (Swiss) from the last range. My diverse collection also includes an electric bike and tandem. My latest is an urban bike from trenga.de (Germany). Mostly I like to ride in ‘my’ forest (Teutoburger Wald) near to home with my Norco.
Could you share with us a brief history of Hebie?
The firm has the longest history in the bike business, to my knowledge. It was founded in 1868 and from 1905 the firm began making grips, chain guards, carriers, mudguards and stands, which still all feature in our line today.
The clip-on mudguard was a ground-breaking invention of Hebie’s in the early eighties. At the same time stands were developed that became best sellers. For today’s market, our new chain guard system, Chainglider, makes our catalogue very appealing. In future I see the Quicksnap Carrier system becoming popular – it links up well with our new Bootbag.
Tell us about your role at Hebie:
I care for Hebie’s day-to-day running with my own agency for new products and communication strategies. Thirteen years ago I started exporting Hebie goods but found there was not much need for Hebie products in the UK.
Being back in London this year, I am convinced cyclists are now ready for our line of accessories. My role will be to do all I can for the cyclists of your market to keep them clean and make them transport things via bike.
What products can Hebie offer the bicycle retailer?
Hebie offers all possible existing solutions on its field of modern urban mobility. There are 15 different stand models, ten different mudguard models and numerous chain guards in all measurements and designs. We also manufacture a round carrier system with a modular system that fits nicely with the UK’s new enthusiasm for bikes.
Where is Hebie’s product designed and manufactured?
We’ve made our products in Bielefeld (Germany) for 105 years. Only with the latest carrier models were we forced to go to Asia, but this does not yet represent ten per cent of our turnover. Design and testing is done exclusively in our own facility with specially developed test devices.
How can UK bicycle dealers take stock?
We’ve dealt for years with AMBA Marketing, the main source for UK retail. From 2011 we hope for more visibility of our brand. The paradigm of cycling in the UK has changed enormously recently, which is clearly apparent to us.
