Why no major German bikes?
#1
Member
Thread Starter
Why no major German bikes?
It seems like most of the major European countries have some sort of bicycling tradition: France, Italy, England, Spain, the Netherlands. It's strange to me that there's no bike maker or bike style associated with Germany, especially
since virtually any other sort of high end manufacturing would include at least one German brand name. Am I simply missing something or is there a reason? Of course, Bosch and Brose make a large percentage of e-bike motors, but even
then they don't brand their own bikes.
since virtually any other sort of high end manufacturing would include at least one German brand name. Am I simply missing something or is there a reason? Of course, Bosch and Brose make a large percentage of e-bike motors, but even
then they don't brand their own bikes.
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: TC, MN
Posts: 33,819
Bikes: R3 Disc, Haanjo
Mentioned: 343 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 16089 Post(s)
Liked 4,854 Times
in
2,556 Posts
Likes For WhyFi:
Likes For redcon1:
Likes For alcjphil:
#6
Thread Killer
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Posts: 10,124
Bikes: '15 Kinesis Racelight 4S, '76 Motebecane Gran Jubilée, '17 Dedacciai Gladiatore2, '12 Breezer Venturi, '09 Dahon Mariner, '05 Novara Big Buzz, '12 Mercier Nano, '95 DeKerf Team SL, '19 Tern Rally, ‘21 Breezer Doppler Cafe+, ‘19 T Lab X3
Mentioned: 19 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1389 Post(s)
Liked 384 Times
in
244 Posts
Tout Terrain touring bikes were/are leaders in that category.
#7
Thread Killer
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Posts: 10,124
Bikes: '15 Kinesis Racelight 4S, '76 Motebecane Gran Jubilée, '17 Dedacciai Gladiatore2, '12 Breezer Venturi, '09 Dahon Mariner, '05 Novara Big Buzz, '12 Mercier Nano, '95 DeKerf Team SL, '19 Tern Rally, ‘21 Breezer Doppler Cafe+, ‘19 T Lab X3
Mentioned: 19 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1389 Post(s)
Liked 384 Times
in
244 Posts
Corratec are big on MTB (also Cube, I guess, but they’re after my time watching the scene).
#8
Thread Killer
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Posts: 10,124
Bikes: '15 Kinesis Racelight 4S, '76 Motebecane Gran Jubilée, '17 Dedacciai Gladiatore2, '12 Breezer Venturi, '09 Dahon Mariner, '05 Novara Big Buzz, '12 Mercier Nano, '95 DeKerf Team SL, '19 Tern Rally, ‘21 Breezer Doppler Cafe+, ‘19 T Lab X3
Mentioned: 19 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1389 Post(s)
Liked 384 Times
in
244 Posts
Riese und Muller are benchmarks in e-bikes (and touring).
#9
Thread Killer
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Posts: 10,124
Bikes: '15 Kinesis Racelight 4S, '76 Motebecane Gran Jubilée, '17 Dedacciai Gladiatore2, '12 Breezer Venturi, '09 Dahon Mariner, '05 Novara Big Buzz, '12 Mercier Nano, '95 DeKerf Team SL, '19 Tern Rally, ‘21 Breezer Doppler Cafe+, ‘19 T Lab X3
Mentioned: 19 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1389 Post(s)
Liked 384 Times
in
244 Posts
I think that in the touring world, German bikes are king.
Likes For TakingMyTime:
#11
Member
Thread Starter
I do know Reise and Muller and Bulls from the e-bike world. I didn't realize Canyon, Focus, and, especially Tout Terrain, were German :} Some of these companies, though, are sort of the exception proving the rule.
#12
Thread Killer
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Posts: 10,124
Bikes: '15 Kinesis Racelight 4S, '76 Motebecane Gran Jubilée, '17 Dedacciai Gladiatore2, '12 Breezer Venturi, '09 Dahon Mariner, '05 Novara Big Buzz, '12 Mercier Nano, '95 DeKerf Team SL, '19 Tern Rally, ‘21 Breezer Doppler Cafe+, ‘19 T Lab X3
Mentioned: 19 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1389 Post(s)
Liked 384 Times
in
244 Posts
I think that when you looking at the touring segment, that’s where German brands are the big brands, but that’s not a segment which is big in the USA, so Americans don’t notice it. And the German brands which dominate that segment are not only bike manufacturers, but component manufacturers, like Tubus, Schwalbe, Pinion, Bosch and Ortlieb.
Likes For chaadster:
Likes For unterhausen:
#14
Cheerfully low end
Join Date: Jun 2020
Posts: 668
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 195 Post(s)
Liked 270 Times
in
178 Posts
I can’t speak too specifically to German bike makers, but generally in terms of international trade, a lot of German companies try to make products in Germany and position themselves as providing top-of-range products, so I’m not surprised that we don’t see German companies trying to compete across the market against Trek, Specialized, etc.
Otto
Otto
#15
Palmer
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 6,423
Bikes: 1980 Mike Melton, 1982 Stumpjumper, 1982 Santana, 1984 Alex Moulton AM, 2008 BikeFriday tikit T-11, 2010 Dawes Briercliffe, 2017 Dahon Curl i5, 2019 Surly ½DT14
Mentioned: 25 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 794 Post(s)
Liked 271 Times
in
182 Posts

I recall Dane Mikael Colville-Andersen visited Germany and made fun of their excellent bike lights and the way all the German riders had their tires pumped up to pressure!
Likes For tcs:
#16
Member
Thread Starter
Fascinating. I take it that, like China, there are a lot of bikes or bike brands from Germany that we just don't see in the United States. The UK being so low on the list is also something of a surprise.
#17
Advocatus Diaboli
#18
Thread Killer
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Posts: 10,124
Bikes: '15 Kinesis Racelight 4S, '76 Motebecane Gran Jubilée, '17 Dedacciai Gladiatore2, '12 Breezer Venturi, '09 Dahon Mariner, '05 Novara Big Buzz, '12 Mercier Nano, '95 DeKerf Team SL, '19 Tern Rally, ‘21 Breezer Doppler Cafe+, ‘19 T Lab X3
Mentioned: 19 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1389 Post(s)
Liked 384 Times
in
244 Posts
Busch & Müller are probably the most acclaimed generator lights out there, and certainly Lezyne has made a presence for their battery lights in the USA as well.
#19
Thread Killer
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Posts: 10,124
Bikes: '15 Kinesis Racelight 4S, '76 Motebecane Gran Jubilée, '17 Dedacciai Gladiatore2, '12 Breezer Venturi, '09 Dahon Mariner, '05 Novara Big Buzz, '12 Mercier Nano, '95 DeKerf Team SL, '19 Tern Rally, ‘21 Breezer Doppler Cafe+, ‘19 T Lab X3
Mentioned: 19 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1389 Post(s)
Liked 384 Times
in
244 Posts
The graphic was for production, and virtually all the Portuguese production goes to other EU brands, including German ones. If the graph showed brand sales by country rather than production, it’d look quite different.
Likes For chaadster:
#20
BMX Connoisseur
In the BMX scene there is a German brand called "We the People" that's pretty popular. But I think it's a German owned brand but the bikes are made in Taiwan? I could be wrong.
Likes For cbrstar:
#21
Palmer
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 6,423
Bikes: 1980 Mike Melton, 1982 Stumpjumper, 1982 Santana, 1984 Alex Moulton AM, 2008 BikeFriday tikit T-11, 2010 Dawes Briercliffe, 2017 Dahon Curl i5, 2019 Surly ½DT14
Mentioned: 25 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 794 Post(s)
Liked 271 Times
in
182 Posts
#23
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Sacramento, California, USA
Posts: 39,906
Bikes: Ridley Excalibur, Gazelle Champion Mondial, On-One Pompino, Specialized Rock Hopper
Mentioned: 64 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2553 Post(s)
Liked 1,829 Times
in
899 Posts
My kid has a Ghost hardtail, and my next bike is likely to be a Canyon, both German.
#24
Palmer
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 6,423
Bikes: 1980 Mike Melton, 1982 Stumpjumper, 1982 Santana, 1984 Alex Moulton AM, 2008 BikeFriday tikit T-11, 2010 Dawes Briercliffe, 2017 Dahon Curl i5, 2019 Surly ½DT14
Mentioned: 25 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 794 Post(s)
Liked 271 Times
in
182 Posts
Ignaz Schwinn was a German immigrant to the USA. The Schwinns had family 'in the old country'.
"In 1933 Frank Schwinn took a trip to Germany. There he saw a healthy bicycle industry that had developed a strong and utilitarian bicycle for the rough cobbled streets of German cities. It used something called the 'balloon tire'..." - Schwinn Bicycles by Pridmore and Hurd, 1996
Yep, the all-American 26" (ISO559) balloon tire that would go on to shod children's bicycles for decades and birth the mountain bike came from Germany.
By 1935 Frank Schwinn was ready to tackle a restarting of an adult cycle market in America. German-inspired bicycles with Fichtel & Sachs hub gears? Uh, no. Because of the geopolitical landscape, that was pretty much a marketing non-starter. In the late 1930s Schwinn's marketing instead taught American young adults to revere 'English Type' lightweights with Sturmey-Archer hub gears:
"In 1933 Frank Schwinn took a trip to Germany. There he saw a healthy bicycle industry that had developed a strong and utilitarian bicycle for the rough cobbled streets of German cities. It used something called the 'balloon tire'..." - Schwinn Bicycles by Pridmore and Hurd, 1996
Yep, the all-American 26" (ISO559) balloon tire that would go on to shod children's bicycles for decades and birth the mountain bike came from Germany.
By 1935 Frank Schwinn was ready to tackle a restarting of an adult cycle market in America. German-inspired bicycles with Fichtel & Sachs hub gears? Uh, no. Because of the geopolitical landscape, that was pretty much a marketing non-starter. In the late 1930s Schwinn's marketing instead taught American young adults to revere 'English Type' lightweights with Sturmey-Archer hub gears:

Last edited by tcs; 03-01-21 at 12:26 PM.
#25
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 509
Mentioned: 3 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 296 Post(s)
Liked 204 Times
in
133 Posts
Amazing that Portugal tops the list when it comes to bicycle production. It's also somewhat surprising that bike sales in Italy is so much lower than in France and the UK- countries with roughly similar population counts.