90 Years of Kalkhoff history - Kalkhoff USA

5/2009 Mai • Deutschland € 4,20 • Österreich € 4,85 • BeNeLux € 4,95 • Italien € 5,65 • Spanien € 5,65 • Schweiz sfr. 8,40 • ISSN 0940-4929 • H 06768
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Kalkhoff Bikes • Siemensstraße 1-3 • 49661 Cloppenburg • Tel.: +49 (0)4471 / 966-0 • E-Mail: info@kalkhoff-bikes.de
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Visit at Kalkhoff in Cloppenburg
&
Tradition
the modern age
Everything began 90 years ago: at the tender age of 16 years Heinrich Kalkhoff founded -actually a rural postman
who sold tires on the side –the Kalkhoff company. However, it should not remain with just the intinerant sale
of tires. He expanded this small trade single minded from an assembly firm to an impressive factory for bicycles with a
global organization. After an eventful history with many product highlights and export to distant countries Kalkhoff is
today under the wings of the Cloppenburger Derby Cycle-group well positioned. And it is ranked among the best known
brands in Germany – with the highest potential. Here tradition and the modern age meet and the bikes –it does not matter
whether trekking-city- or since recently, electro-bikes- are really nice.
Photo reference: The historic photos have been placed at the disposal by
the Oldenburger Bicycle Museum/the Kalkhoff Archive-Gabriele Kalkhoff
Above: Everything started in the wooden hut next to the parental home • Company founder Heinrich Kalkhoff • Production of frames in 1962 • Sales at agricultural fairs • Everything from…
Kalkoff_8seiter_ Englisch.indd 2
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Such begins the Kalkhoff history: already during
the war years (1914-1918) Heinrich Kalkhoff
as a young rural postman had to deliver
for hours and hours mail to isolated farms in
the Cloppenburger flat country by foot and
bicycle. On his way he made breaks. During
this time he read one or two mail circulars,
so to say, advertising which he should have
actually had to deliver. Among them was a
broschure of a company from Bielefeld which
offered inexpensive bicycle tires. Thereafter,
Heinrich Kalkhoff asked the farmers to whom
he brought the mail whether they could use
tires. The demand was so great that Klakhoff
had from now on to deliver more tires than
mail. He began his entrepreneurial independence
in his parental house in the Kessener
way in Cloppenburg. He sold heavy English
and domestic army tires as well as first-class
Continental tires and tubes. Already in June
1920 he started trading used, but in flawless
condition, men and women bicycles as well
as spareparts. Kalkhoff began the production
with two employees of his own bike frames
in 1923. Completely assembled bicycles left
the Kalkhoff production plant in 1927.
This was actually a barn shaped construction
of a size of roughly 250 m² attached to his
parental house. After eight years, he expanded
the addition to include, not only offices,
production, warehouse and direct sales, but
also a dormitory for 13 workers at that time.
This location changed continually over the
decades: the workforce and the productivity
were again and again expanded. At the
beginning of WWII already 700,000 bike
frames were manufactured in Cloppenburg.
The Kalkhoff Works was one of the most
important employers with a seventy people
workforce in an economic structurally weak
region. During the winter months a large
number of the rural population was occupied
with the attachment of spokes to the the
bike wheels: this was for many an essential
means of living. The bicycle production was
then stopped entirely during the wartime.
One was forced to build military hardware
(armor shafts). Then the occupying powers
only allowed the production of agricultural
products in the first postwar years: potatoe
steamers for pork-fattening which were also
suitable for the distilling of spirits, as well as
trucktrailers and kitchen stoves.
In 1950 the bicycle production became again
the focus of interest. At that time the two
wheeler segment experienced an enormous
boom in demand. There were 1,200 emplo-
…
On one hand: handlebar production (picture), electroplating,stamping of chain rings. As seen in today´s production. Careful application of the Kalkhoff decals and lettering.
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Presentation vehicle including glased trailer ( also seen inside: stove and oven). ∙ 1952 classic mens touring bike...
In
yees from time to time in the production of
handlebars, seatposts and wheels. Even the
chain wheel fittings were self-stamped and
processed in the company´s own electroplating
plant. At that time the daily production
of frames was 5,ooo! Mopeds and motorized
bicycles were sold. The export of bikes and
parts was of special importance. The lucrative
business made possible an expansion. For
the industrialist a second production facility
in Volkmarsen was built in 1955 where one
manufactured exclusively for the export to
South Africa and overseas.
Special export models
Roughly 20% of the production in the 60´s
went into export. Even Kalkhoff with handwork
“made in Germany” was competitive
in East Asia. The sales success resulted
mainly due to a relatively low sales price:
But also due to the ability of the company to
adapt to the design expectations of foreign
countries: Thus a colorful optic – important
for Indonesia. In the U.S. market a gas-tank
mock-up could not be missing. The answer
to Kettlers “Kett-Car” (chain) in the Federal
Republic of Germany was the “Ka-Car”.
Apart from that, the spirit of the times determined
the model range. During the 60´s
the positive image of the professional cycling
sport promoted the sale of racing bikes;
from 1968 and on, the strong emphasis on
mass sports – can you still remember the popular
“fitness movement?”- resulted in new
product lines: home exerciser and fitness
sports equipment. Since there was such
an enormous demand, one constructed
“out of thin air” another
factory in the industrial area of
Cloppenburg – with its own factory
siding for twenty freight cars. At
first a central shipping warehouse
was built in 1972: one could celebrate
the fifth million bike. Thereafter
a painting and assembly hall
was constructed and production
facilities from which even today
Kalkhoff bikes are dispatched all
over the world. The good, positive
development enabled many
workers to find a job in the county of Cloppenburg.
In 1976 a stamping plant called
“Nikko-Presswork” was founded in nearby
Scharrel in partnership with the Japanese
firm “Nikko and Mitsui”. Frame connection
inserts (bushings and housings) were produced
there in new –type method of production.
In addition, Kalkhoff maintains five
large supply depots all over Germany.
“Self made” man Heinrich Kalkhoff
After Heinrich Kalkhoff managed the company
for almost one half a century, the company
founder turned over the operation management
to his three sons Berthold, Karl
and Heinz in 1968. At that time the Kalkhoff
works had 420 employees. Although
Heinrich Kalkhoff had neither a business nor
a formal crafts training, he understood how
to make out of a one man firm one of the
largest companies in the bicycle segment.
The reason for the success was certainly
adamant discipline – for himself and all his
employees. The boss was omnipresent in his
company: not only to control his workforce
but rather more to influence the technical
and ergonomic process. His maxim : simplicity
of the processes and solidity.One met
him often at a workbench where he occupied
himself as a “tinkerer” with technical solutions.
When Heinrich Kalkhoff died in 1972,
1973: one of the many Kalkhoff racing reams: Bottom left: Burckhardt Budde- team member 36 years ago; today responsible for the development of the elektro-bike at Kalkhoff.
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In shock-resistant Kalkhoff enamel on a rust protected underground ∙ Something special: 1 of 12 folding bikes made for Mercedes, below: Kalkhoff-trainbike from the designer Collani.
Unusal advertising was the hall mark of Kalkhoff:
there were many advertising motives on
which the “Apo” icon, Uschi Obermeier posed
freely for Kalkhoff bikes.
he left behind an economically strong, expanding
company which still grew strongly in the
following years. It was typical that employees
spent their entire work life, from the time of
their vocational training up to their retirement,
in the company: “Kalkhoff- that was
more or less my life” This statement of a previous
works employee stands as representative
for hundreds of people in
the workforce. Not without
good reason was in 1986 the
insolvency of the company so
painful for many employees
because the firm could not
keep up with the fast moving
spirit of the time. Many
found employment at the
successor company “New
Kalkhoff Works:” Not few
still work in the building and
are under contract now at
the long standing manufacturer
“Derby Cycle-Werke”
Celebrities for 1A
brand-name-recognition
That Kalkhoff today –besides
Kettler and Herculesbelongs
to the best known
brands in Germany has also
to do with the unusual advertising
and marketing strategies of Heinrich
Kalkhoff. Because the competitors of
the Cloppenburger company criticized him
strongly in counter-ads which, however, were
more intensively noticed by customers, resulted
in the fact that he could quickly expand
his circle of buyers in the 20´s. Kalkhoff from
1950 visited the dealers with a special trade
fair sales vehicle. In 1965, in keeping with the
times, the first product broschure was presented
to the broad public. PR work which leads
to headlines always was done by the Lower
Saxons. He was able to gain also celebrities,
such as a cabinet minister or a bishop for advertising
purposes. Even at that time the very
popular – and during that periods unusual
circumstances – of “freely” showing appearance,
the “Apo-icon” Uschi Obermeier was
seen in the appropriate attention-getting advertising
posters.
IFMA 1988: Derby Circle takes
over
At the beginning of the 80´s Kalkhoff achieved
a turnover of more than DM128 million
with 1,000 employees. The daily production
was 5,000 bicycles. However, the company
could no longer keep up with the developments.
Even nice-sounding model names
such as “Weltkrone” (World Crown), “Präzision”
(Precision) or “Rekord” (Record) did not
lead to mass sales. In addition, an external
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Today a hit: the Kalkhoff „Voyager“ with brilliant coat of varnish and colored components. Frames and parts are being dynamically stressed in the Kalkhoff test center
tax auditor found out – what many suspected
– that the company sold their bikes cheaply
event to stay in business. Bicycles, whose
production costs was DM 110 each, were
sold for DM 95 to large wholesale chains
and mail order houses. That could not work
out well: in 1985 the company had to file
for insolvency. The rescue dragged out for a
long time. At some point Chinese investors
wanted to purchase the production facilities,
disassemble the machinery and ship
everything in containers back to China as
they had done previously with the Munichbased
moped manufacturer Zuendapp.
Even interested parties from Bulgaria made
a bid. The object was awarded to a regional
investor group of agricultural barons
around the horse breeder Paul Schockemöhle.
They called the firm the “Neue
Kalkhoff-Werke” ( New-Kalkhoff-Works):
they pulled into the boat professional German
bicycle makers, Julius Sprick and Wolfgang
Schlueter. The assembly and the shipping
were modernized, but nevertheless,
they were finished just after two-and-one
half years. Then after the IFMA trade fair
in 1988, Alan Finden-Crofts, an internationally
positioned manufacturer of bikes with
attractive-sounding names such as Raleigh
and Gazelle, announced the take-over and
incorporated Kalkhoff in his growing brand
name empire. Bernhard Meyer who has
been more than 30 years there and is responsible
today for the distribution said that
“this was a stroke of luck for us. We got so
much technical know-how from the other
brands and became innovative in the area
of bicycle manufacturing.”
Also Burkhardt Budde nodded. Thirty-six
years ago he was a member of Kalkhoff´s
own factory racing team in the school class
competition. Now he is responsible for the
electro-bike as product manager. On the
whole, Kalkhoff was and is the reservoir of
bike experts who occupy today leading positions
in the bicycle industry. Two examples
of many: Georg Honkomp was responsible
in Cloppenburg for distribution and Egbert
Sales Director Germany, Bernard Meyer with his Uschi-photo. Electro-bikes are just in the final assembly. Conscientious quality control is obligatory…
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Bicycles and electro-bikes emerge for tomorrow in the design department
Hageböck for purchasing. Today they make
up the management board of the large
ZEG-Einkaufsgenossenschaft (Buying Cooperative)
“Brillance in large scale”
On the basis of many competent employees,
clever and far-sighted company policy of the
long-standing managing director Mathias
Seidler as well as his early focus on Kalkhoff
( for whose further development even
the new brands “Bikemanufactur and Müsing”
were banned from the product range)
he was able to bring the brand again to the
top. He achieved this with a strong conviction
to the location Germany, to traditional
values and highest claim to quality – even
today as before. Managing director Seidler
defines it as “large-scale manufacture with
love for detail”We mean: Tradition and modern
age in pure culture. One perceives oneself
as a brand for the whole family, supports
in the area “social sponsoring” already with
1,000 youth bikes for the German Road Safety
Association´s” traffic education. “This
means the world to us”, says Mr. Seidler.
And this proves a feeling for the needs of
the end-consumer and new trends: just as it
was earlier with the glass enclosed demonstration
vehicle, a highly modern presentation
truck drives 80 days throughout Germany in
2009. This allows the end-consumer to test
the complete electro-bike program.
A Kalkhoff test center is located in the Robinson
Club on Granada. Further ones should
follow. Elegant optic, an excellent price-performance
ratio and high grade technology
enable -just like 60 years ago- the jump from
a pure German to an international brand. In
the traces the latest successful product of the
Lower Saxons is rolling: the Kalkhoff-electrobikes
inspire German as well as European
buyers and allow the eyes to beam. Just like
a spotlight in the showroom of the trident in
the old Kalkhoff-logo, that one views with
bowed respect in Cloppenburg. Rightly so!
Daniel Fikuart
Thanks to Klaus Deux/Historical backgrounds
Before the well-packed bikes got to shipping - and thus sent to all over the world
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GOOD FOR THE IMAGE:
THE TEST WINNER
You are looking for a reliable trekking bike with which you can put in an appearance? Then make a decision for the
Kalkhoff Image. In comparison to 15 similar cycles the all-rounder got the rating excellent (1.8) which put it in the
first place as judged by Stiftung Warentest (German testing institute). “Safe and long lasting with a well balanced
riding behavior: the relatively very reasonable Kalkhoff Image (900 Euro) in comparison to other bikes, it was awarded
the first position.” That was the recommendation of Stiftung Warentest.
ALLROUND 2009
TEST WINNER
Excellent (1,8)
Tested:
15 trekking bikes
3 excellent
Test Winner
Kalkhoff Image
Issue 05/2009
KALKHOFF IMAGE – THE EXCELLENT ALL-ROUNDER
All components of the all-rounder cycle Kalkhoff Image are perfectly coordinated against each other: the SXL-27-gear hub shifting from
Shimano, the light magnesium Verso suspension fork, the Magura hydraulic brake HS 33 and the smooth-running hub dynamo from Shimano.
Optional: wheels with hollow rims and collapsible Continental Town Ride tires with reflective strips and a breakdown protection device.
www.kalkhoff-bikes.de
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