Ride: Roman Arnold, how old are you and when did you start Canyon?
Roman Arnold: I am 56 years old. I've basically been working as a self-employed entrepreneur since I was 16 years old. In the beginning, we had a small bike store in a garage that my father founded. Canyon was founded around 23 years ago. At that time, we switched from retail to direct sales and started producing our own bikes.

So you were initially a retailer with a specialist store?
We were retailers first - and sold the well-known brands GT, Fat Chance, Specialized, Cannondale and Trek. I used to ride racing bikes. Then came the mountain bikes, which we really liked. And we had the right people in the company at the time. We thought to ourselves: maybe it would be a good idea to develop bikes ourselves.

What was the trigger for the in-house development?
We've always offered very sporty bikes and we've always ridden a lot ourselves. And it sounds silly: The manufacturer - especially back when we started Canyon in 1996 - doesn't just make its bikes for the end customer, but also for the dealer. For example, Trek's product managers came to us relatively often to ask us what the German customer needed, what was different here than in the USA, what the bikes for Germany should look like. We thought to ourselves: this is our chance to establish our own brand and offer customers bikes that are cheaper and more tailored thanks to direct sales.

How many bikes do you sell today?
We sell around 130,000 to 140,000 bikes per year.

What was the reason for the rise of the Canyon brand?
I think it's very important that I myself and many people at Canyon who are in central positions, such as product management or engineering, ride bikes themselves. And that we understand our customers very well. With us, customer feedback is much more direct thanks to our sales model. We listen to our customers very directly. Be it with positive or negative opinions. The criticism and feedback help us to adapt quickly to customer needs and changes in the market.

How did you get started in the e-mountainbike business?
We entered this market two years ago. So about five years ago, we made the decision to develop and offer e-mountainbikes and other bikes with an electric drive. What is very important here is that we have the claim "pure cycling". And when the market for e-mountain bikes began to develop around eight years ago, it wasn't really "pure cycling" for us in the truest sense of the word with the motors that were available on the market at the time. That's why we took longer to find the right starting material. We also rode the competition bikes. And we saw that: Ok, if we adjust the geometry,if the bike becomes lighter, then it feels almost the same as a normal mountain bike, and then it's "pure cycling". With the advantage that you can master long climbs more easily and have just as much fun on the trail with the e-mountainbike. Test reports also repeatedly confirm that our e-mountainbikes are very agile and ride very close to a non-powered mountain bike.

And what does the future of your portfolio look like?
We continue to develop and sell very sporty racing bikes and mountain bikes without electric drive. But there is a lot in the pipeline. We have been developing e-bikes on a massive scale for years and in the next one to two years we will be presenting numerous new products here, which should also be of great interest to Swiss cyclists.

Speaking of Switzerland, there's good news for your customers in this country. What's the story behind it?
I have to confess: When we chose the name Canyon for our bike brand, I wasn't aware that there was already a brand in Switzerland called Canyon. We have been able to protect our name all over the world. But the name already existed in Switzerland. I really became aware of it two or three years after we started Canyon. We sold so many bikes to Switzerland that Mr. Schoch from Canyon in Switzerland got in touch to say that he didn't think it was okay because there was confusion in Switzerland. We then reached an agreement with Jürg Schoch and his Lizard Sport AG: We respect and accept these trademark rights, and we don't sell bikes under the Canyon name in Switzerland. Part of the agreement was that if we sell bikes in Switzerland, they must not be called Canyon. So we built bikes especially for Switzerland that were not branded with Canyon and were thus available to Swiss customers. Choosing our slogan "pure cycling" was obvious for us, as it could embody the brand essence. We also couldn't forbid Swiss customers from buying a Canyon bike in Germany and picking it up there or having it delivered to the border and then importing it to Switzerland themselves.

Was it worth the effort to build an extra line of your bikes for Switzerland?
The effort involved in production was enormous. But it was still worth it for us because the demand from Switzerland for our bikes is very high. That's why we did the extra production for the Swiss market for years. We have always secretly wished we could arrive in Switzerland.

Now that's exactly what's happening: you're returning directly to Switzerland with Canyon. What is the background to this?
Mr. Jürg Schoch from Canyon in Switzerland was pulling the strings here. It has not been good for Canyon Switzerland and its specialist dealers that there are two brands called Canyon. Lizard Sports is now much freer to develop further. And we can now sell our bikes in Switzerland. Jürg Schoch told me that it is important for him to be able to offer Click & Collect with his dealers. It was also a problem for Canyon Switzerland that they were never able to use their website properly, as this site also radiated to Germany, where Canyon Switzerland has no rights.

How did the two makers of the two Canyon brands come to an agreement?
In the end, it wasn't a long thing at all: Mr. Schoch wanted to change his concept, and that gave us room to sell to Switzerland. Mr. Schoch decided to change his brand because it's better for his business and for his dealers. Now there is room for Canyon Switzerland to sell better on the web thanks to the name change to Cylan and there is no more confusion with us. We are very happy about this and are treating this market change very respectfully. I have the greatest respect for what Jürg Schoch has achieved and accomplished with Canyon and Lizards Sports in Switzerland.

With the previous Swiss presence - under the name "pure cycling" instead of Canyon - there was only a reduced portfolio. Are you now firing on all cylinders in the direction of the Swiss market?
Until now, we were only able to offer around 20 percent of our portfolio in Switzerland under the name "pure cycling" and the models branded for the Swiss market. Now all models are available in Switzerland. .

What is changing on your website for Swiss customers?
Until now, customers in Switzerland could view all our bikes on our canyon.com website. However, they could not order them for the aforementioned trademark reasons. This has now been activated, and all Canyon bikes can be ordered from Switzerland at the usual attractive prices. This is just the first step we will be taking.

What other steps is Canyon planning for Switzerland?
In a second step, we will also offer bikes for testing in Switzerland. The third step is to set up a service center for Swiss customers. For the test opportunities, we will of course go to the great bike events such as the Bike Days in Solothurn or the new e-bike festival in Verbier. We will set up a mobile test fleet to be present on site. In the past, we were only able to do this to a limited extent - because although we often attended Bike Days, we had to prepare all our tents, flags and simply everything so that Canyon was nowhere to be seen.

You also mentioned a service center. What are you planning?
In addition to the mobile test fleet, we also want to set up a stationary test base. We are currently evaluating where this base should be located. We will then also offer repairs there, which we expect to implement in 2020. With the stationary test and repair base, we want to make it even easier for our Swiss customers to contact us. We will really get going in Switzerland in 2020 with a full event program and a test and service center.

Do you already know where you are opening this base?
Bern is the capital, Zurich is the largest city - we are still discussing various options. The greater Zurich area would be good. Switzerland is not an accessory for us, where we just say "we'll do that now too". We really value this market and are very much looking forward to flying the flag locally.

Involving the Swiss specialist retailer as a service partner, what about that?
We are open to this. We work with a platform called bikerepair.com - it exists in the USA, the Netherlands and Germany, for example. Specialist dealers show a high level of interest in repairing and servicing Canyon bikes, but not just Canyon bikes, but other online brands too. We also like to do this in Switzerland, and we already have partnerships with dealers here.

What are your goals for Canyon?
We are a sporty brand, and that remains the case. We want to make our contribution to eco-mobility, and we will also be presenting a lot of news in the urban sector. We are well on the way to becoming a global brand. With our sporty background, with sporty mountain bikes and racing bikes, I think we are also very well equipped for a whole range of new e-bikes that are coming. I believe that we will continue to meet customer requirements very well in the future. We expect Canyon to continue to grow strongly in the future - and Switzerland plays a very important role in this.