A gravel bike - the Vermont - will be the first bike that the new Von Drais brand launches on the market. It should be ready in April, says Harry Ramsauer, one of the people behind the new brand.

But why is anyone launching yet another product in the current situation of an oversaturated bike market?"

For the twelve specialist retailers behind the new brand, the time is just right for their new brand. They still have customers in their stores who are not looking for the lowest price on the net, but who seek advice and pay the price, argues Harry Ramsauer. They offer them a high-quality yet inexpensive bike that is backed by the Swiss specialist dealers who also sell it in their stores. As a buyer, you have the manufacturer right in front of you.

A carbon gravel bike for 3,500 francs

At the presentation in Technorama Winterthur, the initiators are still showing a prototype that does not correspond to the final version. This much they can confirm: The Vermont will have a carbon frame, a wheelset with DT Swiss hubs and carbon rims and a Shimano GRX 12-speed drivetrain. It will cost around 3500 francs. An aluminum version will be added later.

The first 80 bikes are currently in production and should be available in specialist stores at the start of the season. Only shareholders of Swiss Bike Concept, the company founded for the production, will be able to sell Von Drais bikes. Ramsauer and his colleagues are currently looking for more specialist dealers to become shareholders. He considers around 50 to be ideal, and the interest is there.

The shareholders are not just owners of the company, they design the bike together. They selected the carbon frame from the wealth of models available in the Asian factories and put together the rest, from the stem to the dropouts. A particularly design-savvy co-owner made color suggestions, from which they selected two. The frames are manufactured in China and assembled in Vietnam. However, the medium-term goal is to produce the bikes in Europe, emphasizes Ramsauer.

No overproduction, no vintage models, no middlemen

The specialist dealers - all of whom have all-ride certification from 2rad Schweiz - want to use their own brand to solve the problems that they have always struggled with at the end of the value chain. They produce exactly the bikes that their customers want. They produce as many as they can sell so that there is no overproduction, which has led to the current discount battle. This also means that there will be no vintage models from Von Drais. These are another problem for dealers. This is because prices are already falling in August, devaluing the bikes already sold and even more so those not yet sold in the current year. "We only come out with a new model when the old one has been sold off - just like the car industry has always done," explains Ramsauer.

And even more importantly, specialist dealers no longer have to deal with intermediaries, as they produce and assemble the bikes themselves. Part of the margin must remain with Swiss Bike Concept so that production and development can continue. "But we shareholders decide for ourselves how much margin we want to make on sales and how much we leave with our joint company," says Ramsauer, emphasizing the advantage. In return, they bear the risk themselves that their bikes are not as popular as they expect.

In addition, there is the share package, for which some have paid CHF 10,000 and others CHF 5,000 and which, as with any public limited company, can become worthless if the company is not profitable. "Three purchased E-Fullies cost a dealer more than a block of shares in Swiss Bike Concept AG and are at least as big a risk," Ramsauer puts into perspective.

No fear of returns

Ride wants to know from Harry Ramsauer whether he is worried about what the existing manufacturers think of the fact that their dealers are now doing their own thing. He says bluntly: "They don't ask us either before they supply a nearby competitor. We are all entrepreneurs and do what we think is right and sustainable."

It is clear that 80 bikes will not put a dent in the sales of an established manufacturer. And they won't significantly increase the income of a good dozen specialist dealers. Of course, there could be more. An aluminum bike that can be built as a touring or everyday bike as well as a hardtail for off-road use has already been developed. Ramsauer would like to see an e-fully as the next Von Drais model - the sector in which dealers put a lot of capital at risk when purchasing.