Home visit: Anyone who thinks traditional bike manufacturers come exclusively from Italy only knows half the truth. The company founded in 1909 BH Bikes is one of the leading bike brands on the Iberian Peninsula. With innovative products, modern logistics and noticeable passion, they also want to gain shares in the German market. A home visit.
An industrial area in the Basque capital of Vitoria, wide streets, blue sky: Two men in black and red cycling gear step out of a bright building with the inscription BH visible from afar. Unai and Gilles push shiny carbon racing bikes in front of them, freewheels rattle, pedal plates squeak on the asphalt. The two have a lunch break - a short palaver, then they click into their pedals and disappear for a short lap in the surrounding area. Not an isolated case: racing bikes and mountain bikes hang close together in the changing room, and almost every day there is a group going out together. People exchange ideas, test their own products and compete in amateur races. During a home visit in the Basque Country, it quickly becomes clear: For many BH employees, cycling is not just a job, but a personal passion. And the relationship with the employer is close: Unai has worked for BH for seven years, Gilles for twenty.
At the top 800.00 bikes sold per year
Export manager José Miguel Aracama has also been with the company for 18 years. He was just having a routine medical check-up that BH organizes for its employees every year. Now he tells the story of the company in the showroom.
The abbreviation BH, pronounced "Beh Atsche" in Spanish, stands for Beistegui Hermanos, in German the Beistegui brothers. It was under this name that Domingo, Juan and Cosme Beistegui began producing handguns in 1909. Due to export embargoes after the end of the First World War, they switched to bicycles. Success soon followed, economically and sportively: The first Vuelta a España in 1935 was won on a BH racing bike. During the Franco dictatorship, the Spanish economy was cut off from numerous markets for a long time. Inevitably, BH manufactured almost all of the components for its bikes itself. Millions of Spaniards use the simple, functional standard bicycle from BH to get around. At its peak, the Basque company sold 800.000 units a year. The democratization of Spain since the second half of the 1970s meant a development boost for BH Bikes. From the isolated economic situation, the company pushed out onto the world market, production and sales were internationalized.
Today BH Bikes is a global player and employs 225 people worldwide: at the headquarters in Vitoria, in a research and development center in California, in production facilities in Portugal, China, Taiwan and Indonesia as well as in numerous sales offices and concept stores around the world. In 2014 the company exported its bikes to 66 countries. 63,8 percent of sales were generated through exports, 37,2 percent in the domestic market. In total, BH Bikes sold over 2014 units in 180.000. The focus was on e-bikes (42 percent), followed by mountain bikes (29 percent) and racing bikes (18 percent). The remaining percent are divided between trekking and children's bikes. In the current fiscal year 2015, sales have so far increased by 3,2 percent.
In all of this, you remain true to your own roots: BH Bikes is traditionally active as a sponsor in competitive sports and equips the CC mountain biker and Velomotion blogger Adelheid Morath, enduro champion Karim Armor and top triathlete Eneko Llanos next year too Europcar successor team Direct Energie .
And the company is now in its fourth generation of the Beistegui family. It was not until 2012 that a purchase offer from the Accell Group was rejected. The Dutch holding company, which owns numerous bicycle brands worldwide, had bid a three-digit million amount, but in vain: BH Bikes is not for sale.
BH Bikes - Stand alone products, lifetime warranty
A central claim of BH is to produce bicycles with a special touch and independent technical solutions. Ultimately, this philosophy runs like a red thread through the no fewer than 212 (!) bike models that the Basques are offering in 2016.
With the product focus on e-bikes, which alone includes 64 models, the company relies on a self-developed rear-wheel drive with a choice of 250, 350 or 500 watts of motor power. The battery is elegantly integrated into the frame with a patented system and delivers between 300 and 500 watt hours, depending on the model. BH also combines external drive technology from the German supplier Brose with its own battery. In addition, the Basques now also have e-bikes with Bosch drives in their range.
The networked bicycle – an important trend at this year’s Eurobike – is of course also available at BH Bikes: the e-bikes communicate via Bluetooth with a smartphone app developed in-house. In addition to simple GPS navigation, this allows the motor support to be controlled using three parameters: based on the altitude profile driven, the effort of the driver measured by his heart rate or - very traditionally - by manual input.
BH also relies on special solutions for conventional bicycles without electric motor support. Suspension guru Dave Weagle's patented split-pivot system is used on the fullys. The frames are designed in such a way that the suspension locks automatically as soon as you pedal. The harder you pedal, the stronger the hardening of the damper. Blocking when braking is nevertheless impossible, since the forces act independently of one another. The air pressure of the shock absorber can also be reduced to 11 bar and the suspension travel can be fully utilized - in contrast to the 14 bar of the competition without a split pivot.
From the racing bike sector, we were already able to do that at the Eurobike Aero model G7 Disc take a closer look. Other models include the comfort racer Quartz and Ultralight Evo. Lightweight construction is a top priority here. According to BH, the frame set weighs less than a kilogram. The frame in size SM weighs 700 grams, the fork 295 grams. BH does not specify a weight limit for the driver. And the lifetime guarantee is not limited either. Incidentally, BH Bikes grants this on all its bikes. Prerequisites are purchase, registration and regular maintenance from an authorized dealer. To avoid misunderstandings: The term lifetime refers to a bicycle life and is estimated at 10 years.
State-of-the-art logistics
The Basques have recently invested in their logistics so that customers can get their bikes quickly. Export manager José Miguel Aracama proudly guides through the heart of the facility in Vitoria: the warehouse at the company headquarters measures an impressive 3.500 square meters, is 50 meters wide and 26 meters high. Up to 26.000 bicycles can be stored, and there is a separate parts warehouse right next to it. Both are operated fully automatically. Gigantic robots are constantly driving down the rows as if driven by magic, picking the desired goods from the shelves in coded boxes and making them available at one of three picking workstations. Up to 600 wheels can be dispatched in one day. Shipping should not be misunderstood: BH Bikes is a classic specialist retail brand. More than 2.400 dealers worldwide carry BH bikes, 1.700 in Europe and soon 120 in Germany. Although it is possible to order a bike via the BH website, it will be delivered to a specialist dealer who will check the bike, adjust it and hand it over to the end customer - and will be permanently available as a local service partner.
Challenge German market
"In the German market, the quality of the product and the service are particularly decisive for success," emphasizes export manager Aracama. "We see the greatest growth potential in Europe in Germany, but at the same time it is a great challenge to get German customers to identify with our products." In recent years, BH Bikes has significantly increased its staff in Germany. Steffen Krill was hired as sales manager. Ruth Renkl, Dominik Ruiz-Morales and Marc Rotter work as sales representatives. There is a showroom in Aschaffenburg and a service center is currently being built in Dreieich near Frankfurt.
But why should you choose a bike from Vitoria? José Miguel Aracama smiles at this question. "Meanwhile, almost all manufacturers are at a similarly high level, we are no better and no worse," he says. “Customers buy our products because they are different from the competition. When I buy a BH bike, I have the certainty that I am buying a bike with a very unique touch, with innovative and very individual technical solutions that only we can offer. This exceptionality sets us and our customers apart from the crowd.”
When saying goodbye, José Miguel points down the street with a wink: "We already have a certain proximity to Germany." Just a few hundred meters away, the Mercedes Benz plant in Vitoria, where the V-Class is manufactured, rises mightily. There won't be a comparable BH branch in Sindelfingen in the near future. But one thing is certain: the Basque power BH Bikes is pushing towards Germany.
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