Market: SKS – die Druckmacher: The Rennkompressor, a cult device among air pumps, is celebrating its 50th birthday. If you visit the manufacturer and its history, you will learn many more exciting things about pumps and mudguards (commonly known as mudguards).
Sauerland, Sundern-City: This is where the legendary Rennkompressor is made. Right next to the town hall, SKS Germany, as the company is called, produces pumps and fenders, mainly plastic products, on an area of 38.000 square meters. Founded 95 years ago by Karl Scheffer-Klute, a good 300 people work here today. In addition to SKS Germany, the group of companies also includes Blomus (living accessories) and Schött (aluminium die-cast automotive). Inside there is a lot of glass and a view into the offices. And the company also relies heavily on communication to the outside world: A showroom measuring a good 800 square meters, the "Orange World" with a combined lounge and flexible meeting and conference rooms, tells of the fact that dealer workshops also take place here, for example. All of the company's products are on display here, with flexible partition walls showing the inner workings of air pumps.
Claim at SKS: Automotive quality
Everything is created in the design agency. Once the design of a pump is complete, the development department takes over. A test prototype is created. If everything goes well, the in-house toolmakers become active: They develop the molds for the production of the parts. Air pumps are complex products with very small manufacturing tolerances. The company benefits from the experience from the automotive sector, where, as is well known, there are higher requirements than (currently still) in the bicycle industry. The plastic components for a whopping 50.000 air pumps a day are produced in our own injection molding shop. There are now around 70 huge panting "Splash Monsters" here. Bizarre machines are at work next to them: They assemble pumps, sometimes behind bars, fully automatically, which go directly into packaging after quality control. Assembled exclusively by hand: the Rennkompressor! Probably the most famous floor pump has been produced almost unchanged for 50 years. It's the hit on the market. The pressure maker creates 16 bar and is extremely robust.
SKS speaks of wheel protection instead of mudguards
Manufacturing the fenders is less complex. An aluminum foil less than a millimeter thick is pulled over rollers and through hot, liquid plastic, which adheres all around. When the strip comes out of the plastic bath, it is cooled and pulled over a wheel under tension, giving it its horizontal and vertical curvature. Cut to the right length, the protectors come with their spoilers, edge protectors and fasteners. The design can be highly individualized using various plastics and aluminum foil. SKS Germany now produces around 1.800 different variations of mudguards. There are standard versions for the end customer, each manufacturer can cook their own wheel protection soup. There are a total of around 10.000 pieces a day, more than half of which are exported. Mini tools and saddlebags have been added in recent years and are now well established. Today SKS exports to 50 countries. "Made in Germany" is important for the Sunderner - and should remain so.
SKS: Tradition with innovation
Incidentally, for the 50th anniversary of the power pump, there is a limited anniversary edition in the original red. As a special extra, it was given a leather wall bracket. Attention: There are only 5.000 pieces worldwide! Of course, the Sauerland can also be modern, as the design of the Airworx plus 10.0 shows. Clever: the manometer on top has a pressure release button. A hit is the Rideair, basically air pressure to go: The bottle-like cartridge is filled up at home with a floor pump and placed in the bottle holder. If necessary, the Rideair then releases air via a pump hose without pumping - and off you go. You can do without the use of the hand pump. This is particularly interesting for tubeless riders, since a lot of pressure has to be applied to the flat tires very quickly. In the "Lock" version, the Rideair also has a small wire lock integrated. Or the Spacecage: a bottle holder that offers a small storage compartment under the bottom of the bottle, for repair kits, for example... We see: when it comes to innovation in the bicycle sector, the small town of Sundern is a real metropolis.
