Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 23:06:50 +0100
From: "Dirk Feeken" <dirk.feeken@t-online.de>
To: Classic Rendezvous Mailing List <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Thread-Topic: Bruegelmann bankrupt
Thread-Index: AcrLnk2PzQ5xsA6RXEqFlAB9RHANrA==
Subject: [CR] Bruegelmann bankrupt
Today I learned that the famous bicycle shop Bruegelman in Frankfurt Germany
went bankrupt and folded end of 2009. Bruegelmann is known to the list
mainly because of the famous yellow/red Cinelli Superleggera from the early
70s, which was manufactured exclusively for Bruegelmann, the largest Cinelli
dealer outside of Italy back then:
http://italiancyclingjournal.blogspot.com/2007/08/reminiscing-about-my-1972-
cinelli.html
In fact a pretty large fraction of high end vintage bicycles showing up
today over here is coming from Bruegelmann.
They have been the largest leightweight bicycle dealer in Europe during the
60s and 70s and survived until last year still a pretty big player in the
game and mail order shop. What made them important for ³us² was the fact
that they had a huge stock of vintage spare parts up to the end. Next to
current products, stuff like Nuovo Record axles, or Regina cogs, non aero
brake levers etc.. could be found even in their latest thick but lovely
anachronistic and (always by the boss) amateurishly layouted 2009 catalogs.
What drives me mad is the reaction in the press. They say (in some kind of
chuckling voice) that this stock-keeping of parts was extremely stupid and
the reason for the crash while ³smart² and ³more intelligent² mail order and
internet companies don¹t have any stock at all, just sell in real time.
Yes, maybe true, but I don¹t have to like it.....