Allegro and USED - Global Collaboration!
von BOB
Richard Ayling (from Allegro - Australia) and Bob Giddens met in 2007 at an Ortlieb-Party during Eurobike. Now they have agreed to a global collaboration in which Richard's Allegro Brand and USED will produce the same bikes for two different markets. Allegro's home is Melbourne, Australia, where Single-Speed and Track bikes are very popular among Aussie-Urbanites. USED will issue the same bikes and more under their own logo. "Together we have some beautiful bikes that will turn some heads, both here and down under" said Bob Giddens, recently in Taiwan. Richard, who also imports Basso and Ortlieb into Australia, is pleased to have a partner that can consolidate some of the production and to promote both brands in the world. A lot of bikes get made in Taiwan and then transported to either Europe or the USA or Australia. These bikes will go both ways, making Taiwan the perfect base for global collaboration. At the Taipei Show in March, Bob and Richard finalized the specs and they have put an exciting programme together for 2009: Single Speed and Hub-Gear bikes in 26" and 700c with various frame sets. Choose from: Standard Allegro Chro-Mo Tubing, Allegro Double Butted Chro-Mo Tubing and Allegro Ultralite Chro-Mo Tubing. Allegro and USED have the same ideas about Urban-Mobility and that makes this partnership strong.
The Australian-European Joint Venture combines the talents and ideas of two small companies and gives them a global network. Instead of both brands being competitors they become allies.
"This way we can optimize our Taiwanese sourcing and assembly and of course get better numbers together for the whole sourcing procedure," said Richard Ayling at the Taipei Show.
"We are expecting some synergie effects for other markets as well. We could deliver to the USA directly from Taiwan" said Bob Giddens. Asked about how this cooperation came about, Bob said "We are both musicians, that makes a lot of things easier and we needed very little time to agree on the plan. It makes sense for both parties, we like each other. What better reason could there be to do business together?"
Both Bob and Richard share the "Urban Mobility" vision and the "Single-Speed" bikes - with the "Reduced to the Max" concept - is the way both companies want to go. "In Melbourne, there is a big market for City-Bikes that are fast, sporty and cool" said Richard. Let's hope the same is true for Berlin, Munich, Hamburg and Timbuktu.
The bikes distributed as "Allegro" in Australia and as "USED" in Europe, are the 26" Model "Urban Cowboy" and the 700C Version "BigRig". They are simple, cool and with there soft earth colours they provide a soundtrack for the cities of this world. First show will be at the Eurobike in September 2008.
Rock'n'Roll Mobility ..........
Thanks to Christoph Schleidt from Ortlieb for Matchmaking!