Here bleeds the heart of every patriot and nostalgic at the sight of the new Cilo racing bike "Swiss Racer" in the style that was built and known in the 70-ies. There were no mountain bikes or e-bikes back then. Racing bikes were the hipe. With the acquisition of the brands Cilo and Allegro, the two makers Alex Müller and Alex Faddoul bring a piece of Swiss bike history back to the present and bring it back to life. In doing so, they are hitting every Swiss bike nostalgic right in the heart. But they have also taken on a heavy burden, because the former flagship brands want to build on their glorious past. If they are properly introduced to the modern market, the revival will be a complete success.
by Rolf Fleckenstein
These are two guys, the two Alex, who have been importing bicycles and e-bikes into Switzerland for years with their company Colag AG. And they make a great team, complementing each other well. On the one hand, Alex Müller, the calmer of the two, the seasoned lawyer approaches a matter with care and deliberation, doesn't just rush into it, but always thinks carefully about what he's doing and has a good feel for opportunities and trends, and Alex Faddoul, the more extroverted of the two, who is always open, active, and busy, always on the phone, and always trying to land new business, win new customers, and move the business forward with a lot of energy and sympathy. They are two real character guys. That's how they were when I met them six years ago, when they launched Saxonette e-bikes in Switzerland, and that's how they still are today.
Cilo & Allegro experience a revival
In the meantime, a lot has happened, the former importer of an e-bike brand has now also become a bicycle manufacturer that appears on the market with a small but great brand portfolio and manufactures bikes and e-bikes itself and distributes them in Switzerland. One of the most gripping stories is the acquisition of the legendary Swiss bike brands Cilo and Allegro. Granted you have to have a few years under your belt, but anyone who lived in the 70's knows the Cilo brand. It was the bicycle brand par excellence in Switzerland. Cycling legend Hugo Koblet won the Giro d'Italia on Cilo - it almost makes your heart a little nostalgic. Other famous cyclists of the recent past, such as Beat Breu or Tony Rominger, have also achieved great victories with it. The brand used to have a level of recognition and acceptance in Switzerland that is unheard of today, and yet, as Alex Müller tells me, "7% of all Swiss people still know the Allegro brand today, and even more people in Switzerland know the Cilo brand". In particular, one must not forget that in Switzerland of the 70-ies there were no bikes from the USA or Asia. There were no mountain bikes or e-bikes like today, but a heavy steel frame velo was standard and racing velos were something fascinating that only a few cool guys rode. Swiss brands were respected and dominated the market back then. The market situation we have today was not known back then. The fact that the two makers from Zurich are bringing these brands back to life and giving them a revival strikes a chord with every Swiss patriot and every Swiss bike nostalgic, because it awakens our own history, brings back memories of our childhood, it is a piece of Swiss bike history and bike past. Especially the new vintage racing bike model "Swiss Racer" from Cilo with the shoe loops and the gearshifts, which are mounted directly on the down tube / frame and which were never really comfortable to use even at that time, pleases not only but especially every nostalgic. It appeals to a whole generation! The two Alex bring an important piece of Swiss bike history back to the present!
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Why did they acquire the legendary bike brands Cilo & Allegro?
Alex Müller and Alex Faddoul had started with a single brand over six years ago, the Saxonette brand, which they imported into Switzerland. However, with an imported brand alone, they were too uninteresting for one or the other wholesaler at that time. Moreover, the cooperation became more complicated and costly after the Saxonette brand was sold to the Chinese. With the aim of expanding their own portfolio of brands and models, during the research they came across the Allegro brand, which went under and was sold in the 80's, and they were able to acquire it and promptly did. And almost in the same breath they managed to acquire the brand Cilo, which went bankrupt anno 2002 and disappeared from the market ingloriously. Now the brand portfolio had been valuably expanded. But I don't think it's as cool and rationally calculating as the considerations and actions seem at first glance. Alex Müller in particular clearly shows emotion here. The imposing two-meter man sometimes seems almost a bit stiff on the outside, but inside he has a lot of passion and a warm, sensitive nostalgic soul. This can be seen in his very uniquely furnished office, which contains modern office furniture as well as a large Bosch refrigerator from the 1950s, fans from the 1930s that he has collected, and historical sculptures from Africa. He is touched by the world and the history of mankind, and especially by Swiss history, which is clearly noticeable when he talks about Cilo and recalls that Hugo Koblet won the 33rd Giro d'Italia in 1950 on a Cilo racing bicycle: "Those were heroes of the people!" he thunders out and bangs his fist on the table as if to say, "You can't forget something like that!
"Racing drivers like Hugo Koblet were folk heroes!"Alex miller
So for all the rational calculation that supposedly stands or is supposed to stand behind the revival of the legendary Swiss bike brands, there is also a great deal of personal passion for Swiss bike history. This becomes clear when he confesses later in the conversation, "Yes, we want to revive history!" Something like that is touching.
What do Cilo and Allegro have to offer? Swiss Handmade at discount prices
What looks retro on the outside is nowadays often enough also cheaply made. This is quite different with the model Swiss Racer from Cilo and this is almost a little surprising given its moderate price. Each frame is a handmade one-off, made to order by Wim Kolb's frame shop in Zurich, so no mass-produced goods from Asia, but custom-made from Switzerland. This is a lugged steel frame with 56% brazed silver solder paired with a lugged Surley steel fork and 28″ tires. With that said, the modern components allow for 20-speed gearing unlike the models of the 50's, 60's or 70's. Considering the fact that these are handmade frames from Switzerland, the price of CHF 2,990.00 must almost be considered a discount price. If you look around on the homepage of Cilo, www.cilo-bikes.ch, you will find, in addition to the unique Swiss Racer, a retro runabout, two city bikes also with handmade steel frames by Wim Kolb, but equipped with a modern belt drive, 8 children's bikes and two e-bikes.
Allegro has already gone much further. With 10 e-bike models in a wide range of segments (mountain bike, city bike, transport bike, trekking bike), customers are offered a large selection. The modern "Invisible" line with its well-hidden batteries, which are practically invisible, is particularly appealing. Among them, one likes the E-MTB in the ultra-modern cool look or the beautiful model "Invisible City" with low entry frame and the elegant colors bronze, silver or blue. With prices ranging from around CHF 2000.00 - 3500.00, the bikes are clearly reasonably priced and automatically appeal to a very broad target group. The bikes are available online at www.allegro-bikes.ch or at the Veloloft dealers in Zurich Kreis 3 (www.veloloft.ch), which also sells Cilo, or at Coop Bau & Hobby.
The future of Cilo and Allegro
Taking over such well-known brands and putting them back on the market not only offers a lot of pleasure, but is also fraught with great risk, after all, customers associate certain expectations with the brands. Here, you can quickly lose credibility. All this requires a good nose and the necessary sensitivity to combine the tastes of the present with the values that the brands of yesteryear embody. That's exactly why they are proceeding very carefully, keeping a low profile and not blurting out everything they are planning. Having had their first experience with Allegro, they now want to devote more attention to Cilo. Cilo's range is to be expanded carefully and sustainably. "Every brand has its own target group," says Alex Müller, "and the brand's range must be geared to the target group." Cilo was known as a racing bike, but according to the times, sporty e-bikes must now enter the market. According to studies, in 10 years 50% of the market will be electric bikes, and this trend must be adapted, he said. "Cilo must build e-bikes, but they must be classic, sporty, dynamic and high quality. This takes time."
"Cilo must build e-bikes, but they must be classic, sporty, dynamic and of high quality" Alex miller
The further expansion of the brand portfolio
With the purchase of the Simpel brand in 2018, Colag AG has not only further expanded its portfolio, but also gained the loyalty of a strong, financially powerful customer: The Swiss Army. The military bikes of today are Simpel bikes. Developing them further and guaranteeing their maintenance is one of the exciting tasks that Colag will have to deal with over the next few years. Together with the Zenith Bikes brand, the portfolio now includes a proud five brands, making the importers/manufacturers in the market an interesting partner for wholesalers. Cooperation with the small retailers is not yet a goal. At a time when more and more small retailers are disappearing, as customer demands on retailers continue to rise and Internet trading is also steadily increasing, it is questionable to serve retailers, which means a large loss of margin, entails large warehouses and results in intensive retailer support. Less is simply more in the eyes of the two makers. In contrast, with the "Velo-Loft" in Zurich's Kreis 3, they themselves operate a small retail store in which they can offer and present their portfolio.
With their "Swiss Racer" model from Cilo, the two have struck to the marrow of every bike nostalgic and patriotic who experienced the time, the heyday of Cilo. The vintage model pleases right away and causes a sensation. Now comes the exciting time ahead for the makers: How will the brand develop and establish itself in the market? No one knows, but I wish them both good luck and perseverance, because the brands deserve a worthy resurrection. Good luck, you two Alex!
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