Wheel and suspension maker DT Swiss has purchased mountain bike brake maker Trickstuff, in an acquisition that promises growth for both brands in Europe and beyond. With the intention to keep Trickstuff running independently in product development, the buy-out likely will help boost the smaller boutique German component maker’s production & distribution capacity. At the same time, DT will gain another European R&D center and manufacturing facility in addition to their HQ in Switzerland and wheel building factory in Poland.
DT Swiss AG buys Trickstuff GmbH
Reported today in BikeBiz, Swiss wheel, hub, spoke & suspension maker DT Swiss has fully acquired German brake maker Trickstuff in a buy-out that is expected to see the two brands continue independently, while sharing resources and know-how. Trickstuff boss Klaus Liedler will continue to oversee day-to-day operations as managing director after the official takeover on Jan 1, 2022.
Liedler speaks of long-running, mutually-beneficial cooperation with DT Swiss, seeing potential project management, manufacturing, logistics, and supply chain growth & optimization under the DT umbrella. Trickstuff had already shared with customers last week that they were set to implement new resource planning steps over the holidays to “better control and handle our processes”, so this could just be a first step.
“We at Trickstuff are very happy to become part of the DT Swiss Group, which opens up great growth opportunities for us as an agile and innovative company“, says Klaus Liedler. “In the future, we want to continue working on sophisticated innovations with our great team and bringing high-quality, durable, and easy-to-maintain braking systems to the market. Personally, I am very much looking forward to intensifying the exchange with a whole new range of colleagues in the group.”
DT Swiss CEO Frank Böckman describes the acquisition of the brake maker based in Germany’s Black Forest as a move to stay agile and to, ” keep pace with the ever-faster development in our industry and establish a development site in a region with high attractiveness to ambitious cyclists.”
“With a highly innovative team that can be characterized as highly motivated, fully committed, and with a down-to-earth mentality, Trickstuff has built an excellent reputation amongst passionate cyclists for their unique products. In addition, the company is located in one of the most popular cycling areas in Germany. Over the years, I have cultivated a trusting exchange with Klaus Liedler and learned to appreciate him as a creative and sympathetic discussion partner. In these conversations, we also talked about further development prospects of his company. In these discussions, we came to the conclusion that both companies could benefit from working together and decided to integrate Trickstuff into the DT Swiss Group.”
In the last decade, DT Swiss has reinforced its capabilities in Europe, building out new spoke & wheel manufacturing at its Biel, CH headquarters, and scaling up their wheel building factory in Oborniki, PL. They’ve also expanded service centers & logistics facilities in Le Bar Sur Loup, FR and Oelde, DE in recent years.
With Trickstuff’s Pfaffenweiler design & manufacturing facility just two hours north of DT’s HQ in southern Germany, we can imagine both brands boosting each other’s mountain bike product development. Maybe that will mean Trickstuff’s sought-after brakes will be easier to get ahold of? And premium high-performance brakes could do well to close the gap between DT suspension forks to their wheels?
Time will tell how the two respected mountain bike brands will build off of each other’s expertise. We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled.
