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The managing director of Rose Bikes on family ownership, returns on team sponsorship, and why the brand is finally coming for the rest of the world.
Rose Bikes CEO Thorsten Heckrath-Rose with Unibet-Rose Rockets' founder Bas Tietema.
Rose Bikes
Rose Bikes is a brand that has been running for much longer than most people realise. In recent months, it has become a headline name, largely because the company became the title sponsor of the Unibet-Rose Rockets, a young professional road racing team that has quickly built popularity through its approach to storytelling and media.
But not many know that Rose Bikes has been selling bikes since 1907 from its base in Bocholt, a small city in North Rhine-Westphalia, just six kilometres from the Dutch border. For most of that time, Rose has operated almost entirely in the German-speaking market, remaining largely invisible everywhere else, including the UK, which the brand left as a consequence of Brexit.
With the team sponsorship and an increasing emphasis on internationalising the brand, its quiet nature seems to be changing. Over the past few years, Rose has already made its name in gravel, winning Unbound back-to-back, steadily expanding its store network across Europe, and announcing a return to the British market. All of this while remaining fully family-owned across four generations, turning over €215 million in 2024, and, rather remarkably, never posting a loss.
From left, Thorsten Heckrath-Rose, Stefanie Rose, and Erwin Rose. At the heart of the business today are managing directors Thorsten Heckrath-Rose and his wife Stephanie, the great-granddaughter of the founder of the company, and Stephanie's father, Erwin Rose. Heckrath-Rose joined the company 25 years ago and has overseen its shift from a mail-order catalogue business into a genuine omnichannel brand that designs and assembles its own bikes, runs flagship stores with a strong focus on community, and is now setting its sights on international markets. We sat down with Heckrath-Rose to ask him about the history of the business, the current landscape, and what the Rockets' sponsorship means for the company.
The interview is also available on our Overnight Success podcast channel and you can listen to it below.
This interview has been lightly edited for flow and clarity.
Suvi Loponen: Rose has been around since 1907. For those who aren't familiar with the brand, can you tell us a bit about how it all started?
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