The story of Loris Velos is a special one in the bicycle industry. We, especially Roman and Florian, were never big bike nerds or bike fanatics, but always lived without a car and used the bike as the main way of transport every day. That doesn't mean that we don't appreciate the latest high-end components from a mechanical perspective (Rohloff E14 <3), but it does mean that we often have a different perspective compared to your default bike dealers.
Another important building block to understand Loris Velos, is the insight, that the team that makes up Loris is a colorful bunch of strong and unique characters, each in a completely different life phase and situation. Thereby we are reminded every day, that everyone lives and accumulates a unique life experience. It's not always easy, but the intensive exchange helps us to understand our customers better and to adapt our services accordingly.
On this page we present the core principles of our philosophy.
Principle 1: Bikes should bring joy!
This is the simplest principle: If you have fun cycling, then you cycle more and are happier. How often we move has a substantial impact on our psyche, especially how often we move in the fresh air. In the end, it doesn't matter whether it's a luxury e-bike or a 450 francs vintage city bike - as long as it's fun.
Now comes the catch: In order for the bike to provide long-term joy, it must be selected according to the needs of the rider, so that the fun does not evaporate after the first tour. When buying a bike, there are often many options that are *different*, not inherently better or worse - and we help you to choose the right ones. Last but not least, it is of course also important that the bike remains operational over a long time. Here we play a part through our service offering and sensitization of customers to the maintenance requirements of bikes; but are also dependent on the cooperation of the bike owners.
A bike can be a little spark infusing joy into everyday and we want to promote this fact in the world.
We always find a solution!
Principle 2: Diversity
As an extremely diverse team, we know for a fact that life sometimes presents you with challenges. These can be of a financial or physical nature, a crisis of conscience or an unexpected change in your life situation. It is important to us, especially in such situations, to communicate with our customers and find a solution. We have never sent someone away who brought forth their concerns respectfully and was open to a mutual compromise. This is valid for new bikes and repairs.
Principle 3: Fairness and true-cost-pricing
It is particularly important to us that we offer top value for the buck with all of our products and services. We all at Loris have experienced life situations, in which luxury expenditures were no options - and we have not forgotten this feeling. We're not in the bike industry to get rich, but to do a meaningful job. Even if it is sometimes not obvious from the outside, we work on razor-thin margins. This regularly leads to situations where Roman, Flo & co step into the breach themselves and do almost superhuman work and overtime.
Why do we mention this here? We don't expect applause and neither see ourselves as martyrs. We only expect a communication that will always be conducted on a respectful level - even if a mistake should have been made. It is our promise that you will always be treated fairly and will never financially disadvantaged by us; we simply ask for the same fairness in return.
Repair
not
Replace!
Principle 4: Sustainability vs. throwaway society
A difficult balancing act, especially in the bicycle industry, is the compatibility of inexpensive production and sustainability. And without naming names, some online retailers in Switzerland are doing an especially terrible job with it. It doesn't always have to be the most expensive option, but there is a reason why the cheap things cost less. This is often not communicated honestly, if you're interested you can read more about it here.
From an environmental point of view, it is a disaster throw away a bike 3 years after purchase. This means that if you decide on a cheap bike, you have to be prepared to invest in some maintenance time yourself and regularly bring it in for service.
Regarding repairs of components (e.g. a defective inner tube), it is unfortunately often the case that renewing is cheaper than mending. We replace where it makes sense (e.g. that tube) and otherwise encourage our customers to go to the extra expense of the repair route - but the decision remains with the customer.