We have received many great compliments over the past ten years, but I was personally very pleased to hear that the hat's success and importance are the result of hard work. Not because I can't appreciate the quality of a good idea, but because I believe that long-term success usually has something to do with good, honest work. OK, that sounds like a weird old-school attitude, but it suits a bike shop quite well...

A bike café in Düsseldorf? A stylish hat? What sounded perfectly normal to our bubble of classic bike rides, steel racers and Rapha videos ten years ago caused some confusion at the time. Why Düsseldorf? Cologne has a completely different and, above all, much more cycling culture. Backyard? So little outdoor advertising? Who's supposed to find you? The place doesn't last half a year. A bunch of newcomers with no clue open a hipster shop. And then they sell socks and hats on a grand scale. And why a stylish hat? Lots of opinions from all sorts of different directions, but just as often recognition and compliments for courage, commitment and our small but fine program. And there were predictions that came true: the place will soon be too small for you. (Original quote from Stefan Maly a few days after the opening)

It would be presumptuous to claim that we had the master plan back then. As co-founder Dieter Mauermann put it so beautifully: if we had written a business plan, we would never have done it. But we did it. With commitment, passion, a tendency to self-exploitation and a lot of support from those around us. It was not just luck that the timing was so good, it was also the conviction that something had to be done, that cycling had to be given a new meaning, whether as the best sport in the world or as the perfect inner-city mobility concept. We wanted to help, be a driving force, drive developments forward and accompany changes.

Our shop could have gone in many directions back then, we saw and understood the importance of cargo bikes early on, and dealing with cycling in Düsseldorf was and is important to us. And after ten years of events, it is still certainly the biggest construction site in our home town, simply because there seems to be a lack of courage and will to change. Every lost parking space seems to be a small apocalypse in the minds of people who are not aware of how much they are standing in the way of their own happiness.

The hat was born out of conversations during rides. Networking and communication during the classic ride. At the beginning, we were often referred to as a retro shop, a term that I resisted because it did not adequately reflect what the idea of ​​the hat encompassed. It was not about wanting to usher in a revival, it was not about looking back, it was about looking forward, about our idea of ​​sporty bikes, of rides, of joint activities, of linking cycling with art and culture. And we were not alone in this...

There were numerous influences without which the hat would probably not have started, whether it was Look Mum No Hands in London or Lola in The Hague. But copying was never our thing; being independent and defining our own goals and benchmarks was important to us from the start. Our shop and café were important and popular meeting points for creative cycling enthusiasts, whose individual view of fresh brands fell on fertile ground with us. We learned with and through our customers, tried to make many things possible, sometimes failed, but at least we learned something. Our many years of retail know-how helped to create a touch of structure at the beginning in order to meet the challenges that were growing every day.

We were alert and curious when it came to everything that makes up our shop: innovative and stylish clothing, high-quality accessories, exciting bike brands and frame builders, simply everything special from the incredibly large world of bicycles. Trained in the do-it-yourself spirit of punk rock, but becoming more professional was never the devil's work. Because we never lost sight of the goal.

It wasn't important to us to do the fastest road bike rides, we wanted to ride the most beautiful routes with great bikes and inspiring people. And we liked to incorporate gravel roads into our tours, modeled on the Strade Bianche of the Eroica. Feedback: why do you ride such crappy roads? We learned our route portfolio back then in the days before Komoot and wahoo, in the truest sense of the word. Again and again, so that we knew the route when we set out.

Luckily, we have the gift of being able to translate our ideas, our actions and our deeds into pictures and words. We can describe our setups, our trips, the shop and the events in such a way that people can understand them and understand our motivation, even if they are not there. In the age of social media, that is a gift. Even if our actions on the networks were never characterized by professionalism, but rather by creativity and the courage to leave gaps. Better the dedication of brilliant amateurs than the professionalism of ripped-off all-rounders.

We could have done a lot of things better, more professionally, avoided wrong turns and sometimes did nothing at all. It would probably have worked, but it would have been more boring. The goal was never just to be a profit-oriented bike shop, it was always about more. But we know that we also have to make money. We learned that the hard way from time to time. But who can say that they never get lost? And so far we have almost always recognized when the path was a dead end, turned around early enough and took the other turn.

We know that we learn something new every day, not least because developments in the bicycle sector are advancing at a rapid pace. Disc brakes, electric gears - what is normal today was still a long way off in 2014. At least for us, because at that time we were certainly more critical of new concepts and technologies. Our love of traditional, timeless technology has not left us, but today we also approach technical innovations in a more relaxed manner and allow ourselves to be inspired.

The 2024 hat is bigger than the 2014 hat. In many ways. You can glorify days gone by and give them more meaning than they had. That wasn't our plan. Today we are known far beyond Düsseldorf's borders as a bike shop whose independent range of racing bikes and gravel bikes is worth a visit. Our individual builds, which were part of the concept from the start, have a good reputation. In recent years we have used the increased space to carefully expand our portfolio. And we have a team that sees the way forward and identifies with it. With competence, passion and fun. The origins, the basic idea, are above all else.

Many years ago I wrote a short description for the classic ride, which still adorns the website today: "No club, no obligation, no etiquette, just the simple love of old racing bikes. Hip or unhip? It doesn't matter. Dirty fingernails from tinkering, heavy legs from riding and a closet full of trashy jerseys. A penchant for pop culture, good books and films. Coffee, steel and hot wheels..." You can easily leave it as it is, it still applies today. Although the jerseys have gotten nicer. And to be honest, so have the bikes.

Thank you to you. To everyone who has visited, accompanied, supported, supplied, influenced or challenged us over the past few years. Thanks to everyone who has become part of the team, part of history. It was an incredible ride that we never expected. But you're always wiser after the fact.

Carsten Wien