Simpel GmbH is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

bicycle manufacturer. Its bikes are sold under the "Simpel.ch" brand. The company's headquarters is

Maschwanden Maschwanden is a Municipalities of Switzerland, village in the district of Affoltern (district), Affoltern in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zurich (canton), Zürich in Switzerland. History Maschwanden is first mentioned in 1189 as ''Masw ...

in the

Canton of Zürich The canton of Zürich (german: Kanton Zürich ; rm, Chantun Turitg; french: Canton de Zurich; it, Canton Zurigo) is a Swiss canton in the northeastern part of the country. With a population of (as of ), it is the most populous canton in the ...

. Simpel was founded in 2000 by Philip Douglas and Joachim Schneebeli. The business idea was a low-maintenance and durable city bike distributed over the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

. To that end, Simpel used only

hub gear A hub gear, internal-gear hub, internally geared hub or just gear hub is a gear ratio changing system commonly used on bicycles that is implemented with planetary or epicyclic gears. The gears and lubricants are sealed within the shell of the h ...

and hub dynamos. The frame number stamped into the frame is also an e-mail address through which the owners of lost bicycles can be contacted. Simpel is the manufacturer of the "bike 12", introduced in 2012 as the third model of Swiss army bicycle or ''Ordonnanzfahrrädern'' for the

Swiss army The Swiss Armed Forces (german: Schweizer Armee, french: Armée suisse, it, Esercito svizzero, rm, Armada svizra; ) operates on land and in the air, serving as the primary armed forces of Switzerland. Under the country's militia system, re ...

. Its predecessors were the Ordonnanzrad 05 from Schwalbe, Cäsar, Cosmos and Condor (1900-1989) and the Bicycle 93 from Villiger and Condor (1993-1995).
Die Armee rüstet auf - mit dem «Fahrrad 12»
', 20 Minuten, 14. Mai 2012

Notes

External links

*
The Bicycle 12 article at Federal Department of Defence
Military bicycles Cycling in Switzerland Military vehicles of Switzerland Cycle manufacturers of Switzerland Companies based in the canton of Zürich {{Switzerland-company-stub