Retailer spotlight: Auftragsrad Berlin
If a Berliner is looking for a premium urban bike, Auftragsrad is the shop they go to for advice. A place for passionate people to geek out over premium brands.
After being one of the first E-MAX and A-MAX distributors and enjoying a couple sell-throughs, here are Nico's insights on why Ahooga is a key part of his stock:
“Sales volumes are steady overall, but the A-MAX has quickly grown to make up around 50% of our folding bike sales. Every brand in the folding category lost a bit of market share this year, but the A-MAX is standing out thanks to its attractive price point and superior comfort compared to the rest of the segment.
If a customer isn’t brand fixated, they’ll come in to check out the well-known options and often end up with the A-MAX. It’s that good.
We’re also seeing a new demographic emerge—customers who are price sensitive but open to testing alternatives. Ahooga consistently surprises them. Everyone knows the heritage brands, but after a test ride and a closer look, many of these customers are very surprised about the product line of AHOOGA.
Ahooga cuts through the noise of the crowded market with a stunning price-to-quality ratio. In an industry that’s still feeling the crunch of the crisis, customers are careful to compare their options. The A-MAX, alongside the E-MAX, offers them a genuine alternative that’s hard to ignore. The legacy branding of some competitors is still there, but it doesn’t carry the same weight as it once did in customers’ decision-making.
The upgradeability to electric is a nice reassurance for customers, but it’s not what they’re actively looking for when they walk into the shop. It’s more of a ‘good-to-know’ feature rather than a decisive factor right now. Maybe a video showing the upgrade process would help people picture how it works—it’s still a bit abstract to them.
This is especially true in Germany, where customers have very high expectations for quality—what we call ‘Erwartungshaltung.’ They come in wanting to spend, but only if they’re sure the bike is going to deliver on performance and reliability.
For now, the electric/analog split remains quite clear; people rarely switch between those categories. The upgrade feature might even confuse some buyers because it raises a lot of questions. But I think in two years or so, once the concept is more familiar, the idea of upgrade kits will be better understood and appreciated.
Still, the A-MAX stands up very well in this environment. It meets those high German expectations—it’s reliable, comfortable, and hits the mark for urban riding without compromise.”