Insights into ROTWILD product management

Before we talk about product management, I would be interested to know what your motivation was for switching to ROTWILD?

I first worked with the company's founder, Peter Schlitt, back in 1998. I have always liked how he designs and builds his small, exclusive brand. After the product tasks at large international bike brands, the new challenge at ROTWILD appealed to me. I am now much closer to the product again. My passion is bikes, and at Rotwild you simply have to do everything as Product Director - I like that!

How does the process work when developing a new bike?

Here, we must first distinguish whether we are dealing with an established product category or whether we are developing a new, possibly previously unknown product direction.

For existing segments, it is important to precisely analyze current trends and technical possibilities: How are the target group and the experience changing? Does the product segment still have potential or is it being replaced by a new category? In which direction is the market moving?

In addition, there are intensive market observations and competitor analyses. Once all this has been done, a relatively static process of product definition, cost planning, load and sales planning follows. Only then does it get exciting and creative with the first collections of ideas and design sketches.

The process is completely different when developing new product directions. Things are often unorthodox and also frequently somewhat creative-chaotic. Many ideas that are collected as feedback are combined with current experiences from our development team or a spontaneous idea. After many discussions, the definition of a new bike, a new bike category or even a new way of biking stands. It's important that what we push fits our brand values and our overall direction.

In this context, what does the cooperation between product management and Lutz Scheffer from the ADP Concept Design Center look like?

We are practically one unit and complement each other perfectly in our work. Lutz is an almost endless source of ideas. I'm the part that creates market-relevant approaches from them and implements them with my team of engineers. In any case, there's always a lot of bubbling in this process when two bike maniacs meet.

To what extent are opinion leaders and ROTWILD dealers integrated into the process?

They are important factors when it comes to defining a new product. Influences and opinions from our internal race team, test riders, but also from external editors, dealers and enthusiasts are extremely important. With our dealers we are in constant exchange anyway and get many good suggestions for the improvement of our products.

How long does the entire development process take, from the initial idea to the production-ready product?

For a high-end MTB at least two years. This starts with the initial idea, the design, then development in CAD, mold making, prototypes and finally tests, tests, tests - all the way to series production. The process can of course vary according to complexity.

Where do you currently see the greatest potential for new product developments?

No surprise: this is, of course, the eMTB. We are at the beginning of a new cycling sport, comparable to the introduction of the mountain bike. In all consequence, the e-MTB is probably even more relevant. Bikes will be dominated by the hybrid in many areas, and bikers will experience entirely new possibilities. This holds seemingly endless opportunities to redefine this sport, but also to open it up to many new target groups. Of course, we want to make the best possible use of this potential.

Where do you see mountain biking in ten years?

I am convinced that eMTBs will prevail, but not only as we know them. eBikes will become more multifaceted and penetrate even deeper into the world of "normal bikers". Minimal, lightweight concepts that appeal to the performance-oriented biker are expanding the range. Cycling is returning to its origins, but with the appropriate partial extra power on an uphill key section, some tailwind when needed, or a few extra meters of elevation when the legs are empty.... In addition, mountain biking is an extremely demanding sport that really only opens up to a very limited, super-fit target group to the full extent. The hybrid approach will mitigate this and allow for new opportunities for casual bikers as well. I like to compare this with alpine skiing, when the first ski resorts were created and thus opened up skiing to a broad target group at a wide variety of levels.