JUNO TALKS with Markus Storck
How Markus Storck turned a shattered life dream into one of the most successful German brands for racing bikes. A conversation about koi fish with dragon wings, aerodynamics, the need for speed, and above all, design.
Markus Storck is a German bicycle designer, as well as the CEO and founder of Storck Bicycle.
How did you get into bicycle design?
I was born into a bicycle family. My grandfather was a professional cyclist, and his four brothers were all racers too, two of them at a professional level. That’s what I wanted to do as well, but then it was discovered that I only have one kidney, and that’s when my dream of a career in high-performance sports was shattered. I then did a commercial apprenticeship while working afternoons in my parents’ bike shop and managed their branch in Frankfurt Sossenheim—back then, I was just 14 years old.
And that’s where you discovered your passion for business?
Yes, we were the first dealer for Cannondale and later Trek. I earned the capital to start my own company by bringing the Specialized brand to Germany. That was 14,000 Deutsche Marks at the time. With that, I founded my first brand, Bike-Tech, at the age of 22. During the day, I worked in my parents’ shop, and at night I wrote invoices on a Commodore computer and delivered goods. I assembled bikes for customers and designed frames.
When was that?
That was in 1988. At Bike-Tech, we also started designing components, including in 1993 the lightest carbon fiber crankset on the market at 280 grams. In 1995, the Klein brand, which was my biggest revenue driver, was sold to Trek, and I was left with my back against the wall. That’s when I decided to study Transportation Design in Pasadena. The professor there told me, “At 30 years old, you’re already too advanced. You’ve run a company and developed designs. Go back. Do your thing. And come back as a lecturer.” So, that’s what I did, and starting in 1995, I began marketing bikes under the Storck brand name.
What design philosophy fascinates you?
For me, design is always connected to technology and follows the credo “form follows function.” That’s also how our design process works: In a requirements specification, we first determine exactly what we want. Then we select the manufacturers with the right technologies or develop our own technology with them if necessary. We then create a good and timeless design based on that.
Your bikes are known for being particularly aerodynamic. Was the Chrysler Airflow, the first car tested in a wind tunnel, a design inspiration for you?
No, it was more the Mercedes Silver Arrow because it was both minimalist and extremely fast. Chrysler thought, “How do we make a big car faster?” The people at Mercedes, on the other hand, wanted to build a fast car. For us, aerodynamics is more a result of our desire for a fast and lightweight bike. Many designers prioritize aesthetics. The Philippe Starck lemon squeezer is an example of that for me. It emphasizes design over functionality.
Is there a product that excites you in terms of design?
The benchmark is definitely the Porsche 911. Why? Because it has retained its form for 50 or 60 years and still remains modern. This also applies to typefaces. For example, we have always made moderate changes to our wordmark, like removing the serifs from the letter openings. But we’ve never made a radical break. That’s how you establish your brand over time.
In 1995, you founded the Storck brand and introduced racing bikes, as well as triathlon and mountain bikes, to the market. How important was design for you in the early days of the brand?
From the beginning with Storck, I wanted to create technically outstanding but also timelessly beautiful products. That’s why we entered the Red Dot Design Award early on and won “Best of the Best” with the Storck Adrenalin. That was incredible. After that, I set myself the goal of winning 100 design awards in my lifetime.
Is that the design award you’re most proud of?
Yes, because it was the initial spark for everything and personally motivated me. I’m a competitive person. I couldn’t pursue cycling at the highest level myself—but I still want to win. I always strive to build the best and fastest bike and earn top marks for it. Many athletes who later go into industry feel the same way.
But that also involves significant investment. In Germany, winning design awards often requires paying a substantial fee.
Of course, that’s true. But I know it boosts sales success.
How can you measure that?
The success of design is measurable. We’ve conducted surveys on it. And when the FAZ reports that we’ve won our 100th design award, it directly reflects on our brand. Currently, we’ve won 128 design awards. Now I’d like to win 200.
Is design a genuine purchase reason for a Storck bike?
For frequent and competitive cyclists, design isn’t the top priority. They’re mainly focused on performance. But when performance is combined with good design, a product becomes timeless and sustainable. My approach is that a well-designed product from the start—technically well-designed too—has value and sustainability. Even after 10 years, it’s recognized and appreciated as a good and beautiful product. Sustainability is important to us. Many of our customers are still using Storck bikes that are over 30 years old. I recently walked through Idstein and saw a Storck Organic from 1998. And then you think to yourself: Great, that’s a sustainable product!
Who buys your bikes?
Many of our customers are self-employed or in leadership positions and have high standards for quality and design. Our clientele is predominantly male, looking for performance, technology, and a beautiful, functional form. We’re also bought by collectors like Johann Lafer, by students who save up for it, by the King of Thailand who had three mountain bikes made by us in different colors, by aesthetes like Norman Foster, and even by Formula 1 drivers like Nico Rosberg. I was once standing next to him in a small group at a Grand Prix, and he said our bikes were the ones he dreams of. That makes you happy.
What is it about a racing bike that excites people so much?
What excites me the most is the technology. We build racing bikes that weigh around six kilograms but can safely carry riders weighing anywhere from 50 to 110 kilos with completely different riding styles. Our Stiletto fork, which we developed in 1995, weighed under 300 grams at the time, and the crankset weighed 300 grams. Those are still record values today. For our customers, this means an incomparable high-speed experience. When you have such technology under you, you end up spending a lot of time on the bike. And that time is highly emotional.
Where do you get your design inspiration?
I think we often set things in motion ourselves. I travel a lot and bring ideas or new materials from other industries into ours. For example, the “matte” theme. I designed a watch for Rolex where I combined two matte tones: brushed and blasted. It gave the impression that something like that hadn’t been done before.
Why do you design for Rolex?
Outside of Storck, I’m often asked to take on special design projects. For example, for Hymer, Aston Martin, or Rolex. These are items with a limited-edition character, marketed under the label One of Seven by Blaken.
Are you still personally involved in all of Storck’s design processes?
Yes, because it’s fun, and I want to keep doing it for a few more years. It also keeps me young. I’m approaching 60, but I feel more like 30 in my mind. My body shows me some limits, of course. But we still do a lot or plan to. I want to learn how to surf, I climbed Kilimanjaro without training, I became E-Bike World Champion in my age group last year, and I plan to climb Aconcagua in South America soon. I enjoy doing crazy things like that.
How do you approach brand management?
We have a development plan that looks four to five years ahead and aligns with the product development cycles. The magic formula is: a solid plan paired with rapid execution. You have to stay reactive in a market that’s also driven by component manufacturers. We’re now building a minimalist E-Free bike, creating a new category. That’s why I say we often create markets. We only make gut decisions if we believe we have a brilliant idea that we don’t want to wait two years to bring to market. We’ve grown by an average of 60 % over the last three years.
Where would you most like to see the Storck name as a sponsor?
Sponsoring a Tour de France team requires a lot of money. In my view, the riders aren’t on the best equipment but on the most well-paid. I would be happy if one day someone said, “I want my team to be on the fastest equipment.” Then my bikes would achieve the victories they deserve based on the material’s test results.
What future developments do you see for racing bikes?
In Germany, around 200,000 to 250,000 racing bikes are sold annually. In China, it’s expected to be 2 million this year. And in countries like South Africa, road cycling is becoming increasingly popular. So, there’s still a lot to come.
Your right arm is full of tattoos. What was the idea behind the design?
My first tattoo was the Buddha up here. I once got seriously ill in Thailand due to a food intolerance. After that, I got it tattooed. Down here is a koi dragon—a brave carp that the gods granted wings because it overcame a waterfall. You decide which direction your koi faces. If it points down, it means “down the stream, easy life.” But if it points up, it means you’re swimming against the current. And with the koi dragon, it means that more waterfalls need to be overcome.