Kaptein tweewielers

History

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History

Kaptein Tweewielers is a family business with a rich history. Below you’ll find the milestones in Kaptein’s history.

	1972 The beginning Peter Goudswaard, born and bred in Amsterdam, starts working for Van Rossum. They sell mopeds and carry out repairs. The company has two stores, on the Rozengracht and the Overtoom.
	1978 Independent Together with a colleague Peter takes over the company. After a few good years, the business unfortunately goes bankrupt after about 5 years.
	1983 Kaptein Tweewielers In this year Peter continues independently under the name of Kaptein Tweewielers. This was the former name of the company he started to work for in 1972. Also known for the Kaptein mobylette mopeds. Kaptein was located at Overtoom 528 at the time and mainly sold and repaired city bikes. Painting mudguards white, installing chain […]
	1985 Mountainbikes Through a customer of the store, Kaptein is one of the first in the Netherlands to start importing mountain bikes. “What can you do with such a bike?” was a frequently asked question. “Is this a cross bike for adults?” But Peter saw the potential and the demand kept increasing.
	1986 Specialized MTB This year saw the introduction of Specialized mountain bikes. Van Herwerden in Voorburg was the importer of this brand at the time. Peter paid weekly visits to pick up bicycles there.
	1988 Trek The Trek brand is introduced to the store. In the meantime, more and more customers also want to ride on the road with their MTBs, while some of them keep riding in the woods. The MTBs are increasingly getting custom-built: slicks, different saddle, suspension fork and above all a lot of bright colours! Click pedals […]
	1999 Kaptein is moving Move to Overtoom 488. There came competition across the street and Peter did not want to see this rival all day. The new location also offered more space and a tramstop in front of the door. The old building remained under Kaptein’s management and became a bicycle shed. Before that it was a combination of […]
	2004 Specialization In addition to MTBs, more and more racing bikes are being sold. The focus of the store and workshop is therefore gradually shifting to racing bikes.
	2011 Kaptein FixMeisters During the summer of this year, Tour du Jour will be recorded for the first time on the site of the Westergasfabriek. Kaptein opens a Fixie pop-up store in the Westerpark later that year under the name of Kaptein FixMeisters.
	2012 FixMeister is moving In this year the Fixie store is moving to Rhijnvis Feithstraat 49. In this way the two locations are close together and connected to each other at the rear by a communal garden. This also provides extra space and expansion options.
	2014 Further specialisation Even more focus on racing bikes and MTBs. It is therefore decided to stop Kaptein Fixmeisters. An increasing number of women start riding a racing bike. The store in the Rhijnvis Feithstraat is being converted and functions as an extension to the store on the Overtoom, but with a focus on specific clothing and racing […]
	2015 Bikefitting Kaptein starts bikefitting services to get the customers on their bikes as well as possible.
	2016 From father to son Peter has been phasing out for a while now and his son Jeffrey is ready to take over Kaptein. He wants to innovate and give the store a modern and pleasant look. In the winter, a major renovation is started on the Overtoom.
	2018 Kaptein is growing Kaptein is growing fast and soon the store on the Overtoom turns out to be too small. The workshop can also still be found at the back of the store. It is decided to move the workshop to Rhijnvis Feithstraat, so that both the store and the workshop can continue to grow.