History

Technology & progress

Reich was founded in 1919 by the brothers Karl and Franz Reich in Zella-Mehlis / Thuringia in Germany. What started off as a small family business with the production of bicycle parts has since evolved into a leading manufacturer of turned parts such as transmission and steering system components, ball bearings and components for fuel injection systems.

Today Reich and Reich USA with its subsidiary Reich LLC have grown into an internationally operating enterprise.

Reich, however, is still deeply rooted in its hometown Mellrichstadt. With more than 1,000 employees and production facilities covering more than 48,000 sqm, Reich is one among the large medium-sized German companies that until today is still completely family-owned and -run.

1919 - 1928  

1919: Company founded in Zella-Mehlis, Germany

The two brothers Franz and Karl Reich open a bicycle parts factory in their parents' house in the German region of Thuringia. For the first two years, manufacturing takes place in the cellar. After completing construction of a new two-story building in the garden, they move the workshop there.

1923: Growth in difficult times

The young company weathers the hyperinflation of German currency, which peaks in autumn of 1923, without trouble. Reich reaches 100 employees and constructs a generously proportioned new machine room and workshop in order to expand its production of bottom brackets, sprockets, brakes and small parts.
1929 - 1938  
1939 - 1948  
1949 - 1958  
1959 - 1968  
1969 - 1978  
1979 - 1988  
1989 - 1998  
1999 - 2008  
2009 - 2018  
2019  

CURRENT EVENTS AND MORE INFORMATION ABOUT REICH GmbH!