Marion and Andries / what a coincidence ! !

イタリアの自転車に負けない高い品質の自転車を世に送り出したいという思いを胸にAndries Gaastraは、オランダの自転車メーカーBatavusを職を退きました。時は1974年、オランダの人々はより多くの時間を余暇に充てることが出来るようになってきた時期であったようです。

彼の妻の名はMarion Kowalik。Andriesは妻の姓であるKowalikからKOを、自らの姓であるGaastraからGAを取り、1974年に自ら設立した新会社の名前をKOGAとした。

起業にあたりAndriesが心に誓ったことはただ一つ、
Building the very best bicycles in the world and winning as many gold medals as possible.


その志の通り、Racerは1974年の起業時から、Touringは1978年から、Trekkingは1982年から生産を開始している。その生産拠点はオランダのへーレンフェーンにあり、現在もKOGAが作る自転車にはMade in Hollandと記されています。

つまり、KOGA社は、全く偶然にも響きが日本語に近い名前を作り出していたのです。

自分の名前がデザインされたフレームを前にして感動せずには居られませんよね？


http://www.koga.com/koga_uk/about-koga/history-of-koga/
Since 1974 people have had more time for leisure activities, because the working week got shorter. Koga, as a newly-founded cycle manufacturer, took immediate advantage of this trend. Andries Gaastra, former Sales Manager at Batavus, founded Koga B.V. when his father Gerrit sold the Batavus business. He joined the first two letters of his wife’s surname with the first two of his own to form the brand name Koga.

Gaastra’s aim was to bring an exclusive range of lightweight bikes to market. He built the very first Koga at his own home in Oranjewoud, near Heerenveen. Gaastra quickly decided to specify components only from exclusive suppliers, so as to meet the highest quality expectations. Once Koga had become an importer of Shimano components, a network developed including other Japanese cycle manufacturers. Among them was Miyata, a company which at this time had already been producing cycle frames for 80 years. Until 2010 Koga frames were produced by Miyata, and the suffix Miyata was placed after the brand name Koga.


In fact, the brand name "KOGA" has nothing to do with Japanese.  It was just a coincidence, but it was a great coincidence that Andries named his new company KOGA.


What do you think if you see a beautiful road bike with your name designed and printed on the frame?  It's great, isn't it?