Rentle helps Ridley to manage its test bike fleet

Rentle is proud to announce the partnership with one of the world’s leading bicycle manufacturers, Belgian Cycling Factory, better known for their brands Ridley and Eddy Merckx.

In 1997, Aerts took the step to launch his first bicycle brand, which we know today as Ridley. In 2017, the company grew with the acquisition of Eddy Merckx. Today Ridley and Eddy Merckx are Belgium's two biggest bike brands. In total, Belgian Cycling Factory manufactures around 40 000 bikes a year, and the number is growing fast.

Ridley’s bikes are known at the very elite level of road cycling for their technological advancements and innovation. This is why the Lotto-Soudal pro team has trusted Ridley since 2005.

How Rentle helps Ridley?

Rentle is helping Ridley to manage their test bike fleet at their factory outlet, where consumers mainly from Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands visit to test bicycles and experience the heritage of the two brands. Because of the popularity of the service, the company has plans to expand the bike testing service in the future.

As a manufacturer, Belgian Cycling Factory has a bit different needs and use cases for rental software compared to a traditional bike rental business. For example, the inventory must be tracked in more detail than in a normal rental shop because the consumers can select the parts used in the bicycle's assembly. As the number of different variants grows, so does the complexity of inventory and the need for maintenance. However, Rentle handles these challenges well.

Another important aspect for a bike manufacturer is to make sure that the media has newly released models available for testing and reviewing. Rentle helps Ridley schedule and automate the work related to arranging test bikes for media and partners on time.

Thibaut Norga, the marketing manager at Belgian Cycling Factory says that they have been really happy with Rentle, and it has already saved a lot of time for the company.

Previously we checked our system manually every day to see if we had new bookings but Rentle gives us a notification automatically when we have to be ready and prepare bikes.

Why Ridley chose Rentle?

Before finding Rentle, Ridley struggled to find suitable rental software to accommodate their needs.

The people at Ridley have been impressed by how powerful software Rentle is while being so easy to use. Another benefit Rentle has, which opens up several interesting opportunities, is the connectivity with other systems. For example, Ridley has Rentle linked with its warehouse system and database.

Last but not least, Ridley praises the cooperation with Rentle because of the open-minded attitude toward suggestions and feedback.

One of the great parts of working with Rentle is that the people are really open for feedback. It’s fun to work with a company with such mentality.

Photo: Ridley Bikes