The new book “Vägen – Berättelsen om Skeppshultcykeln” (loosely, “The Road – The history of the Skeppshult cycle”) tells the fantastic story of the Skeppshult bicycle, one of Sweden’s few remaining bicycle manufacturers – and at the same time depicts Sweden’s winding path into modernity.
Albert Samuelsson in Skeppshult started manufacturing bicycles in 1911. That year there were about 70 larger or smaller bicycle manufacturers in Sweden. Today, 111 years later, there is only one manufacturer left in the country that covers the entire production process from the welded frame to the finished bike. It is the bicycle factory in Skeppshult. The heritage is managed today by the brothers Jonas and Magnus Andersson, who have taken the Skeppshultcykeln into a new era without renouncing tradition, quality and craftsmanship.
This exciting story is depicted in “Vägen – Berättelsen om Skeppshultcykeln” (Business History Publishing, 2023), written by Anders Houltz, our head of research at the Centre for Business History. He has interviewed and researched on site in Skeppshult and in archives around the country – and a story emerged that, in addition to depicting a stubborn enterprise, is just as much a depiction of Sweden’s winding road from a poor country at the outskirts of Europe in the 1800s to a modern global actor today.
The book will be distributed via the company itself, but is also available in a limited edition to buy in general bookstores and our book store from 25/11 2022.
