Flandria

Flandria can trace its history back to 1825, when Alexander Claeys, a blacksmith by trade, married into the Dombrecht family, who owned a blacksmiths shop in Zedelgem, Belgium. Alexander’s dowry was the forge, and he set up his own business. His son Louis began making agricultural tools, and the first bicycle was manufactured in 1896.

Louis had seven children, one of whom, Aimé, was to become the driving force behind the Flandria brand. Together with his brothers and sisters, Aimé chose the name De West-Vlaamsche Leeuw (The West-Flemish Lion). By 1910 the Claeys had sold 150 bicycles; the bicycle was becoming the favoured mode of transport for the working man.

During the 1930s, Aimé decided to modernize the factory, and in 1940 changed the brand name of the bicycles from De West-Vlaamsche Leeuw to Flandria.
After WW2 Aimé purchased modern machines resulting in increasing efficiency and output.  

Demand for bicycles was increasing and a second factory was built in Zedelgem to keep up.  By 1952 the company was selling more than 250,000 bicycles annually. Mopeds were added to the Flandria product line, and in the first year of production, more than 25,000 were sold

Behind the scenes, all was not well, as sibling rivalry was beginning to surface. Aimé and Remi often disagreed and this eventually led to a bitter family feud, which came to a head in 1956. Werkhuizen Gebroeders Claeys was dissolved and the new factory in Zedelgem was split between the two brothers. A brick wall was built, right down the middle of the factory. So bitter was the feud that brand-new, unmoveable machines, costing millions of Belgian Francs, were cut in half and the wall built straight through them - neither brother would make a concession.

Aimé kept the Flandria brand name, calling his new company A.Claeys-Flandria, whilst Remi named his half of the Zedelgem factory Remi Claeys-Superia. This caused the quarrel to escalate even further – Superia was the name of the best selling Flandria moped at the time.

The 1960s brought Flandria’s most successful period, becoming the largest supplier of bicycles and bicycle components in Western Europe. At its peak, yearly production of bicycles topped 350,000.

The Flandria professional cycling team formed in 1959 would go on to become one of the most successful and influential teams of all-time. Every single part of the Pro's bikes was made in-house - even the tyres, tubes, cables and handlebar tape. The only part Flandria did not produce was the Brooks saddle.

Many cycling legends rode in the red and white of Flandria over the years. The most famous of all is double World Champion Freddy Maertens, who holds the record for the most professional victories in a single season. Maertens recorded 54 victories in 1976, equalling the previous record set by Eddy Merckx five years earlier.

Although the rise of Flandria had been steady, its decline was swift, and by 1979 bicycle production had dwindled to just 32,000 and in 1981 A.Claeys-Flandria was declared bankrupt

Superia, Remi Claeys’ company, who by this time were no longer selling bicycles, decided to buy Flandria. A deal was struck and the wall that symbolized the quarter-century feud was taken down. The factory never achieved its former grandeur, however, and in 1986 the production of Superia-Flandria bicycles stopped. The famous Flandria brand name disappeared from the marketplace.

In 2002 an Englishman Adam Longworth bought the name and launched a line of cycles in the UK with varying success and in 2010 with the help of former rider Freddy Maertens the Flandria brand was relaunched back in Belgium

Info courtesy of Flandriabikes.com