Sparta B.V.
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Formerly called
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Verbeek & Schakel (1917); Sparta Rijwielen- en Motorenfabriek, Firma Verbeek & Schakel (1931); Sparta Rijwielen- en Motorenfabriek BV (1945) |
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| Industry | Bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles |
| Founded | 1917 in Apeldoorn, Gelderland, Netherlands |
| Founders | A. Verbeek; D.L. Schakel; L. Krijgsman |
| Headquarters | Wilmershof 44J, Apeldoorn, Netherlands |
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Area served
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Western Europe; Germany |
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Key people
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A. Verbeek; D.L. Schakel; Jan Wilke |
| Products | Sparta M Series; Sparta S Series; Sparta G Series |
| Owner | Accell Group |
| Website | (Dutch)(German) Sparta.nl |
Sparta B.V. is a Dutch bicycle manufacturer based in Apeldoorn that also produced motorcycles and Mopeds. It is the largest electrical bike manufacturer in Europe.
Sparta was founded in 1917, and has been producing bicycles ever since. Highlights of Sparta's history are the company becoming the biggest Dutch manufacturer of motorcycles after the Second World War, and becoming the biggest Dutch manufacturer of mopeds in the 1970s. In the current age Sparta is known for the production of E-bikes.
During World War I three men in the neutral Netherlands founded what would become the biggest moped manufacturer of the Netherlands. The gentlemen Schakel, Verbeek and Krijgsman opened their wholesale named Verbeek & Schakel in the Hoofdstraat (Main street) of Apeldoorn. Later that same year they bought the brands Sparta, Romein (Roman) and Vaandel (Ensign). These brands were used for the cycles they sold. Krijgsman quit the company in 1918.
The 1920s meant rapid development for Sparta: Leendert Schakel became head of the company after buying full ownership from all other shareholders, leaving him and Verbeek as the owners. In 1920, Sparta produced its first self-built cycle. The year after which the company started working on cargo bikes, which, in the beginning were powered manually. Later in the 1920s the company equipped their cargo bikes with engines. In 1925 Verbeek's share of the company was bought by Schakel, who had great ideas for the company. Two years later, in 1927, he bought land on the Waterloseweg in Apeldoorn, where he built a factory for the production of bicycles, milk carts, transport- and cargo bikes.
The 1930s company, then called Sparta Rijwielen- en Motorenfabriek, Firma Verbeek & Schakel, started producing motorised vehicles. Technics were a big passion of Schakel, so the change from bicycle to motorcycle was a logical one. The first motorised vehicle to leave the factory was equipped with a 78cc Sachs engine. Its development started in 1931. Sparta was still active on the bicycle market. In a brochure printed in 1936 were, aside of four regular bikes for men and women, adverts for a kids bicycle, a cargo bike, a butcher's bike (baker's bike), a tandem and a service bike. All of these had over fifteen different styles and modifications, several of which had the option of being equipped with an engine. The offer in motorcycles also was enlarged. In the 30s, Sparta produced several models equipped with engines made by Villiers, Sachs and JLO, all of which were 120 or 125 cc. Sparta wanted to make sure that its vehicles didn't weigh over sixty kilos (132 lbs), which made it to where a Dutch consumer didn't have to pay taxes over the vehicle.
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