Speichenwerk
Bike repair by subscription, branded like the neighbourhood workshop it wants to be.
- What we made
- New brand
- Sector
- Bike repair subscriptions
- City
- Berlin
- Year
- 2025
The brief
A Berlin start-up offers monthly bike care, with pick-up and repair in local workshops. The service worked; the working title and app-style look did not win riders over.
Riders don’t trust an app with their bike. They trust the mechanic who knows their name.
Measure: research
We spent early mornings in Kreuzberg and Neukölln workshops and rode along on pick-ups. Trust came from greasy hands, handwritten tickets and mechanics who remembered every bike.
Pattern: strategy
A workshop, not an app: Speichenwerk is the local mechanic who happens to have a van and a subscription. Plain words, fixed prices, real names.
ArchetypeEveryman, with a Caregiver’s hands
Fit: identity
Stencil lettering taken from workshop lockers, a spoke motif that doubles as a progress wheel, and signal red for vans you notice in traffic.
- Typeface
- Saira Stencil One
- Palette
- #C9321F
- #FFF6EE
- #1B1B1B
- #FFC9A8
Finish: toolkit
Van livery, repair tickets, app screens, a signage kit for partner workshops and a voice guide for mechanics.
The result
Partner workshops now carry the same sign and ticket, and riders recognise a Speichenwerk van before they can read the name.