About us

How it all began

2001 • Big winter trip

Mark Peter Schildmann, born in 1975, is a chemical lab technician and is working as research scientist for a supplier of electroplating chemicals. He spends his holidays.

End of January / beginning of February he's riding with his Honda XLV 750 R for 3 weeks through Norway, Sweden and Norway again. His experienced travel mate Horst accompanies him on this trip to the world famous ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi / Lappland. Located 200 km above the arctic circle this place is the northern turning point on their route. The trip back turns into a hard slog, becoming a key experience for Mark Peter:

Due to technical and health problems Horst is forced to stop his journey at the ice hotel. The following 5 days offer day temperatures of -25°C, completely damaged heated undergloves as well as the extremely lonely area of northern Norway. Especially the fubar heated gloves are a desaster in this situation. Riding hundreds of kilometers every day at these bone freezing temperatures creates far more than a comfort problem: It let's you experience pain on a whole new level.

During this trip, somewhere on the E6 between Narvik and Trondheim the desperate decision to make something completely reliable is born.

That should explain why Coolride is named as it is.
 

 

2002 • Foundation of the sole proprietorship Coolride

After a few prototypes the concept of the heating cartridges is quickly fixed. Time to go to the authority and start a business. All activity in the first time is the set-up of the cellar workshop, nothing is for sale yet.
 

2004 • Start of the website "Griffheizung.de" and first sales

The heating cartidges of the early days are pretty much hand carved. Water pipe from the local hardware store is used to make the outer shell, cutted with a hand saw. No threads are available yet, the only size is 18mm. Manufacturing is done in the well equipped workshop, which also hosts private projects. It is simply a side business.
 

 

2005 • New winter trip: Coolride Grip Heating in Sweden

30.
This is a typical age where people look back the first time. To do so, Mark Peter preps up his old Yamaha XT600 and rides towards Sweden. This time already with an electronically controlled Grip Heating system. The heating cartridges are the very first prototypes from 2001.

It's a wonderful trip again, old friends are meet, no drop.

Unfortunately the old XT gives up piece by piece: The 5th gear is already in Oslo damaged. The drive chain jums off right at the Swedish border. This results in a longer trip with the towing car. That is pretty expensive, as the replacement of the chain is, too. Finally the electric system shows a major malfunction, no light, no ignition. At this point an economic total loss is finally reached. The bike is given away for free to a local guy. The travel back happens by greyhound bus and train.

All in all not too bad: The Grip Heating has clearly survived the bike.
 

 

2006 • More Sizes & Variants

The product range is diversified, sizes are now ranging from 14-22mm. Initially the outer shell is made from copper, cutting is done using a circular saw. Threads are realised using thread inserts from wood construction.

During the year we switch to brass as material of the sleeves. The thread inserts are now made from brass, too. Cutting using a circular saw didn't work out, this is now done fast & good with a band saw.
 

 

2010 • Founding of Coolride GmbH (PLC)

In the mean time Mark Peter received the degree Master of craftsmanship in electroplating and has left his long year employer. The right time to turn the side business into a full time operation.

On May the 6th 2010 Coolride GmbH is officially founded. The registration at the trade court takes place on the 17th of May 2010.

In this year we join the Hamburg Harley Days, the Custombike as well as the Intermot as exhibitor. During the Intermot our website is re-launched.
 

2011 • Self developed power control units

After 12 months of development we are happy to present our self developed power control units type PCU-5 und PCU-5TC on christmas eve 2011. The compact size, the high-quality materials and the unique bargraph display make these devices so special.
 

Coolride Leistungssteller PCU-5 V1

 

2012 • A real factory

After operating this business for 10 years in the basement of a residential home, time has come to move into a real (what ever this might be) factory. In an authentic industrial building everything is well arranged on 70m²:
Office, metal shop, electronics production, magazine, shipping department, tea kitchen and sanitary room.
Small but nice!
 

 

2013 • Distribution via wholesale company

After a successful joint exhibition at the WoB Moto Trade Coolride's products are now in the program of the wholesaler CYPACC. This makes our products available for more than 2000 shops supplied by CYPACC.

The equipment is constantly improved. New in 2013 are:
 
  • Crimp press incl. crimp tool
  • Pneumatic wire stripper
  • Automatic wire cutting and stripping machine
  • PID temperature controller for laboratory furnace
  • CO²-Laser for cutting and engraving non metallic materials
  • Label printer for shipping department
  • SMT soldering machine for prototyping
  • Energy saving conversion of all fluorescent lamps saves 50% electricity