The best thing about this blog is hearing from other cyclists through comments and emails. Recently, we got an email from Sarah about her new and very cool bike Sapphire.
Sarah and Sapphire
Sarah’s husband recently bought her this bike on Craigslist, made by Aarios in Switzerland. Does anybody know anything else about this bike or Aarios?
The frame is Swiss-made, by Aarios. The only identifying information on the bike itself is the sticker on the seat tube that says “Special Tube Guarantee Hand-Made by Aarios Switzerland” and the saddle which says City/Country on it. As far as I can tell in my online research, it is an old version of their City/Country bike. As you can see in the photos it has beautiful lugs, but the new Aarios bikes do not have lugs. It has a dual internal hub plus 6-gear cassette, which seems to work well for me; there are a few hills here so it is nice to have the gears, and I am used to an 18-speed mountain bike. The handlebars are not as upright as I might prefer, but I’ve found it pretty comfortable so far. I can’t wait to get out on it in a skirt :) (if it ever stops being cool and rainy!).
I don’t think Swiss bikes are typically sold in this country, so I’m guessing it must be pretty unique in the U.S. I’ve tried to find out more about its history online but there is very little information that I can find.
If you know anything about it, do share! Otherwise, simply enjoy its unique good looks.
Beautiful Lugs
Seat Post
Chain Guard
Generator Light
View from the Cockpit
What a cool bike. Thanks, Sarah!
Let's Go Ride a Bike 
Sometimes, like in this case, the bike fits the owner perfectly.
As I’ve discovered living in Vienna, there are literally dozens of small bicycle manufacturers that produce only for the Schengen area, or even only for the Germany/Austria/Switzerland market. This seems to be one of them. Aarios does still make lugged bicycles — have a look at the Öko-Bike models.
Hi, never heard about Aarios (but I’m not really familiar with swiss bike brands), but looks lovely and the blue is everywhere! On their homepage it says that they are handmade. It’s only in German though: http://www.aarios.ch
They have some very nice bikes in their brochure too, maybe I should go for one of those ;-).
Replace the handle bars with a set of generic Northroad bars (Raleigh) or a set of Velo Orange Tourist bars by Nitto, or a set of Dove Bars from Rivendell Bicycle, all will be higher, but the VO Tourist bars are only $20, all aluminum, and match up with the Raleigh all steel bars quite well. (The Raleigh bars may be a bit wider, if your shoulders are very wide, but very few women have that sort of need for width.)
The Aarios bicycle, it is claimed is the last swiss-made bike, the rest have gone eastern-made (China/Taiwan/Japan) so take care of it.
I have love my Nitto albatross bars on Betty.
what cuties! both of them. love the nice and simple chain guard ;D
hi,
i bought an aarios bicycle two years ago (the ökobike model that a previous poster mentioned) and i love it! i live in switzerland and actually went to the workshop to pick out everything from the handlebars to the seat to the color to the kind of bell i wanted. then i went back to pick it up and they set it up just right. the man who owns the company (inherited from his father) is lovely and incredibly helpful. the whole experience made me love my bike even more. i wanted to support a local (swiss) company and was very glad i did.
glad to hear there’s an aarios in the states!
Hi,
I live in Albania, Eu, and I also has never been heard of the AARIOS before. I found this piece in Kosovo a couple of weeks ago, and I’m in love with it. At the moment, the whole bike is set apieces, because I’m repainting it. The old color had some sign of rust.I’m repainting it with the old original color,9001 according to aarios catalog.
The bike is just fantastic. It’s almost identical to Sarah’s. Judging from the shimano components (sx 700), I’d say it’s smth between 95 – 05, so guess Sarah’s it’s a little older. But, hey, it’s so light and so fantastic.
It’s like a swiss clock maker, one day went for a bike, and produced the Aarios.
Good job AARIOS !!
Hi. I live in Switzerland and am shopping for a new city bike right now myself. I’m trying to decide between an Aarios and a Simpel.ch, but I’m leaning toward Aarios because they make their own frames. Here’s the manufacturer’s website:
http://aarios.ch/
And here’s where I’ll probably buy the bike.
http://www.peclot13.ch/html/index.php?id=34
Still, it’s a hard decision, because http://simpel.ch bikes use non-swiss made frames, but they are on average about 500CHF cheaper for the same equipment.
hi my name is ralph i thank you got a cool bicycle
hi my name is ralph i thank you got a cool bicycle
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/bicycle-production_keeping-a-family-business-alive/41613978