In 1894, 26-year-old Václav Klement, who was a bookseller in Mladá Boleslav, Kingdom of Bohemia (today’s Czech Republic, then part of Austria-Hungary), was unable to obtain spare parts to repair his German bicycle reports one Facebook page. Klement returned his bicycle to the manufacturers, Seidel and Naumann, with a letter, in Czech, asking them to carry out repairs, only to receive a reply, in German, stating:
“If you would like an answer to your inquiry, you should try writing in a language we can understand”.
Not satisfied with the reply and realizing the business potential, Klement, despite having no technical experience, decided to start a bicycle repair shop, which he and Václav Laurin opened in 1896 in Mladá Boleslav.
Before going into partnership with Klement, Laurin was an established bicycle manufacturer in the nearby town of Turnov. Later they started producing motorcycles and after that – cars and trucks