FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Germany (BRAIN) — Donnelly Sports LLC, which has been licensing the Clément name from Pirelli, is ending its use of the trademark with the Italian tire brand. Donnelly Sports' owner, Donn Kellogg, will launch the tires and wheels under the Donnelly Cycling brand name this fall.
Donnelly is unveiling its new branding at the Eurobike show here this week. The new line will continue all the tire models and model names under the new label. Donnelly also will begin shipping its gravel wheelsets under the Donnelly name.
Kellogg began licensing the Clément brand name in 2010, developing and selling new road, cyclocross and adventure tire tread patterns. The designs are owned by Kellogg.
"The tread patterns, the tire model names and the wheels were all designed here in Colorado beginning in 2010 at the time of trademark licensing. People ask for our tires by model name such as PDX, MSO and USH, which will all be rolled under the Donnelly brand name."
Donnelly-branded product will be released in mid-September, beginning with cyclocross tubulars. Clinchers for 'cross and gravel will follow. Wheelsets, introduced at Interbike last year, will start to land toward the end of September.
The Donnelly brand will emphasize its home base of Colorado. The new packaging will include the state-licensed "Colorado Designed" logo.
"We are proud to be a Colorado-based company," Kellogg said. "It's a world-class destination for all genres of cycling. The strong cycling community here is on the highest level, which is an integral part of our design, development and testing team. This has allowed us to develop each individual tire for very specific riding and racing conditions. We're a young company that will continue to make products that are well ahead of the curve."
Pirelli announced this spring that it would return to the bike tire market this fall with a small line of road racing tires. Donnelly told BRAIN that announcement factored into his decision to end the licensing agreement.
"With Pirelli coming to the market we started to evaluate where we are, who we are and where we want to be," he said.
Donnelly Sports had a five-year licensing agreement with Pirelli that has been renewed once, about two years ago. "We have proposed an early exit" from that agreement, Kellogg said.
Donnelly will continue to support and manage its cyclocross team, which was known as Raleigh-Clément last season. This season the team will be called Donnelly and will include U-23 national champion Lance Haidet, Jamey Driscoll and Laurel Rathbun.
More information at donnellycycling.com.
