5rot is the brand of Christoph Muthers of Muthers Fahrradkomponentenbau.
The story of Christoph Muthers and his amazing hydraulic derailleur system may go something like this:
- In the years before 2005 Christoph Muthers may have worked for Denk Engineering (which might both translate as ‘Think Engineering’ and have been run by one Peter Denk who had possibly worked for Scott and currently works with Cannondale). Denk Engineering were (are?) based in Freiburg, on the edge of the Black Forest and had a well publicised relationship with Scott - possibly developing frames and suspension systems for them.
- Some time around 2006 Christoph Muthers developed a rather beautiful (in a German kind of way) hydraulic derailleur system. Christoph applied for two related patents in August 2006. He almost certainly wins the prize for the derailleur system that contains the most ball bearing races (29 if you must ask). At this point, he appears to have left Denk Engineering and set up Muthers Fahrradkomponentenbau (which might translate roughly as Muthers’ Bicycle Component Works). From his web site, his company appears to have been based in Morscheid, in northern Germany, not far from the border with Luxembourg.
- In 2011, after struggling to establish his system in the market, Christoph Muthers seems to have thrown in the towel and taken a job with Acros, an established German manufacturer and distributor of trick bike equipment based in Renningen, just west of Stuttgart. At this point the 5rot brand disappeared and his hydraulic derailleur system reappeared as the Acros A-GE system, with the rear derailleur called Acros A-GE RD.
- In 2013 the Acros A-GE system was renamed the Acros A-GE MT system, with the MT denoting that it was for mountain bikes (with straight handlebars). A new system, called Acros A-GE RDA, was introduced for road bikes (with drop handlebars).