"Not long ago, about half of the road racing bicycles were assembled individually by the bicycle dealers", remembers Dirk Zedler. The owner of Zedler – Institut für Fahrradtechnik und -Sicherheit GmbH is an experienced expert of the branch and has already cycled quite a lot individually assembled bicycles. (…)
Zedler is convinced that the bicycle sector is currently experiencing a change. "And the concept of the individualisation complements the increasing system integration." (…)
"System integration in form of a smart seat post or stem which allow an accurate adjustment with an always straight alignment, is a good thing", says Zedler. The bicycle expert’s frown turns, however, sceptical in view of the fast growing variety of components due to manufacturer-specific integration options. "Considering for example the growing number of bottom bracket ideas – you can hardly speak any longer of standards – one must state that this compromises individuality the latter being, however, very important in the area of the drive", he states. (…)
"Keeping pace with the technology leaps is going to be a challenging task for the trade", states Zedler. "The willingness to further training and to invest accordingly capital as well as working time, should be deeply anchored in a company’s philosophy." He thinks that only strong partnerships between the trade and the manufacturers will be successful. (…)
"Once only original parts will fit, failures as a result of combining non-matching parts will be prevented and the risk of a clamping failure will decrease, as well", concludes Zedler. (…)
