On the occasion of the member’s general meeting of the German service and bicycle association (VSF) in 2013 representatives of the consumer organisation which had caused some furore with their harsh pedelec test had repeatedly promised that they would like to see for themselves "alternative and realistic test procedures for pedelec frames and component" at the premises of bicycle tester Dirk Zedler and his team. In Ludwigsburg three representatives of Stiftung Warentest inspected the test set-up of the Zedler company, the scientific director Elke Gehrke, the head of examinations Dr. Holger Brackemann and the project manager in charge of the pedelec tests Kolja Oppel.
According to the company, several testing systems were involved for every load case. This made it possible to test frames side-by-side in comparison. For a direct comparison, one test stand respectively had been modified into the manifold criticised set-up of Stiftung Warentest.
In doing so the Ludwigsburg testers hope "that the presentation of dynamic tests which are much closer to the actual everyday use will convince the colleagues from Stiftung Warentest to critically rethink their own static, over-determined and therefore unnecessarily product damaging test set-ups." The presentation was accompanied by visualizations on a ready-for-use bicycle.
In conclusion, the meeting was characterised as absolutely constructive: "And we are very excited to see how Stiftung Warentest will proceed in future with their fatigue tests."
Author: Jo Beckendorff
