In some cases you don’t want to know what happened: The cycle industry’s cabinet of horrors is located in the cellar of the Zedler institute in Ludwigsburg. Every frame, handlebar or saddle somehow failed once, some accidents determined personal fates. The riders sued, the courts needed expert’s reports. These have been drawn up by bicycle expert Dirk Zedler since 25 years.
With a shiver the guests gaze at the high-end scrap during their tour through the building. Breakages, cracks, burnings; but even if you hung up on bicycle safety here, it would definitely be restored when looking at the polished, sturdy test machines. If there is some kind of technical inspection authority for bicycles, these are the experts of whom Dirk Zedler is among the most renowned in Germany.
Today, a sunny day in June, the Zedler-Group inaugurate their new company building. Daylight enters through floor-to-ceiling windows, the walls made of solid wood create a feel-good atmosphere. The building has reportedly been planned under ecological aspects, bees hum around the small orchard meadow, grass and flowers grow on the roof of the bicycle garage. It appears like a small-size Bullerby for bicycle enthusiastic employees in a region where everything is focussed on cars. It not only offers better working conditions than the old building, a former bicycle shop just across the street, but reportedly also meets ecological demands. While the guests meet on the terrace, the sausages burst on the barbecue and the fridge cools down the drinks, Bernhard Lange, Managing Partner of Paul Lange & Co., praises with sincere recognition: “This laboratory is one of the best and biggest bicycle laboratories worldwide.”
The range of guests shows the significance of these words: Apart from further prominent people from the world of bicycles and local politicians, Baden-Wuerttemberg’s Minister of Transport, Winfried Hermann, has come. He intends to promote bicycle traffic. It can be assumed that he is taking this seriously in particular because he is a green politician. Guests with less knowledge of the bicycle industry are amazed, when they hear about the economic importance of the bicycle industry. Dirk Zedler roughly estimates: The guests on the terrace represent a turnover of far more than one. Paul Lange & Co. or Merida-Centurion Germany are only the major ones. That makes you pause during eating.