All about bicycles, electric-assisted bikes, technology and safety in the press

In our daily work as we deal with bicycle safety, technology and user manuals we come across lots of safety risks. The most frequent ones are published in articles of the leading German special-interest magazines TOUR – Europas Rennrad-Magazin Nr. 1, BIKE – Das Mountainbike Magazin Europas Nr. 1 and E-Bike – Das Pedelec-Magazin to make this information important for the sector accessible to a wider public.

For many years now the Eurobike Show Daily accompanying the annual international Eurobike Show has given us the opportunity to publish our perspective on major developments in the cycle industry in full-page articles.

We also speak regularly in independent lectures about all topics relating to bicycle technology and bicycle market. In addition, we are regularly cited by further special-interest magazines or trade journals as well as more and more by radio and television and in their media reports, which shows us that we are completely right with our information. The section NEWS informs you about the latest news from our specialist fields. The reports and publications of this section are listed chronologically or according to topics of interest.

SAZbike 01/2007
Lesedauer 1:30 Minuten

Nothing teases more than the carbon fibre

Carbon has always been in fashion, but not accepted from the very beginning.

In the meantime, this material has arrived safely in the bike sector. Sceptics are a minority and manufacturers got rid of the biggest manufacturing worries. Instead of teething problems it is now rather problems of every day life which arise with the material. Dealers have largely good experience with current products, although demands are high when handling the sensitive material.

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Bike expert Dirk Zedler points out that not permanent load is a problem, but overload: When crashing or when the bike just falls over, neither customer nor dealer can usually tell for sure if the component has to be replaced.

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Dirk Zedler also knows what the situation is like with cheap products: "Cheaper products are not bound to break. Often, just more material is used and less engineering achievement is taken advantage of for the product." Currently, the fascination of carbon is unbroken according to Zedler: "Nothing teases more than the fibre", what seduces many customers to upgrade their bikes.

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Particularly carbon wheels regularly are a part of Zedlers work as a bike expert. "Wrecked, melted carbon rims" are no exception as the material does not conduct heat away very well. The material characteristics leads to a break performance you have to get used to, not to say it is "considerably worse". In contrast to this, manufacturers meanwhile have a better handle on problems with carbon forks and fork steering columns. Also seat posts hardly ever fail. "Manufacturers and dealers have learned a lot", he says. But still: "Carbon products are sensitive", and particularly customers often lack the sense for handling them.

Author: dh

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