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 05/2005
Reading time 1:00 minute

The bicycle industry is sceptical when it comes to the test methods of Warentest

Stiftung Warentest (the German foundation for comparative product testing) has a of dubious reputation in the bicycle industry

Stiftung Warentest has a dubious reputation in the bike manufacturing sector. The test of children bikes published recently, in which at best satisfying marks were assigned (SAZbike 8/2005), caused further displeasure. Despite the Warentest editors partly excoriating the products, manufacturers are firm believers in them – particularly as the test-methods are controversial.

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Also bike-expert Dirk Zedler doubts the Warentest’s contact with reality. Especially the transfer of test-device-times to the kilometer-rate worries him: "With this, I always have belly aches." Frame breaches or even breaks have up to now never occured to Zedler in his work as an expert and advisor: "Material failure has never been a problem with children bikes. If it was, it often was caused by wrong assembly." With tests simulating long-term stress, you furthermore have to ask: "How long does a bike have to be usable?" All in all, practical relevance is important. "A real test is based on subsistent breaks." Unless something has happened in reality, you cannot reproduce it in a practical test. "I have to align my test devices with reality", explains Zedler.

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