Dirk Zedler describes his motivation to work with the words that he wants to professionalize the bicycle sector by sharing knowledge and experience. His hope is that a stronger professionalization will lead to fewer accidents, equal status of bicycles compared to other road traffic participants, a higher bicycle quality as well as less special waste during bicycle production, in particular with the material carbon. This year his institute celebrates its 20th anniversary. Although Zedler founded his office already in 1993, he was publicly appointed expert for bicycle technology in 1994 and built the first test stand for bicycles the very year which is regarded as initial spark for the examination of stiffness on sports bicycles.
Besides the publications in various special interest media, establishing user manuals was a major aspect of Zedler’s work from the very beginning. This resulted in 2005 in the foundation of the partner company Claudia Zedler – Technische Dokumentation. The company developed user manuals and focussed on the research of test devices for bicycles. Five years later it became the today well-known Zedler – Institut für Fahrradtechnik und -Sicherheit. It is a limited liability company now and has a significantly extended test laboratory and a strong business field. Especially with the writing of experts’ report for courts, insurance companies, companies and private individuals Zedler has established his reputation. Meanwhile, they draw up about 750 experts’ report per year on bicycle-specific issues. To date the institute’s innovation variety has not lessened: This year the team of 16 around Dirk Zedler developed a new BCS-testing system for suspension bicycles as well as a dynamic fatigue testing system for the overall system handlebars-stem and suspension fork.
For Dirk Zedler the professional side is one thing, the other is the social one. His institute maintains collaborations with three schools from the region in view of setting up bicycle workshops there. Since 2004 the company is first training company for bicycle mechanics in Baden-Wuerttemberg. In addition, the company is involved in projects with social service providers which help children in Africa. For example, bicycles were donated to the project "Bicycles for Africa" or money was remitted to "Doctors without borders". Moreover, the internal protection of the environment is an issue of great importance and the staff members are encouraged to take the bicycle whenever possible. For this commitment the institute was awarded second place in "The most bicycle-friendly employer" contest in Germany in 2011.
Author: Thomas Geisler