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

The most common safety risks that we come across in our daily work around bicycle safety, technology and operating instructions are also published by us in articles in the leading German special-interest magazines TOUR (Europe's road bike magazine no. 1), BIKE (Europe's mountain bike magazine no. 1), MYBIKE and EMTB in order to make this information, which is important for the industry, available to a wider public.

For many years now, the Eurobike Show Daily, trade fair magazine of the annual Eurobike Show, has also given us the opportunity to publish our view of major developments in the cycle industry in full-page articles.

We also speak regularly in independent expert presentations about all areas of bicycle technology and the bicycle market. In addition, we are quoted by further special-interest magazines of the industry and the trade as well as increasingly by radio and television in their media reports, which shows us that we are spot on with our advice. The section "News" informs you about the latest news from our specialist areas. The reports and publications of this section are listed chronologically or according to areas of interest.

Bietigheimer Zeitung 2015/08/26
Reading time 2:40 minutes

Is Stuttgart missing the e-bike trend?

From August 26 to 29 Friedrichshafen will host the Eurobike Show, the world’s leading trade fair of the cycle industry. Bicycle expert Dirk Zedler evaluates the latest trends.

Dirk Zedler inspecting a bicycle with electric drive
Dirk Zedler inspecting a bicycle with electric drive

Ludwigsburg. "All the big names in the cycle industry will visit the Eurobike Show," says Dirk Zedler, managing director of Zedler – Institut für Fahrradtechnik und -Sicherheit in Ludwigsburg. He and his team will attend the worldwide biggest show of the cycle industry on Lake Constance to get informed about the latest, state-of-the-art trends and technologies. In general, the sales of electric bicycles, i.e. of pedelecs and e-bikes, were continuously increasing. On Germany’s roads alone there were about two million e-bikes, more than 400 000 of these bikes were sold last year. "The e-bike has developed into a form of mobility which is affordable and spread all over Germany," states the bicycle expert. Whereas the electric bicycle was still derided as "auxiliary device" for elderly people a few years ago, this attitude has meanwhile largely changed. "Especially for young people there is a current sports trend towards e-bikes", says Dirk Zedler. No matter whether city bike or hightech mountainbike: Nearly all major bicycle brands have started to electrify every bicycle type. Integrated batteries and motors are built in a way that electric bicycles hardly differ any more from standard bicycles.

No increased risk of accident with electric bicycles

Cycling an e-bike in the city is meanwhile considered "chic" and "sexy". Also in terms of safety a lot has changed in the past years: "Engineer thinking has led to reasonable professionalism on all levels." Studies have shown that electric bicycles are not more often involved in accidents than standard bicycles. In Dirk Zedler’s opinion the trend will even develop in a way that the accident frequency of e-bikes and pedelecs will decrease. "We will face a lot of developments in future which will increase bicycle safety to a considerable extent."

Pedelecs with a 250 watt motor limiting the speed to 25 kmh are a well-established means of transport in the city. A new development and therefore very interesting for rural areas were the so called "speed pedelecs" reaching speeds of up to 45 kmh. These bicycles, however, require an operating licence, as they are classified as mopeds and thus need to be insured and have a number plate.

Pedelecs with a 250 watt motor limiting the speed to 25 kmh are a well-established means of transport in the city. A new development and therefore very interesting for rural areas were the so called "speed pedelecs" reaching speeds of up to 45 kmh. These bicycles, however, require an operating licence, as they are classified as mopeds and thus need to be insured and have a number plate."

As an example for a city which has consequently realised the mobility trend with the use of rental bikes in the past years, he names Paris. "There you find a booth with rental bikes in very good condition every 800 metres, and they are even aiming at making them available every 300 metres. In this point there is still a lot of catching-up to do in Germany, but especially in the automotive city of Stuttgart. All futurologists would agree that the mobility with e-bikes and pedelecs were a "mega-trend". "For urban mobility I see here a great future", says Dirk Zedler.

45 000 visitors are expected at the cycle show

Show. The cycle show Eurobike will take place from August 26 to 29 in Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance. Besides around 1350 exhibitors from 53 countries more than 45 000 visitors from about 100 nations and nearly 2000 journalists from 40 countries are expected. From Wednesday to Friday the Show will be open to specialist trade visitors and accredited journalists from 8.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. The public day, on Saturday, August 29, the show will be open to all bicycle fans from 9.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.

www.eurobike-show.de

Autor: Bettina Nowakowski

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