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.

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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.

Südwest Presse 2012/04/24
Reading time 2:20 minutes

Noiseless to work

Goeppingen. Two of the three winners are from the valley along the river Fils: The state recognises the commitment of Wala and the District Administrator's Office as "Most bicycle friendly employer". The price: a pedelec hire fleet including insurance.

State secretary Gisela Splett with Viola Metschies and Clarissa Bay
They want to promote cycling: State secretary Gisela Splett (middle) with Viola Metschies (left) and Clarissa Bay, the Bicycle and Environmental Manager of Wala. 

Nearly zero-emission and noiseless on two wheels – and that without sweating too much. From now on, staff members of Wala Heilmittel GmbH, Bad Boll, and the Goeppingen District Administrator's Office can attend their appointments with e-bikes yet more frequently and comfortably, use the environmentally friendly e-bike after work or go on a private weekend tour. Because yesterday, Gisela Splett, Baden-Wuerttemberg's state secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure handed over the prices to the winners of the competition "Baden-Wuerttemberg’s most bicycle friendly employer": One pedelec hire fleet each for the next six months including insurance cover and service. "An all-round carefree package actually", resumes Thorsten Roesch, deputy head of the Office for Mobility and Transport Infrastructure at the District Administrator’s Office.

The county authority can temporarily enlarge its two-wheel fleet by seven e-bikes, in addition to their two e-bikes, said Roesch. According to the principle "first come, first served", the staff members can from now on take an e-bike, in the hope to ride by e-bike as often as possible. To actually keep this possibility of environmentally-friendly movement in sight for the employees as well as for the visitors, the fleet stands currently in the entrance hall of the District Administrator’s Office, adds Roesch.

The winners in different categories according to the number of employees – the third one is the Ludwigsburg company Zedler – are awarded for "an extraordinary commitment to bicycle mobility" of their staff, according to a press release of the ministry. In addition, the positive examples are expressly intended for imitation, as Gisela Splett emphasized yesterday, when handing over the prices in Bad Boll. Wala, for example, had proved that a diverse service offer, such as free of charge repair courses or subsidised annual bicycle checks would clearly increase the group of staff members using the bicycle. The District Administrator's Office scores with new parking lots, a pedelec charging station as well as with shower and locker facilities for the cyclists.

The e-bike hire fleets were intended to promote still more the environmentally friendly mobility, emphasized the state secretary. As pedelecs allowed a comfortable, not too sweat inducing movement in everyday as well as professional life - even for elderly employees or employees with health challenges.

For the state the bicycle is a major component of a new sustainability strategy for mobility which is being kicked off in these days. That is an issue which is also backed by the Freiburg company "Lease Rad" which will bring pedelecs into the companies. The advantages of the bicycle were striking, explained a representative of the company: low-priced, health-promoting and in towns even time-saving. In towns, for distances of up to nine kilometres pedelecs were the fastest means of transport.  Graduate engineer Dirk Zedler, head of the third winner company from Ludwigsburg, sees a historical chance for a comeback of the bicycle that had been fully developed with all the bells and whistles as early as in 1930.

Authors: Susann Schönfelder, Jürgen Schäfer
Photo: Wala

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