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.

Augsburger Allgemeine, May 24, 2008
Reading time 1:00 minute

Two bikes, two worlds

Test ride - We bought a bike for 111 Euros at the supermarket - and one for 1,800 Euros at a specialist bike shop. After riding both of them, one thing is for sure: It was an unfair duel which could only have one winner.

(...) "Is it possible to get a safe bike for 111 Euros?" The publicly appointed and sworn bike expert Dirk Zedler answers this question with a "clear no". It was not possible to build a well-working bike so cheaply. A colleague once called such low-cost bikes "brand-new bulk rubbish". Sharp words. Poor "111". It does not look that bad.

(...) Finally it is time for a ride. The "111" is the first one to be tested. The horror stories about low-priced bikes and Dirk Zedler's warnings in my head, a mixture of excitement and fear soars in me. Broken handlebars or a damaged seatpost are not excatly funny things.

(...) Other moments demand much more courage, however. Riding downhill at high speed, for example. Will the bike stand up to this test? It does. But bike expert Dirk Zedler knows about many other cases: "Brakes falling off, tubes bursting - you name it." Lucky me.

(...) "Which bike you ought to buy?" The expert advises you against the "111" and its cheap friends. Dirk Zedler recommends seeing a specialst dealer and not to spend less than 400 Euros on a bike. The money is well spent says the Ludwigsburg-based expert, because: "At a specialist dealer, you get important maintenance and service work done." Dealers assemble the bike, check it. And they invite you to come by for a first inspection after a few weeks: "They give it a new lease of life after the bedding in period", says Dirk Zedler.

He surely is right. It was an unfair competition from the beginning. (...)

By Marcus Bürzle

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