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.

News

SAZbike, 2019/09/06
Reading time 2:00 minutes

Foundation of bike industry’s promotion circle in Baden-Wuerttemberg

On the first day of the Eurobike Show the bike industry’s promotion circle to support Baden-Wuerttemberg's AGFK was founded, i.e. the Work Group Bicycle and Pedestrian-Friendly Communities.

Modesty is a pride, but does not always lead to the desired result. During the foundation of the promotion circle economy, politics and society of the Work Group Bicycle-Friendly Communities (AGFK) Baden-Wuerttemberg’s Minister of Transport Winfried Hermann called it therefore a terrible pity that the bike industry were so undemanding. He requested them to use the automotive lobby as a model in this field. Hermann’s target: To increase the share of cycle traffic in Baden-Wuerttemberg from currently eight to ten percent up to more than 20 percent.

As cycling is something that mainly takes place on municipal cycle lanes the AGFK intends to ease the contact between local communities and the cycle industry. This target should be reached with a smoother dialogue between economy, politics and administration. Within the AGFK the cycle industry is represented by the associations VSF and ZIV as well as numerous industry leaders, such as Paul Lange & Co., Jobrad, Bosch Ebike Systems and Zedler-Institut. On the part of politics there are more than 75 communities that have the intention to promote Baden-Wuerttemberg’s cycle traffic systematically. As a concrete example Hermann mentioned that many cycle lanes had to be enlarged for the cargo bikes becoming more and more popular.

Hermann expressively praised the constructive cooperative with the cycle industry. Members of the industry were not narrow-minded, because many of them were also driving cars and eager to make multiple interests compatible with one another. In particular in terms of cycle traffic promotion economy and politics had similar targets, but were often speaking different languages. The promotion circle is to overcome this obstacle. According to VSF Managing Director Albert Herresthal, they were therefore happy with their VSF Lounge to host the foundation of the AGFK promotion circle and to also provide input.

Author: Alexander Schmitz
Photo: VSF

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