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

In our daily work as we deal with bicycle safety, technology and user manuals we come across lots of safety risks. The most frequent ones are published in articles of the leading German special-interest magazines TOUR – Europas Rennrad-Magazin Nr. 1, BIKE – Das Mountainbike Magazin Europas Nr. 1 and E-Bike – Das Pedelec-Magazin to make this information important for the sector accessible to a wider public.

For many years now the Eurobike Show Daily accompanying the annual international Eurobike Show has given us the opportunity to publish our perspective on major developments in the cycle industry in full-page articles.

We also speak regularly in independent lectures about all topics relating to bicycle technology and bicycle market. In addition, we are regularly cited by further special-interest magazines or trade journals as well as more and more by radio and television and in their media reports, which shows us that we are completely right with our information. The section NEWS informs you about the latest news from our specialist fields. The reports and publications of this section are listed chronologically or according to topics of interest.

ebikemagazin.de, 2016/12/19
Reading time 1:00 minute

E-bike conversion – a risk

COMMENT

Attractive though it may sound, there are some reasons against fitting a bicycle with an electric drive. In terms of engineering these are the higher loads due to heavier weight and higher speed as well as the risk that the converted bicycle emits electromagnetic radiations which may disturb other services, e.g. rescue services. In addition, the driving behaviour may deteriorate drastically.

Whoever carries out the conversion, turns into manufacturers and bears the risk for possible failures on the converted bicycle. Warranty and guarantee become void anyway. The product safety law includes a clear prohibition to offer non-CE marked bicycles with electric drive. A retailer as converter is only allowed to do so when the pedelec passed all tests successfully, thus confirming conformity with all applicable directives. Furthermore, he is obliged to make a risk analysis for the fully-assembled product and perform an electromagnetic compatibility test. All this never pays off financially; there is no retailer who is able to meet all this, because he is not aware of the bicycle’s durability, neither in new nor in used condition. This may change in future, when bicycles will be made available in an e-drive fit state which can be converted subsequently.

Graduate Engineer. Dirk Zedler, publicly appointed and sworn in expert for bicycles and electric bicycles (CCI Stuttgart)

Read the article with this accompanying comment here.