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.

TOUR 08/2009
Reading time 1:10 minutes

In the time warp

With new ideas regarding the seating position on the futuristically designed time-trial machine "Time Warp" the Taiwanese bicycle giant Merida intends to establish for good in the Champions League of road racing bicycle construction 

Once you have tested a time trial machine perfectly adjusted to your needs, you get hooked – hooked on speed. On well-known tracks that you normally breeze on a classical road racing bike at 32 to 35 kmph there is all of a sudden the "4" on the speedometer – and a large grin on your face. However, the magic word is "perfectly adjusted". Adjusting a comfortable and aerodynamically favourable posture on the time trial bike is rather difficult. The aero handlebars actually freeze the position. If the seating posture is not perfect, it’s not going well and you feel uneasy.With specific frames it’s true that they are made for specialists, but their demands may differ nevertheless a lot: The requirements for a short prologue trip extending over only a few kilometres, for a long time trial or the cycle track of a long-distance triathlon of 180 kilometres differ clearly. Whereas ironman athletes have to complete their fast ride with a marathon run, road racers can have themselves heaved down by crane from their racing machine directly onto the massage bench. That is to say they can adopt far more radical positions. This confronts bicycle manufacturers with the difficult task of combining two worlds. Radical aero positions are, however, only possible by designing a frame with a low front. The ironman striving for comfort would choose lots of spacers and a steep stem for such kind of frame. This would result in a squishy riding experience, the fast look in stationary would be gone. (...)

Go back