Basic workshop “Product Safety and Liability, GPSR, CE Marking” for importers and manufacturers.

Are you “well-versed” in EU regulations and directives? Is the legal jungle an open book to you? Do DIN, EN, UCI, and ISO standards and requirements all mean the same thing to you? Can you make COC, BOM, and DOC align?

If you have even one question mark right now, then it’s time for

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the basic workshop  „Product Safety and Liability, GPSR, CE Marking“, which we have been successfully conducting for over 20 years.

The contents are described in detail in the “Product Safety and Liability, GPSR, CE Marking” workshop portfolio.

In our webshop, you can now book seats for the next workshop on September 22, 2026 or November 24, 2026 for individual participants, or request a customized workshop date at your site — or at our location in Ludwigsburg for larger groups of employees.

https://shop.zedler.de/de/haendlerschulungen/

A fork failure is one of every cyclist’s worst nightmares — and a recent case from the UK shows just how serious the issue can be:

A doctor was riding his gravel bike when the carbon fork failed on a grassy downhill section. The result: paraplegia for the cyclist and a 5.3 million euro

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compensation in damages to be paid by the manufacturer or its insurer.

Gravel bikes fall somewhere between racing bikes and mountain bikes—and that’s precisely where the challenge lies: there are currently no specific testing standards for gravel bikes. Standards generally define only minimum requirements and sometimes lag behind real-world practices by decades. The revised ISO standard published in mid-2023 remains silent not only on gravel and cyclocross bikes, but also on the different categories of mountain bikes ranging from cross-country and enduro to downhill. Despite the very different usage profiles, there are simply no differentiated testing criteria. In addition, certain bicycle components and areas are not tested at all, even though safety-critical failures have been proven to occur there. As a result, both the applied test forces and the load types or load cases fail to adequately reflect actual use in practice.

The topics of “maximum permissible total weight” and trailer use are not explicitly addressed neither in the ISO standard for mechanical bicycles, nor in the two EN standards for pedelecs and e-mountain bikes. At a time when an average-weight pedelec or e-MTB combined with an average-weight male adult in Central Europe already exceeds the normative weight limit, testing must — without exception — go beyond the standard requirements.

It quickly becomes clear that safety cannot be identified or verified through ISO certifications—and certainly not those from Asia—nor through a close visual inspection or a few rigorous test drives by the company’s founder. Only sophisticated testing criteria that go beyond and supplement existing standards, together with reliable testing protocols for all components, can therefore provide the necessary level of protection.

Over the past 15 years, through numerous bachelor’s and master’s theses and with the support of various universities, we have set out to translate the multidimensional usage profiles of bicycles, e-bikes, and cargo bikes into category-specific testing methods and criteria. The result is more than 350 different test procedures.

One more thing: By successfully passing tests in accordance with the “Zedler-Institut Gravel Standard,” a manufacturer will definitely have solid grounds to stand on against unscrupulous lawyers.

Feel free to contact us or send an email to: testing@zedler.de

Do your CE labels, your declaration of conformity, your risk assessment, and your user manual comply with the applicable standards and laws? Is your product categorization consistent with these requirements? Is your marketing team overstepping the mark?

Lawyers in the UK have skillfully navigated this very set of requirements and successfully undermined the manufacturer there as well. There’s no doubt about it: navigating the jungle of regulations, directives, laws, and standards is quite a challenge—and implementing the relevant requirements is even more so.

 
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The fact that companies don’t always succeed is demonstrated not only by the spectacular €5.3 million case, but also by the many severe penalties and sales bans resulting from commercial and market surveillance proceedings across Europe—cases our Conformity team has been called upon to assist with over the past 15 years and continues to handle time and again. And last but not least: court proceedings in which we serve as expert witnesses.

It’s a good thing there are areas of expertise that can be handled by specialists. Since 1995, our TechDoku has been doing exactly what no one else wants to do: creating well-structured, legally sound operating instructions. We don’t just say that—we know it—because to date, these instructions have withstood all “attacks” by lawyers in court and by authorities in market surveillance proceedings.

What’s more, since we also keep these manuals in stock in certain quantities and multiple languages, they have freed several manufacturers from the clutches of market surveillance authorities in several European countries—including Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, and Poland—in less than two weeks.

To better meet the increasing requirements for product safety and documentation under the new GPSR, we offer four different service levels in both print and digital formats.

Key safety instructions are presented clearly and concisely followed by the actual instruction section. This ensures that end users can see all safety-related information at a glance, while manufacturers benefit from an even more transparent and easy-to-follow documentation structure. All this at an affordable price for the complete liability protection package—from the operating instructions to the Declaration of Conformity and the CE sticker.

Don’t take any chances—find out now about the right TechDoku safety net for your product range:

sales@zedler.de

This practical assembly workshop is designed not only to help you build better bicycles, e-bikes, and cargo bikes, but also to help you avoid liability.

Two key principles underpin the proposed legislation in the European Union and its implementation across all member states. The first is the explicit requirement that all products placed on the market within the EU must meet a uniformly high standard of safety. Second, this is intended to ensure that market participants do not

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gain a competitive advantage by saving on the expenses or costs associated with achieving the high safety standards required for various target groups. Market surveillance authorities are supposed to verify this, which unfortunately does not happen as comprehensively as would benefit our industry and user safety.

The “Risk Assessment” workshop enables technicians, engineers, product developers, product managers, and compliance officers to identify and avoid potential pitfalls as early as the development stage, ultimately bringing a product to market that is unambiguously compliant with regulatory requirements. With this workshop, you’ll gain an open system for your brand that allows you to independently and quickly create risk assessments for your various model lines.

The practical implementation includes

• Conducting the initial risk assessment directly on a bicycle model
• Documenting the product throughout its entire life cycle
• Providing a file with instructions for a comprehensive risk assessment
• Verifying completeness and ensuring the highest possible legal certainty
• Template for conducting further risk assessments of similar models

This follow-up workshop, based on the basic workshop “Product Safety and Liability, GPSR, CE Marking,” can be held directly at your company, in the seminar area with the Zedler-Institut’s bicycle museum, or online.

Find out more & register now >>

This follow-up workshop is also aimed at technicians, engineers, product developers, product managers, and compliance officers.

You will receive an open-source system that allows you to independently create complete bicycle tests for various model series. The content covers conducting a complete bicycle test on the EPAC 25 in accordance with the harmonized DIN EN 15194 standard, or on an e-MTB or transport bicycle in accordance with the applicable standards.

In the practical implementation

 
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• we will jointly conduct a complete bicycle test on the EPAC 25 in accordance with the harmonized DIN EN 15194 standard or another bicycle category
• We prepare a comprehensive test report that includes the relevant individual tests and separate test reports for individual components
• The Zedler-Institut then provides a template file that allows you to generate as many test reports as needed for this category from your brand’s portfolio
• Optionally, a complete bike test can also be booked for the e-MTB according to DIN EN 17404 / DIN EN 15194,
• for the e-gravel or e-road bike according to DIN EN 15194/DIN EN ISO 4210, or
• on the e-cargo bike in accordance with DIN EN 18060/DIN EN 15194, including separate test reports and additional documentation for internal use.

This follow-up workshop, building on the basic workshop, can be held directly at your company or in the seminar area of the Zedler-Institut, which also features a bicycle museum. In the latter case, a laboratory tour with demonstrations is included.

Find out more & register now >>

Knowledge for dealers and retail groups:
This basic workshop is aimed at bicycle dealers — from management and sales staff to workshop personnel.

It equips the employees of your retail partners with essential knowledge on liability for defects and product safety, and explains what really matters

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what may and may not be installed on E-bikes 25 and 45.

Workshop topics:

• Relevant product safety directives, regulations and laws
• International specific requirements
• Risk assessment and technical documentation
• Requirements for CE marking of pedelecs, e-MTBs and cargo e-bikes
• Replacement parts catalogues (E-bike 25 and 45, risks of tuning and retrofitting e-bikes)
• Assessment of your company’s current position and first implementation steps

This follow-up workshop, based on the basic workshop, can be carried out directly at your company or in the seminar area with the bicycle museum of the Zedler Institute. In the latter case, a laboratory tour with demonstrations is included.

The workshop can be booked by manufacturers, trade associations, retail partners, and also by individual large specialist dealers.

More information in our Portfolio.

Register now!