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Bicycle innovations: high tech for everyone

2021-07-26T03:00:11.615Z


Bicycles have become more expensive - but they can also do a lot more than they did a few years ago. Even everyday bikes are equipped with technology that was once only found on high-end bikes. The most important examples.


It is a kind of double effect that leads to people in Germany spending more money on bicycles: The growing demand for e-bikes has been driving the average price of bicycles sold for years.

In 2020, according to the two-wheeled industry association (ZIV), it was 1279 euros.

On top of that, there is a corona effect with delivery bottlenecks, which has currently caused prices to rise by 20 percent or more.

"The production does not keep up," says ZIV spokesman David Eisenberger.

He does not expect the bicycle market to relax before the end of 2022.

However, this situation hides the fact that many components on bicycles that were once barely affordable have become much cheaper - and customers therefore often get more for their money.

There is now technology on the frame that was once only available in the highest price segments, says bicycle expert Marco Brust from the Velotech testing institute in Schweinfurt.

“In general, it can be said that the performance of a 2,000 euro bike today is better than that of a 6,000 euro bike ten years ago,” says Veit Hammer from Trek, one of the largest manufacturers in the world.

A high-tech democratization is hidden behind the general rise in prices.

Four examples:

Lightweight construction

Building bicycles that are light and robust at the same time is time-consuming.

Manufacturing processes, known under terms such as "hydroforming" and "butting", enable steel and aluminum frames with thin walls that are also stable.

The material is only thickened in heavily stressed areas such as the pipe ends.

But the manufacturing processes have not only been improved, they have also become cheaper.

"Lightweight construction in general has become cheaper," says Marco Brust.

The drop in prices is most evident in the case of carbon.

Frames made of the high tensile strength and light carbon fiber material were once almost unaffordable.

Five to six years ago, says Brust, for example, a racing bike with a full carbon frame cost over 6,000 euros.

"Today prices start at around 2500 euros."

In the meantime, carbon is partly produced automatically and no longer exclusively by hand.

Carbon fiber mats, from which frames are laminated, are produced inexpensively on weaving machines.

And so manufacturers are increasingly trimming bicycles with carbon for lightweight construction - forks, seat posts and handlebars are also more often made of the material.

Brakes

Disc brakes on bicycles are almost as old as the bicycle itself. Large component manufacturers added them to their ranges in the 1970s;

They came into fashion in the 1990s, initially on mountain bikes.

In the past, disc brakes would have cost around 2,000 marks, says Brust, "now there are good systems for 300 euros." And it can be even cheaper.

The disc brakes, which grip more firmly and are less sensitive to moisture, are increasingly displacing the rim brakes, which are deficient in this regard.

"Even in the last bastion of rim brakes, the racing bike," disc brakes are now mostly installed, says Michael Wild from Shimano general importer Paul Lange in Stuttgart.

Rim brakes are often only used on bicycles in the price range up to 1000 euros.

"But here, too, disc brakes are playing an increasingly important role."

Bicycle expert Brust estimates the rate of hydraulic or mechanical disc brakes on non-electrified bicycles at 50 percent, and the trend is rising.

Around 80 percent of e-bikes are equipped with hydraulic disc brakes.

The prices for disc brakes from the same series have risen in the last five years, says Wild.

The reason is improved technology in successor models.

Adjusted for performance, the components have tended to become cheaper.

lighting

A flickering halogen sparkle that receives power from a dynamo that hums on the side of the tire: This is what bicycle lights used to look like.

"Twenty years ago, the side-running dynamo was still standard," says test engineer Brust.

However, the lighting on bicycles has long been drawing power from easily running hub dynamos or batteries that supply LED light sources.

Here, too, new technology has quickly spread to the lower market segments: LEDs were represented early on in recumbent bikes or more expensive city and trekking bikes, says Sebastian Göttling, spokesman for Busch & Müller, a manufacturer of bicycle lighting based in Meinerzhagen in the Sauerland. “You can only find halogen light today on cheap bikes.” In 2005, the company's first LED headlight cost 50 euros, today the entry-level model, which also shines brighter, costs 20 euros.

But technical progress has also made bicycle lamps more expensive. The more powerful models no longer work with lens-based optics, but with mirror technology, which, according to Göttling, distributes the light more homogeneously over a larger area. Today you can spend several hundred euros on a bicycle headlight. The app-controlled flagship from competitor Supernova (which launched its first LED model in 2004) with gold-plated connectors not only achieves 275 lux, but also costs 539 euros including software updates after purchase and battery pack.

Bicycle lights are being transformed from add-on accessories to integrated components: Manufacturers such as Bianchi, Urwahn, Vanmoof or Furo Systems are making LEDs disappear in the frame, parts manufacturers such as Lightskin build seat posts and handlebars with integrated diodes.

According to Marco Brust, “integrated lighting” is a trend that will still pick up speed - also because thanks to LED technology it is possible to build tiny lights.

E-bikes and their components

The share of e-bikes in the overall bicycle market, which has been growing for years, alone stands for the democratization of technology: According to ZIV data, pedelecs in Germany already had a share of 38.7 percent last year.

As a component, the battery has become cheaper - but it is still the most expensive part of the e-bike.

"The costs per watt-hour have fallen by around 50 percent in the last five years," says breast expert.

Armin Harttig, sales manager at Bosch E-Bike Systems, one of the market leaders in pedelec components, confirms the fundamental trend.

In 2012, for example, Bosch recommended a price of 599 euros for a 288 watt-hour battery; today, a 500-watt-hour pack from a specialist retailer costs 739 euros (RRP).

As a result, the price at Bosch in terms of watt hours has fallen from a good two euros to just under 1.50 euros over the past ten years.

However, the bottom line is that customers often spend more money because they opt for larger batteries.

According to ZIV spokesman Eisenberger, it is difficult to predict how the prices of e-bike batteries will develop in view of delivery bottlenecks and a shortage of raw materials.

“Economies of scale will also continue to play a role” - increasing unit numbers will reduce production costs.

more on the subject

Bicycle trend: How to find the right e-bike for youBy Stefan Weißenborn

According to Harttig, e-bike motors “have remained at a comparable level over the years, while at the same time they have become lighter and more compact”.

However, many drives today have more torque - and are more expensive than weaker motors of yore.

The supplier does not give exact prices, as motors are not sold individually to end customers, but are instead installed as part of the drive system by bicycle manufacturers.

However, figures from the two-wheel industry association do not show that e-bikes - without corona effects - have become fundamentally cheaper - on the contrary.

Such a bike currently costs an average of around 2600 euros in Germany.

For 2015, the association determined the average price of 2000 euros.

Nevertheless, e-bikes are cheaper than in their early years: e-models from brands like Scott and Cannondale, which installed the first Bosch drives, still cost at least 2600 and 2800 euros in 2011.

E-bikes with Bosch technology are currently being traded from around 1,800 euros.

That is exactly the guideline value that industry experts call the minimum price above which good quality e-bikes are sold.

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2021-07-26

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