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<\/a>Nicolai frames are hand crafted in L\u00fcbbrechtsen, Germany.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nMuch of Germany\u2019s modern economic miracle is anchored in Mittelstand companies. Smaller enterprises, most family owned, with exceptional specialisation in technical fields and niche manufacturing. The Mittelstand companies have strategic vision provided by the world\u2019s best technical universities and products built by some of the very best artisan system graduates. If you\u2019ve ever seen the craftsmanship on a boutique German aluminium bike, you\u2019d know.<\/p>\n
They build everything. But bikes?<\/h2>\n
Why do German bike brands remain slumbering giants (pun, intended), if it\u2019s such a wish list environment for engineering and industrial design? The domestic commuter market is immense and for most, demand has been sufficient to sustain a profitable business. But commuters are not our concern, nor are the custom bikes that German engineers have teased us with so often in the past \u2013 as vanity projects for the automotive industry.<\/p>\n
Signalling a looming revolution, are Canyon and YT. With their disruptive direct sales business model and bikes of distinctive style \u2013 Capras aren\u2019t mistaken for anything else \u2013 and notable innovation (Canyon\u2019s shape-shifter geometry), the German mountain bike Blitzkrieg could be imminent.<\/p>\n
German ingenuity in mountain biking is inarguable. SRAM\u2019s drivetrain engineering R&D office isn\u2019t in Schweinfurt because the beer and bacon is that much better than Colorado Springs. One by eleven. Eagle. These are examples of what SRAM\u2019s German engineers deliver when challenged \u2013 and the justification for SRAM to have a crucial part of its business operating nine time zones away.<\/p>\n With a virtually inexhaustible pool of talent schooled in the fields of conceptual design and prototyping, balanced by an absurd adherence to strict testing protocols and an obsession with flawless manufacturing, why would you want to have a bike design bureau anywhere else but Germany?<\/p>\n Europe is biased towards road cycling but the e-bike phenomenon has enabled an entire new pool of off-road riders to explore gradient terrain without yellow or white lines.<\/p>\n The demand for suspension e-bikes is enormous and that should redress some of the supply chain and strategic bias toward road bikes, which have dominated European cycling as a business ever since v\u00e9los became more sport than transport after the war. You wouldn\u2019t principally bet against the Germans to build a pretty decent e-bike, now would you?<\/p>\n \u2018I hate e-bikes. What are you on about?<\/em>\u2019 European off-road e-bikes are stimulating demand for quality carbon fibre mountain bike frame design in a way unlike ever before. And in Germany, despite its lack of aviation production \u2013 ordinarily the gateway industry to downstream advanced material availability \u2013 composites have become big business.<\/p>\n<\/a>The assembly line at Canyon’s factory in Koblenz.<\/span><\/p>\nLooking beyond the road<\/h2>\n