RadMarkt.de 2021/05/26
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Consumer magazine “Marktcheck” on German TV: E-bike workshop check reveals shortcomings

The purchase of an electric-assisted bike involves maintenance and service: Yesterday evening, the programme Marktcheck on the German regional channel SWR was about used e-bikes subjected to a workshop check. The results were alarming, as the regional channel SWR found out.

Bicycle expert Dirk Zedler checked the electric-assisted bikes in the workshop before and after the service.

Three workshops were checked at random for the 11-minute report in the consumer magazine. The electric-assisted bikes of viewers that had been used for several years were sent for servicing. Before and after the dealer inspection, the bikes were examined by the publicly appointed and sworn bicycle and e-bike expert Dirk Zedler in his test workshop. The result: not all defects were detected, one bike was even returned to the customer with life-threatening defects. According to the expert, the order taking is already an opportunity for the customer to assess the seriousness of the dealer, because one can expect from them that such a conversation takes at least ten minutes and is conducted competently.

Werner Metzger, a bicycle retailer located in Freiburg and head master and board member of Baden-Wuerttemberg’s bicycle mechanic guild, also has his say in the TV report. In his opinion, the lack of qualified staff in the industry is due to the training policy. “Without a master craftsman whose skills also include the instructor qualification, I cannot train a two-wheeler mechatronic technician.” Many companies have focused on trade and neglected the workshop in recent years. They do not have the capacity to deal with the increasing piece numbers.

If you want to watch the video, it will be available in the Mediathek for another year.

Author: RadMarkt
Photo: Zedler-Institut

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