The current production is German Lynda, having been moved from WEVCO in China to one of the major German cycle manufacturers who produce the frames etc. Germany does produce a large range of cycle parts for many German bikes including all wheel components, lighting systems and many minor items, plus of course several motor systems for e-bikes. The main large scale buy-ins from the orient are gear and brake systems like Shimano etc.

.

Edited December 12, 201312 yr by flecc

the only German component is the wheels. Rims & spokes from Büchel and tyres from Schwalbe. Maybe the chainguard is German.

Are you sure about that Trex, the main German manufacturers make their own alloy frames?

Are you sure about that Trex, the main German manufacturers make their own alloy frames?

 

No, I am not. The most attractive quality of made (or assembled) in Germany is the German attitude to quality control. Defective components will not be 'salvaged', all the bolts and nuts will be tightened to the specified torque value.

Alas, that aspect will be lost if production is moved to China.

With regard to frames, many German companies, including Derby Cycles, use 'approved manufacturing partners' for this. Many have too hygienic factory floors to make low value frames.

Even MIFA (in their annual report) buy in their frames and paint them in their workshop.

Edited December 12, 201312 yr by trex

Thanks Trex. Yes, the German build standards are very high, it seems only the largest companies with high volume demand can get anything like those standards from China.

Kudos Dave,

 

Why don't you slap a 500W motor on a Kudos?

 

You know you want to.

 

Call it the Kudos Catharis.

 

RobF....actually I have got an 800 watt motor x 20 Ah Lithium battery bike as part of my 2015 programme....I will try to get some photos up soon.....it is fully road legal and will do 30 plus mph,price about £1300-£1400.

KudosDave

Name me a good bike in the shops that fits the £1,000 bracket.

 

If you are looking to replace your e-bike, with a few exceptions, you'll end up with a self build.

 

I really should have avoided this temptation....the Kudos Tornado at £1095.00....the first batch sold out very quickly,we have a bigger batch due January

KudosDave

RobF....actually I have got an 800 watt motor x 20 Ah Lithium battery bike as part of my 2015 programme....I will try to get some photos up soon.....it is fully road legal and will do 30 plus mph,price about £1300-£1400.

KudosDave

 

Come on Dave...stop playing games with us all.....just blooming admit you are getting a 'special' bike from Banbury Frank......

 

Lynda

Hi you are all a bit behind the times our new bike now has a top speed no pedalling with a 20 stone rider

 

40MPH + 3500 watts £4500

 

Frank

Hi you are all a bit behind the times our new bike now has a top speed no pedalling with a 20 stone rider

 

40MPH + 3500 watts £4500

 

Frank

 

Well.......that killed that conversation dead.....

 

Lynda

No, I am not. The most attractive quality of made (or assembled) in Germany is the German attitude to quality control. Defective components will not be 'salvaged', all the bolts and nuts will be tightened to the specified torque value.

Glad to hear it's still active. I have a 1953 Linhof camera which is just as tight and nice to use as the day it left the factory. In fact, it's so good I feel no urge at all to move to a later model. I also have a 1937/8 model which is nearly as good, although more of an orphaned format (but not impossible to get film for). I could say, "They don't make 'em like that anymore", but in fact, they do. Linhof are still alive and kicking, but their prices would make your eyes water.

Hi all, I have been away from the forum for a while whilst the merger was happening wit FreeGo. I am pleased to say we are 95% there now and I am enjoying working with my new partners.

 

We moved from China to Germany due to continuous problems with late deliveries and poor attention to detail in the Chinese factories. The move to Germany seemed sensible at the time and we have learned an awful lot.

 

The parts used on the Wisper Classic bikes are mainly from Asia, the same can be said of the vast majority of bicycles "produced" in Germany. The wheels, spokes, tyres and some parts are said to be German, however on deeper investigation, there are very few bicycle parts actually made there. Parts may be designed and the tooling may be owned by German businesses but the parts are very often actually made in Asia and shipped into Germany.

 

It has taken us a year to get the German bike builder we are working with to build our bikes perfectly, and I must say they are now fantastic. Of course there are many advantages to having our bikes built there, but we have experienced "different" problems, problems that we didn't ever encounter in China.

 

The "different" problems are to do with getting anything new or changes made to the bikes in production. The factory we are working with are great, unless we need to change or tweak anything.

 

I spent a couple of weeks in China in December visiting FreeGo's three suppliers and must say I was massively impressed. FreeGo have an outstanding reputation for selling bikes that do not go wrong, and after seeing the factories I understand why. I now understand how FreeGo can offer a 5 day no quibble exchange policy. That is to say, if anything goes wrong with a FreeGo bike in the first year and it cannot be repaired within 5 working days, they simply give their customers a new bike in exchange for the old one. The factories were all clean, modern and very well run, they employed staff on very good wages, staff who take massive pride in their work. These were certainly superior to the factories I had been involved with in the past. The staff had and knew how to use torque wrenches and checked and double checked their work.

 

We also visited our new battery supplier, wow! I have never seen anything like it anywhere in the world. A brand new factory that produce hundreds of thousands of batteries a day for Apple alone. So if anyone is thinking of buying an IPhone, Macbook, or IPad. I have seen where the batteries are made! China is becoming more expensive and there is no doubt that a lot of companies will start to move production out of China for this reason. China is becoming modern and very professional.

 

Suffice to say we will indeed be placing orders with one of the factories for 5 new Wisper models that will be launched later in the year. The bikes will enjoy some very clever new technology. The new top of the range Wisper will look nothing like our traditional Classics and will only have three electronic components. More to follow soon. For the time being we will also continue to have the Classics made in Germany.

 

To conclude, there are advantages and disadvantages to using German or Chinese assemblers, we are currently trying to take advantage of both.

 

All the best

 

David

Hi all, I have been away from the forum for a while whilst the merger was happening wit FreeGo. I am pleased to say we are 95% there now and I am enjoying working with my new partners.

 

We moved from China to Germany due to continuous problems with late deliveries and poor attention to detail in the Chinese factories. The move to Germany seemed sensible at the time and we have learned an awful lot.

 

The parts used on the Wisper Classic bikes are mainly from Asia, the same can be said of the vast majority of bicycles "produced" in Germany. The wheels, spokes, tyres and some parts are said to be German, however on deeper investigation, there are very few bicycle parts actually made there. Parts may be designed and the tooling may be owned by German businesses but the parts are very often actually made in Asia and shipped into Germany.

 

It has taken us a year to get the German bike builder we are working with to build our bikes perfectly, and I must say they are now fantastic. Of course there are many advantages to having our bikes built there, but we have experienced "different" problems, problems that we didn't ever encounter in China.

 

The "different" problems are to do with getting anything new or changes made to the bikes in production. The factory we are working with are great, unless we need to change or tweak anything.

 

I spent a couple of weeks in China in December visiting FreeGo's three suppliers and must say I was massively impressed. FreeGo have an outstanding reputation for selling bikes that do not go wrong, and after seeing the factories I understand why. I now understand how FreeGo can offer a 5 day no quibble exchange policy. That is to say, if anything goes wrong with a FreeGo bike in the first year and it cannot be repaired within 5 working days, they simply give their customers a new bike in exchange for the old one. The factories were all clean, modern and very well run, they employed staff on very good wages, staff who take massive pride in their work. These were certainly superior to the factories I had been involved with in the past. The staff had and knew how to use torque wrenches and checked and double checked their work.

 

We also visited our new battery supplier, wow! I have never seen anything like it anywhere in the world. A brand new factory that produce hundreds of thousands of batteries a day for Apple alone. So if anyone is thinking of buying an IPhone, Macbook, or IPad. I have seen where the batteries are made! China is becoming more expensive and there is no doubt that a lot of companies will start to move production out of China for this reason. China is becoming modern and very professional.

 

Suffice to say we will indeed be placing orders with one of the factories for 5 new Wisper models that will be launched later in the year. The bikes will enjoy some very clever new technology. The new top of the range Wisper will look nothing like our traditional Classics and will only have three electronic components. More to follow soon. For the time being we will also continue to have the Classics made in Germany.

 

To conclude, there are advantages and disadvantages to using German or Chinese assemblers, we are currently trying to take advantage of both.

 

All the best

 

David

 

Hi David,

 

It is surprising what you find when you start to peel back the veneers.

 

I agreed with your conclusions you have to be able to be flexible in the modern fast moving markets.

 

Being first to market is where the money is albeit for a short time span.

 

I hope the move is successful for you and you can progress with the new merger backup in place, I hope your Companies attention to customer service rubs off on the rest of the UK industry.

 

Maybe unrestricted warranty transfers could be something you could look into, it would certainly be a first

Edited January 16, 201412 yr by shemozzle999

Thanks very much for your kind words Shemozzle!

 

We do offer a warranty transfer, but the bike has to be bought from one of our stockists. This is the only way we can be certain the bike has not been misused or damaged before the transfer.

 

All the best

 

David

Thanks very much for your kind words Shemozzle!

 

We do offer a warranty transfer, but the bike has to be bought from one of our stockists. This is the only way we can be certain the bike has not been misused or damaged before the transfer.

 

All the best

 

David

 

Hi David,

 

I don't know if you saw this previous thread regarding warranty policy:

 

http://pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/wisper-warrranty-online-register.16100/#post-197580