The follow-up visits: Vol.2
Another innovative company that we met on Eurobike 2009 were the guys from Bionicon. Recommended by their good friends from Fixie-Inc. I visited their booth in Friedrichshafen. Though I was not looking after Mountain Bikes or anything else from the “sporty-section” I was impressed by the package of technological outstanding solutions.
[A small step into history]
In 1996 Bionicon founders Andi Fesl, Stefan Albrecht and Daniel Kohl bought their first full-suspension bike and only half a year later they started to think seriously about how to optimise their daily ride, as they were not satisfied with the uphill performance.
The rising front wheel on uphill sections and a hurting neck drove them insane. Lots of brainstorming, doubts over existing products and inspiration from nature showed the path towards suspension travel and geometry adjustment as a way to optimise the daily ride, apart from simply reducing weight.
Step by step theories were developed, the first basic model was created in 1998 and many versions followed. In 1999 the development was shifted to a pneumatic link system.
It was more logical to adjust the front and the rear of the chassis simultaneously as animals do. More then 20 different versions were created in their little work shop in Bavaria.
On May 1st 2000 this technology was presented for the first time to the world of Mountainbiking at the Lake Garda Bike Festival. This was the point of no return and they found themselves in the centre of attention with envious onlookers from within the bike industry.
Winning the ISPO DuPont Brand New Award 2000 for the most innovative sports product gavetons of PR and drove them to bring this system into the market.
In April 2002 this pioneering product was finally available for everybody and the company was created… [Source: www.bionicon.com]
Meanwhile Bionicon has an approx. turnover of 2 million Euros a year, 20 employees in Germany and another 10 abroad. The strategy diversifys for other areas as well. The frame adaption patents are used by renowned bicycle producers all over the world, the company invests in high quality bicycle wear and started recently to support MTB- Tourism projects…
Join a small tour through Bionicon headquarter:
Special thanks to Marco Toniolo, who authorized me to use his perfect pictures from an earlier visit a year ago. But they were so much better than my poor “drive-by-shootings” that it would be an offence to anyone’s eyes to use them in this article…
Alternatives? Do it with BAMBOO !
Anyway:
In April 2010 the brand new Bionicon TESLA will come to Portugal! 
web 2.0