It does indeed mean Shark! Haibike was founded in 1995 by
‘E.Wiener Bike Parts‘which was established as early as 1914 in Schweinfurt,
Germany. Susanne Puello, Haibike’s current MD, is the great-grand daughter of
Engelbert Wiener. So the business has remained in the same family hands for
over 100 years! Haibike was intended as a sporting brand to add to ‘E.Wiener
Bike Parts‘portfolio of traditional cycles. In effect, Haibike planted the seed of the first
‘true’ eMTB, with the Xduro in 2010. Being there from the start and pushing the
boundaries of tech is completely ingrained in Haibike’s ethos.
Going from being an established sports brand on our home
turf of Germany to being the world’s premier electric bike brand within 7 years
is pretty radical. It’s a time of a huge shift in the way people engage in
cycling, and we’re glad to be playing the biggest role in that. It’s always an
odd thing to engage with. It’s faded hugely in the last 2-3 years, so it’s not
necessarily something we lose sleep over. In the past, predominantly, we found
the most criticism came from guys who simply hadn’t tried one, there’s also an
assumption from the hardened cyclist that the product is designed for them.
Well what about the 95% of people who don’t cycle at all? As
cyclists we tend to easily forget the hardships of committing to the sport and
persevering with getting out there. Ebikes
allow those regular people to minimize the barriers to cycling while maximizing
the joy right from the first ride – ebikers end up being more consistent with
their commitment to riding too! How many people buy a bike only for it to turn
it into a home for spiders in the shed? All R&D is done in Schweinfurt
Germany, alongside various frame and component makers the world over. In fact
certain models, such as the high end Carbon, Nduro, and DH Xduro production
models are actually assembled in Schweinfurt.
Haibike
takes a zero compromise approach to design and function, employing the same
Gravity Casting technique throughout their model range irrespective of price
point. “The centrepiece of the frame: the motor interface. At this joining
point many povot functions come together: like the engine mount, swing arm and shock
mounts, and the battery and downtube connection. The more stable and stationary
the interface is, the more stable the entire frame will be. We started using a
casting process from the motorcycle industry, gravity casting, in 2010.
Negative moulds are created from compressed sand, filled with aluminium-zinc
alloy, and then rotated along precisely calculated axes. Thanks to gravity,
there is uniform thickness throughout the casting. Each cast interface is then
CNC finished and x-rayed to ensure perfection.”
