Hans is incredible. His knowledge and advocacy goes so much deeper than just mountain biking and trials. I’m glad you brought up how differently we view bicycles in the developed world, especially given our recent feature on the Buffalo Bicycle.
Having essentially pioneered the art of ‘earning a living as a non-racer’, the industry has finally adapted to what Hans was doing 30 years ago. Yet, he is using his reach for projects like Wheels4Life. Hans constantly reinvents himself and adapts to whatever bicycles are in the current moment, and that’s why he has remained so relevant for so long. Great interview.
One thing that caught my eye is some of the Wheels4Life bikes have metal rods from the handlebars down to the front axles. I can't figure out what they would be for except a kind of suspension but I don't see any pivot points.
Also they seem to have front brakes actuated with a rod and a lever the full width of the handlebar. I never saw any like this before.
It might be interesting to look at this type similar to the Buffalo video, and raise more awareness for Wheels4Life. It seems like these might be Neelam bikes. They look maybe like the "Black Mamba" model but I can't find much info.
It looks like a derivative of the Chinese "Flying Pigeon", for example FP-TR2805. I think you are right about those rods being suspension - the front fork has a lot of offset and it looks like the crown (or what that thing is called where the fork, forks) has a rod through it.
Always Love learning about the history of the sport and bike in general as I'm relatively new to the sport (2017). This was a great read for me. Thank you Dan and Hans for doing this and Seth for putting this type of content out.
Hans is incredible. His knowledge and advocacy goes so much deeper than just mountain biking and trials. I’m glad you brought up how differently we view bicycles in the developed world, especially given our recent feature on the Buffalo Bicycle.
Having essentially pioneered the art of ‘earning a living as a non-racer’, the industry has finally adapted to what Hans was doing 30 years ago. Yet, he is using his reach for projects like Wheels4Life. Hans constantly reinvents himself and adapts to whatever bicycles are in the current moment, and that’s why he has remained so relevant for so long. Great interview.
This was a good read.
One thing that caught my eye is some of the Wheels4Life bikes have metal rods from the handlebars down to the front axles. I can't figure out what they would be for except a kind of suspension but I don't see any pivot points.
Also they seem to have front brakes actuated with a rod and a lever the full width of the handlebar. I never saw any like this before.
It might be interesting to look at this type similar to the Buffalo video, and raise more awareness for Wheels4Life. It seems like these might be Neelam bikes. They look maybe like the "Black Mamba" model but I can't find much info.
It looks like a derivative of the Chinese "Flying Pigeon", for example FP-TR2805. I think you are right about those rods being suspension - the front fork has a lot of offset and it looks like the crown (or what that thing is called where the fork, forks) has a rod through it.
Always Love learning about the history of the sport and bike in general as I'm relatively new to the sport (2017). This was a great read for me. Thank you Dan and Hans for doing this and Seth for putting this type of content out.
Thank you for such an fascinating in-depth interview with a true pioneer.