25 years of FLYER: turn the handlebars, charge the battery, ride
Hans Wüthrich, one of the first FLYER dealers, talks about how he found out about FLYER e-bikes.
“The F FLYER was an incredible machine, but sales didn't really take off until the C Series”, explains Hans Wüthrich, a FLYER dealer from Burgdorf, which is in the Emmental valley and just a stone's throw from Kirchberg, where the inventors of FLYER worked at the beginning.
Hans Wüthrich opened his Rennshop (racing shop) in Burgdorf in 1975. As a passionate racing bike rider with an impressive array of awards, he is particularly knowledgeable about sophisticated Italian racing bikes. It goes without saying that, in addition to racing bikes, his bicycle shop also stocks everyday bicycles for women, men, and children.
Philippe Kohlbrenner, the inventor of the “Red Buffalo”, bought parts for his original FLYER from Hans Wüthrich. However, it was not until a few years later that Hans Wüthrich included the first FLYER e-bike in his range. Fascinated by the technology, Hans Wüthrich started to sell the FLYER F Series in his shop in Burgdorf. Business success remained moderate and only a few of the fast and sporty F FLYER bikes were actually sold. At the time, people interested in e-bikes were generally no longer very mobile and were looking for a bike that would make cycling comfortable, and therefore appealing again. “Customers who felt that the F FLYER was simply too sporty, found exactly what they were looking for in the C Series”, explains Hans Wüthrich, “even through many of them were not that keen on a women's bicycle with a low step-through frame at first.”
Even when other brands started increasingly offering e-bikes, FLYER remained a fixed part of the range. Hans Wüthrich goes on to say that there were virtually no problems with the C Series and that the FLYER bikes were always well assembled when they arrived at the shop. Turn the handlebars, charge the battery, and ride: with little effort, the FLYER was ready for the customer.
Back then, Hans Wüthrich rarely got onto an e-bike and this has not really changed. At more than 70 years of age, he is still top fit and remains an enthusiastic racing bike rider who uses no additional drive and relies only on the “organic” battery in his thighs and calf muscles. When he goes out for a ride in the Emmental valley with his wife, she accompanies him on a FLYER e-bike, which she also uses for everyday rides in and around Burgdorf.
From the breakthrough of the FLYER brand to the current new products for the 2020 season, the team from Rennshop Wüthrich in Burgdorf has been inspiring passion for FLYER e-bikes for two decades now. This passion has continued with Hans's son Martin who manages the specialist Rennshop Wüthrich bicycle shop today.
“We are looking forward to continuing our successful cooperation with FLYER in future, too”, says Team Wüthrich. We are also looking forward to this!
