The FLYER experience

I’m converted!! I admit to adding yet another addiction to my life. Ok, I think this one is a rather healthy one, not the worst one to have at all. I’ve just started to read a book by a like-minded addict and he insists it’s just a choice of lifestyle, good for me!! It’s about enjoying the flow and ease of things rather than having to work hard before you get something back in return. That’s right. It’s about fun?! And so far I didn’t think biking was so much about fun. I like biking. I like seeing nature pass by rather slowly, the ability to stop anywhere, no need for gas stops and certainly no dependency on public transport infrastructure. But gee, do I hate the idea of mountains mounting up IN FRONT of me. Nothing to say against them once I’m up there but do I really have to get up first to have the pleasure of flying like the wind when it’s time to go downhill?? Now, imagine that all the while carrying luggage for 180 days of cycling, conferencing, cycling, conferencing, more cycling – or as Kalyan would say ‘traveliving’ across all the states of India??

Fast forward to 6.45 pm on sunny Friday afternoon – the day of having found MY preferred solution (sorry Kalyan, not sure I will have it any other way!!). I’m tired but so happy I came all the way into this toy-like land of Emmentaler cheese where even the German they speak here sounds like out of the old folk movie ‘Heidi’. The day started with the fact that we had completely underestimated the size of Huttwil where the Biketech AG produced its whopping 27.000 FLYER bikes last year. It just sounds so cute: Huttwil. Well, it was a long way through the town to the factory and headquarters of Biketec AG, which produces the Flyer bikes. When Peter Heller from Canopus Foundation and I finally arrived at reception of the factory Anita Glauser received us with a big smile on her face. We were invited to help ourselves to one of the drinks and then the tour of these still rather new premises (and already reaching maximum capacity) began. We started with talking about the Folks on Spokes project and the requirements for the bikes, which we will use to clock the 12.000km in 180 days through rural India. She showed us the bikes she recommended and explained the whole FLYER concept: a bicycle on which you can increase the impact you have whilst pedaling through an electro motor by 50-150%. Imagine that!!! You pedal just normally but are basically lifted up any hill nearly effortlessly. We tested one bike each from the X and S series for a 10km ride around the villages in the area, through forest, fields and on roads and we were both hooked. At first we didn’t quite dare going all the way to the max, especially up hill in the midst of the forest on a trekking path but once we worked out the different kind of gears, brakes and other well-thought parts we got more brave with every minute. I took the bicycle to 38,6km/hour on a straight road in the highest modus with 150% and still did small hills without the assist-modus at all. But most of all I loved the experience in the rough conditions. The only question remaining is how much effort it takes to ride this rather heavy machine when the battery packs are empty. The bikes have a light weight aluminum frame, which doesn’t take anything from its robustness (and yes, Kalyan, I can lift that with one hand but the motor with it’s 2,6kg and the necessary ‘surrounding parts’. Lucky for me, Peter assisted with all the good questions regarding the make of the bikes and I listen to this new language with my ears wide open. Will I be able to cope when something goes wrong? What’s the must-knows I better pick up quickly, what’s the repairs we possibly have to do ourselves on the road and what the parts we’d better carry with us in rural India?

However, the tour convinces me, convinces us – both, Peter and I have this glow in our eyes and happy grin on the face that I’m sure the Biketec staff sees again and again. This is the right bike concept for our tour through India, I’m sure. It puts in far closer reach what I doubted so far: that I am physically able to do this trip. Sure, we can use trains or buses for the longer distances but the bike is the core vehicle of the trip and even though I like riding them, I hardly ever did more than 60-80km in a day. And that was in my good times, when I was much younger – and fit. And yet, this doubt is precisely what causes my motivation to get strong again, to overcome the last effects of the burnout suffered last year and to put zest & passion back into my life. It’s fueling fear and motivation at once. But FLYER bikes, they’d really make it possible. If only the calculation on the weight we can take with us, holds. I don’t think we can take 2-3 extra battery packs, each of them weighing 2,6kg plus a 500g recharger, plus a mountain of spare parts. We’ll see.

But there is other reasons to opt for these bikes. When Ms Glauser showed us the production facilities and explained the standards it was built to and the philosophy behind it, we were even more impressed. Already upon arrival we saw the solar panels on the roof and I discovered that they used rainwater in their toilets. But there was so much more to it, the way the production line was thought through to make it less straining and boring for their workers, the materials they use and much, much more. It’s just in line with the whole purpose of our trip, which at the end of the day is so much more than just an adventure. When Ms Glauser drives us back to the station so that we’ll make it for our train in time, we’re both duly impressed. I immediately immerse myself in the literature Ms Glauser kindly provided us with, amongst them the diaries of a young Swiss fellow who toured half of Europe on a FLYER bike and neatly summarized his experiences with all the products and materials used in a great little book.

And there they are again, the doubts… Are we crazy? Are we dreamers? Yes. So what?? We’re going after paradigm shift, we might just as well shift the means we use to do so. We will do this, so much is for sure. So the question that remains is on the ‘how to’. The decision to go on this journey is made. And its irreversible!

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