They build their frames from steel, have the courage to use colour and do everything themselves. The young bosses at Bike hero, rotor or Sour are anything but East German. The post-reunification generation is making a name for itself with bikes full of character and likeable founding pride. In Leipzig and especially Dresden - the "Freiburg of the East" - a lively cycling scene is clumping together.
They know each other, utilise synergies and start-up grants, and lobby for bicycles. In addition to manufacturers and specialists such as the carbon tinkerers from Beast or the wheel builders from Light Wolf, the "Cycling Saxony" initiative also brings together traditional companies and large mail-order suppliers. The Bespoked trade fair for handmade bicycles will take place in Dresden for the second time in mid-October. What's going on in Saxony - and why? In search of a fresh sports bike spirit, TOUR took a look around the eastern Free State. This is what it looks like behind the scenes at Rotor...
Rotor bicycle construction
It was a memorable time for the TOUR visit, but transitions are exciting from a reporter's point of view: Rotor had filed for insolvency just four days earlier. Sebastian Billhardt, the previous owner, became an employee of the company. Johannes Hundhammer, ten years younger than Billhardt at just 34, takes over the brand, workshop and materials. Disappointment on the one hand, optimistic curiosity on the other... Yet Hundhammer is already the third Rotor generation - the brand founded by Jonas Machalett in 1996 is an early testimony to East German post-reunification cycling culture. Rotor, a scion of the punk scene in the "hero city" of Leipzig, is, by its own admission, the first brand to use the Rohloff 14-speed hub as standard.
Rather inexpensive, bought-in frames in strong colours, solid equipment and fair prices - Rotor, generation one, soon equipped quite a few of the wanderlust-driven bike travellers who announced endless salt lakes and red African earth with slideshows. This went on for 18 years, with a maximum of 600 bikes sold in 2009, before Machalett sold to Sebastian Billhardt, an enthusiastic newcomer, in 2014. Billhardt lived through the reunification period. His analysis of the upswing in the East German bike scene: "The combination of the feeling of being overrun by the West and the easy access to spaces fuelled the scene. People also wanted to realise and express themselves on a bike - there was no social media."
Rotor's individualisation trend
Partly because there was little to be gained in the disdainful price-performance race with big brands, he reorganised the brand in the direction of increasingly individualised bikes. The in-house frame construction that began in 2020 increased individuality immeasurably. A consulting-intensive business with a demanding clientele and ultimately too little profit: "No two Rotor bikes are the same," he says. In the end, Rotor offered every type of wheel with almost any motorless drive. On the 500 square metres of the Leipzig headquarters, history, construction and spare parts form a living monument that seems worlds away from the ISO-standardised assembly lines of the market giants.
The combination of the feeling of being overrun by the West and the easy access to spaces fuelled the scene. - Sebastian Billhardt
Quirky decorative pieces, quirky humour, plenty of patina - and some really chic sports bikes in between. As Sebastian Billhardt bids farewell to the frame welding shop with three boxes full of milled Columbus tubes and technical drawings, Johannes Hundhammer scratches his head, pondering. He has already taken on new employees, but before the new Rotor wheels can be released into the world, the brand needs to be recalibrated. Hundhammer studied mechanical engineering, is a two-wheel champion and former enduro MTB racer. He seems to be smiling at his own courage. He tightens up and says: "That's my original idea of the engineering profession: taking things in hand, developing things and trying them out."
The wheel: Delong
- Material: Steel (Columbus)
- Weight: 8.2 kilos
- Extras: Rims, stem, handlebars, seat post from Mcfk Carbon (Leipzig) Sebastian Billhardt designed this shiny silver powder-coated racing bike for himself. The slim steel frame is completed by a mechanical Shimano-Ultegra groupset and high-quality carbon parts from Mcfk, also from Leipzig
About Rotor
- Founded: 1996
- Location: Leipzig
- Frame construction: near Dresden
- Employees: 6-10
- Production: k.A.
- Offer: Touring bikes, racing bikes, gravel and mountain bikes with steel frames. Individual and customised production
