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 Bicycles are anything but East German algos. 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" - there is a lively cycling scene. People 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 includes 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. Here's a look behind the scenes at Sour Bicycles.
Sour Bicycles: Stylish welding work
Where the military and defunct industries once ruled, somewhere in the north of Dresden, the satnav fails despite the correct address. No street sign, no house number. A half-open gate, behind it a cracked concrete floor with pioneer plants breaking through. In front of it, workmen are smoking their cigarettes in a van. "A bicycle company? Here? No idea." But far behind is a colourfully painted van with capital letters on it: SOUR. Christoph Süße, founder of the company and originator of the playful name - "sour" means "sour" in English - has been living on the premises for two months. He really hasn't had time to take care of the decorations yet.
His thumb and index finger mark a span of around eight centimetres: "There was dust and shavings that high everywhere! And we only had four weeks to turn the old metal workshop into our new company headquarters." The brand has been around since 2020; Süße founded the limited company on the last day before the coronavirus lockdown, before which the qualified engineer worked as a designer for others. He has been a bike freak since his youth, but when it comes to "crooked handlebars", the man in his late thirties is a career changer: "We founded an association in the 1990s to build a legal dirt racing track in Dresden. I grew up with skateboarding and BMX."
For a long time, the brand primarily stood for robust and customised trail hardtails with long-travel suspension forks and a slack steering angle. The steel gravel bikes, which have only been available since 2022, are also a success. While most of the almost 1000 frames sold each year are the basis for individual mountain bike builds, gravel customers like to buy complete bikes that are assembled right behind the showroom.
Regional supply chains
I no longer have to order countless frames nine months in advance, but produce what we need. - Christoph Süsse
However, Christoph Süße took the decisive step in terms of vertical integration two years ago: Sour switched from a Taiwanese frame manufacturer to in-house production in Saxony - a consequence of the coronavirus experience with fragile supply chains, but also a decision in favour of more flexibility and control. "That's really good," he says. "I no longer have to order countless frames nine months in advance, but can produce what we need."
In Klingenthal, the well-known winter sports resort just before the Czech border, two welders in a former harmonica factory have been joining the frame tubes, which are still manufactured in Taiwan, with seat clamps, dropouts and small parts developed in-house since 2022. The geometries are fixed, but colours and some details are variable for an extra charge - an affordable middle ground between elite custom frame construction and uniform mass production.
Since then, the logistics between frame construction and the company headquarters are no longer handled by an overseas container, but by the transporter in the yard. It usually drives a triangular route, because in addition to the company headquarters in Dresden and frame production in Klingenthal, powder coating in another part of Dresden is also on the itinerary. Competitors Veloheld and Rotor are also customers of the same paint shop. Can this density of independent brands be a coincidence? Süße explains the cycling hotspot Dresden rather matter-of-factly: "We have degree programmes for construction, design and manufacturing here. And bicycles are a favourite subject for final theses. Then there's the surrounding landscape: I can be on the next bike trail in 30 seconds or ride 60 kilometres of gravel without being stuck in traffic. It's kind of the Freiburg of the East."
The wheel of the brand: Sour Purple Haze
- From 2999 Euro
- Frame set from 1349 euros
The Purple Haze model is Sour's offering for coarser gravel. Tyres up to 55 millimetres wide fit through the frame and fork. The steel frame is designed for modern tapered carbon forks, thru axles and flat mount brakes and is available in seven sizes. The bike shown largely corresponds to the most favourable complete bike set-up, but the transparent matt paint with a view of the weld seams was a customer request.
About Sour Bicycles
- Founded: 2020
- Location: Dresden
- Frame construction: Klingenthal
- Employees: 8-10
- Production: 800-1000 Frames and complete wheels
- Offer: Gravel and mountain bikes with steel frames
