Kiener was an elite athlete in the 4x discipline for many years. As a member of the national team, he took part in European and World Championships and competed in the 4x World Cup for eight years. The 4x, dual slalom and downhill disciplines have shaped Adrian's mountain bike background. In recent years, he has also increasingly dedicated himself to the up-and-coming discipline of pump track. However, Adrian's great passion is still mountain biking on natural trails, exactly where it all began 25 years ago. "I am proud to present the CONTRAIL_AK, an uncompromising trail bike that bears my signature in terms of design, equipment and suspension"

Bergamont, headquartered in Hamburg, distributes bikes in twenty countries around the world. With the CONTRAIL_AK model, a small series is being launched exclusively for the Swiss market. "Adrian's experience and passion for the sport are reflected in this special series. With the AK model, we are expanding our successful Contrail model series. We are delighted to present the limited special series together with our team rider," says Stefan Schär, CEO of Bergamont Switzerland.

Adrian Kiener's interpretation of the Bergamont Contrail is characterized by top-class and tailor-made equipment. The carbon frame, newly launched in 2015, offers 120 millimeters of suspension travel with the brand new SR Suntour UNAIR suspension strut. At the front is the 130 millimeter AURON fork, also from SR Suntour. The suspension has undergone a WERX tuning for the perfect trail setup. This tuning is usually reserved for SR Suntour team athletes only. The cockpit combines the 740 millimeter Enve "Rise Bar" with the 60 millimeter Thomson X4 stem. Another highlight are the 29-inch M60-Forty carbon wheels from Enve with DT Swiss 240s hubs and competition spokes from DT Swiss. The other specifications also leave nothing to be desired: Complete XTR 1x11 groupset as well as components from Chris King, Thomson, Maxxis, Fizik and Odi.

The series is strictly limited, with 30 bikes being produced in sizes S, M, L and XL. Each frame is provided with a serial number between 1- 30. The CONTRAIL_AK will be available in Swiss specialist shops at the end of May 2015.

The story behind the CONTRAIL_AK
Having your own signature model is probably a dream that most professional bikers have in their heads. A concept that corresponds 100 percent to your own wishes and thus offers the opportunity to incorporate your own experience into a series product. It was almost exactly a year ago that I confronted my sponsor Bergamont Switzerland at the Bike Days Solothurn party with the idea of designing a bike together and launching it on the market. The Bergamont boss then asked me: "What should be different about your bike compared to the current models? Fatal question! "Let's build the ultimate, downhill-oriented trail bike, integrate all my long-standing sponsors and partners and thus bring in my experience and my very personal requirements! A bike that is made for people who tick and ride like me. Every descent should feel like a race run on the perfect bike. Right down to the smallest part of the bike, everything should be of uncompromising quality and work together perfectly as a whole. The bike should be simple and without frills, technically up to date and yet reduced to a minimum."

My passionate short presentation must have been pretty convincing: "We're in!" was the spontaneous and fatal answer. "If you do it all yourself!" At that time, I was already running my own small agency alongside my activities as an athlete. Together with Marika Nygren, I organized events such as the Greenhouse Race and we realized projects in the graphic design and communication sector. Marika is a graphic designer and I know a lot about bikes. With over 20 years of experience in the MTB business, it should be easy. That's what I thought - extremely motivated and thrilled that the "pitch" on my own behalf went down so well straight away.

So we immediately set to work on the marketing concept and an initial, somewhat more detailed description of the project. We agreed with Bergamont on a limited series of 30 bikes exclusively for the Swiss market. My sponsors were enthusiastic about the project and motivated to be part of it. After all, it was the first time I had the opportunity to buy something from my partners and thus give something back on another level for their many years of support. The original concept was to involve all my sponsors. This would have meant that accessories such as protective gear, clothing and gadgets would have been included with the bike. When I first suggested to my helmet sponsor that it would be cool to produce helmets in the bike's colors for the project, I was welcomed with open arms. "We can do it from 400 pieces and we're in!" The eyewear, watch and clothing sponsor echoed a similar sentiment. So that part of the vision of the complete set was immediately off the table and from then on we concentrated on the main thing - the bike.

The choice of frame model was made quickly. It was to be the carbon trail fully "Contrail", which had just been launched by Bergamont. I had already ridden this bike the season before, it is my absolute favorite bike on the trail and, with the "right" specification, an absolute rocket. So we started with the design, the artwork and the color concept. How cool to design your own bike! After realizing that the options are almost unlimited, I realized how difficult it is to commit in the end. I sat at the computer all night looking for bike pictures to inspire me. On the one hand, the bike had to match my style and on the other, it had to be different from the rest of the Bergamont trail collection. The name was clear from the start: my bike should be called "CONTRAIL_AK" and bear my initials. The design itself gradually took shape. We had a lively exchange with the Bergamont parent company in Hamburg. Peter, the designer, taught us what was basically possible and how we had to prepare the data for production in Asia. The Asians work with different color codes than the companies in the West. We learned which surfaces are painted and where stickers are used. After a few Skype sessions and several emails, the design prototype was finally ready, which I sent with a slightly nervous finger on the return key.

Now it was time for the specification - to begin with, I exchanged ideas with Tommy, the engineer of the Contrail frame. We mainly talked about kinematics, thread pitches and thread lengths. For the first time, I noticed every little part of my bike. All in all, I spoke to at least twenty companies, negotiated and finally ordered. I was constantly accompanied by a little uncertainty, hopefully I hadn't made any mistakes when ordering and had thought of everything! Tapered, axle diameter, press fit, direct mount, center lock and all the standards... With all the options, it's easy for something not to fit. Determining the suspension setup was very interesting. We worked with Stéphane, the engineer from my long-standing sponsor SR Suntour, first in the lab and then on the trail.
The shock in particular had to be tuned to the bike and the potential customer. To be honest, it was only through this project that I really understood what exactly constitutes high and low speed compression, for example, and how you can significantly influence the characteristics of a bike through the subtleties of the setup.

Once all the decisions had been made and the specification was finalized, it was time to design the communication and advertising materials. We decided to produce a booklet, flyer, poster, trade fair appearance and a video. In the meantime, the release date had also been set. Now all we really needed was the sample bike to ride to a cool spot with Hoshi Yoshida and shoot some cool footage. As you have to order OEM (original equipment) bikes at least six months in advance, this shouldn't be a problem - I thought. But exactly one of the custom-painted parts didn't want to come. We had to keep postponing the shoot until spring. In the end, that left a pitiful eight days until the release at the Bike Days in Solothurn at the beginning of May. However, I really wanted to return to the place where the idea was born with a finished bike and a finished concept. After a few night shifts behind the screen and subsequent express orders to the printer, we managed to finish everything (OK almost everything) before the show. I've now ridden my bike a few times and I'm proud to say that all the parts I ordered fit perfectly on the bike. The end product is awesome, just as I wanted it to be! I would like to thank everyone who was involved in any way and contributed to making the CONTRAIL_AK so awesome!

The bike was the goal right from the start. With the 'fatal' announcement from Bergamont that we had to take everything into our own hands and plan everything ourselves, the path we traveled last year was also one of the most instructive periods of my sporting and professional career for me and my small agency. Concepts, budgets, timelines, meetings and follow-ups have taken on new dimensions. Even though I still prefer to be on my bike, I am a bit closer and more deeply involved in the bike world than I was a year ago. We'll see what else is to come.

Adrian Kiener