Two apprentices from Germany and Switzerland swapped their training places for four weeks: Marius Husfeldt, who is training to become a bicycle mechanic at the Rad&Tour bike store in Cuxhaven, moved to Kriens/Lucerne for the trip. In return, Jonas Zihlmann, an apprentice in his final year at the Velociped bicycle workshop, traveled to the North Sea coast and took over the apprenticeship position at Rad&Tour for a month. This was probably the first German-Swiss bicycle mechanic apprentice exchange.

Wind and waves versus freeride trails
The two bike stores know each other from the German industry association VSF and meet regularly to transfer know-how as part of the "All-Ride" workshop quality offensive. This gave rise to the idea of an apprentice exchange: this is intended to make the apprenticeships even more attractive and give the apprentices an insight into another bicycle company and another region at the same time. The apprentice from Cuxhaven promptly took this as an opportunity to take his freeride bike with him to Switzerland to enjoy a few Alpine trails. The apprentice from Lucerne enjoyed the wind and vastness of the North Sea coast.

First the beginning
Thorsten Larschow from Rad&Tour and Jens Bokranz from Velociped both emphasize that the exchange was also very enriching for the stores themselves. Marius Grabe from Velociped says that they will therefore probably let more apprentices get a taste of the Alps and North Sea in the future.

www.velociped.ch
www.radundtour.de