Christian Smolik

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Christian Smolik (born March 30, 1944 in Goslar ; † August 2, 2010 in Marklkofen-Freinberg ; actually: Hans-Christian Smolik ) was a German long-distance runner , cyclist , bicycle designer and publicist . Since he switched from long-distance running to racing bikes in 1977 due to an injury, he has been working on bicycle technology .

Life

Smolik is regarded as the most important author of German-language literature on the subject of bicycle technology and as the “bicycle technology pope”. Smolik began his journalistic career at tour magazine as head of the technology department. He also wrote several articles in the magazines Radmarkt and Aktiv Cycling as well as numerous books on bicycle technology. His bicycle repair book and Das Großes Fahrradlexikon are considered standard works in the German-speaking area and beyond.

Christian Smolik worked as a freelance product developer for various bicycle manufacturers and had several patents on unusual bicycle technology such as B. a fork with negative curvature. He also developed the now widespread brake lever for racing bikes with an integrated step lever , which he applied for a patent in 1981 and which the traditional German manufacturer Sachs offered for marketing without success. After Smolik dropped the patent for cost reasons, the Japanese manufacturer Shimano brought its own brake lever shifting system onto the market in 1989 . During his time at Canyon , the lightest racing bike in the world was created under his guidance, and when fully roadworthy it only weighed 3751 grams. Alongside Sheldon Brown , Christian Smolik was considered the largest specialist in bicycle technology.

Works (selection)

  • Stefan Etzel, Christian Smolik: The great bicycle lexicon, technology - practice - material from A to Z. Bielefelder Verlagsanstalt, 1997, ISBN 3-87073-127-3 .
  • Christian Smolik, Stefan Etzel: The new bicycle repair book. Bielefelder Verlagsanstalt, 1999, 9th edition 2010, ISBN 3-87073-055-2 .
  • Peter Barzel, Michael Bollschweiler, Christian Smolik: The new bicycle technology: material, construction, production. Bielefelder Verlagsanstalt, 2008, ISBN 3-87073-322-5 .
  • Christian Smolik: Bicycle frame construction. Material, geometry, manufacturing. Moby Dick Verlag, 1997, ISBN 3-922-84395-6 .
  • Christian Smolik: Bicycle tuning for racing bikes and mountain bikes . Moby Dick Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-895-95001-7 .

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Imprint of Christian Smolik's homepage
  2. ↑ obituary in radmarkt.de
  3. ↑ DE 000003136922 A1 : Brake handles with stepping device for operating bicycle chain gears , priority date : September 17, 1981.
  4. ↑ Canyon website on project 3.7 ( Memento from May 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Smolik, Christian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Smolik, Hans-Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German long-distance runner, cyclist, bicycle designer and publicist
DATE OF BIRTH March 30, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Goslar
DATE OF DEATH August 2, 2010
Place of death Marklkofen-Freinberg