science

Riese und Müller

Riese und Müller is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Riese und Müller rather than just read about it. In short: Riese & Müller is a bicycle manufacturer in Mühltal, Germany. Founded by Markus Riese and Heiko Müller, it designs and makes suspended bicycles.

Key takeaways

Riese und Müller belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Riese und Müller to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Riese und Müller from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Riese & Müller is a bicycle manufacturer in Mühltal, Germany. Founded by Markus Riese and Heiko Müller, it designs and makes suspended bicycles. Frames are produced by companies such as Triangle's, Portugal. All of their bikes are assembled by hand in Germany.

History

Founding and first model: 1993-1996 The company was officially founded in 1993. It was founded by Markus Riese and Heiko Müller, who had met studying mechanical engineering in Darmstadt in 1988. After a 1991 cycle trip to Tunisia, they decided they had a shared interest in developing bicycles. In 1992, they started working on the design for a folding bike with the pivot points acting as suspension, but which rode like a normal bike, which hadn't been done before. According to Wired Magazine, the two German mechanical engineers in 1992 "realized that if you give a bike full suspension, those points of suspension can double as points of rotation for a folding bike. Less than a year later, Müller read about the Hesse Innovation Prize and built an aluminum prototype in ten days (and nights)." In 1993, they submitted their bike for the 1993 Hesse Innovation Award, and the Birdy won the Special Award. The Birdy was showcased under the company name riese und müller at Intercycle in Cologne and Eurobike in Friedrichshafen in 1993 and 1994. They company also showcased other products, including an invention to keep ears warm under bike helmets. They received little interest until George Lin, a businessperson from Taiwan, wanted to build the Birdy. George Lin had founded Pacific Cycles, an original equipment manufacturer (OEM). In 1994 and 1995, the Birdy was built into a production-ready prototype, with the founders raising the funds to have 250 Birdys initially produced in Taiwan. The company headquarters was an old dairy farm in Darmstadt. Pacific Cycles began manufacturing the Birdy. The Birdy sold well in 1995 and 1996, and was also sold in the United States and Japan. Riese & Müller was founded in 1993 to sell Hot Ears, earmuffs to keep the ears warm while wearing a helmet. The first bicycle, the folding bicycle known as the Birdy, started in the garage of Heiko Müller's parents as a university project. In 2006 it started selling Zwei bike bags.

Other models and e-bikes: 1997-2024 In 1997, the company began creating new bikes for urban riding and touring. In 2008, the company began incorporating motors, including electric versions of the Birdy and their Delite model. Their Jetstream electric model won the Eurobike Green Award. The company subsequently focused on electric bikes, with all model ranges except the Birdy converted solely to pedelecs. The company's new Packster 40 cargo bike was presented at Eurobike 2017 and won a Eurobike Award. As of 2018 Riese & Müller had a revenue of €76 million a year. Economist Sandra Wolf became a third CEO in 2019. In 2022, it had sales of 350 million euros. The company's Carrie cargo bike, released in 2024, was priced at £5,469. The aluminum frame was manufactured in Portugal. The Birdy P40 bike is still produced by Pacific Cycles. The company currently has a campus in Mühltal, Germany. Wolf remains CEO.

Notable models

Various bike models produced by Riese & Müller include:

Birdy (a folding bike with 18" wheels) Charger3 Multitinker Tinker Delight4 Super delight Load - cargo e-bike with cargo box and electric motor, reaches speeds up to 28 mph. Load 60 Load 75 Load4 60 Load4 75 Packster 70 Transporter 60 Transporter 85 Carrie Multicharger Mixte Roadster Nevo4 Cruiser Mixte Frog bicycle (a folder with 12" wheels, discontinued for years but available with 16" wheels as of 2010) Avenue Homage (since November 2005) Intercontinenta Various discontinued models include:

Equinox (discontinued) Gemini (discontinued)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Riese und Müller

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Riese und Müller claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Riese und Müller before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Riese und Müller ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Riese und Müller

In research: Riese und Müller appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Riese und Müller in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Riese und Müller is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Companies based in Hesse, Cycle designers, Cycle manufacturers of Germany, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Riese und Müller outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Riese und Müller in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Riese und Müller means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Riese und Müller out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Riese und Müller in simple terms?

Riese & Müller is a bicycle manufacturer in Mühltal, Germany. Founded by Markus Riese and Heiko Müller, it designs and makes suspended bicycles.

Why does Riese und Müller matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Riese und Müller?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Riese und Müller.