My-Esel founder reveals

Why the architect joined the bicycle manufacturers

Christoph Fraundorfer (41) was originally an architect, then he founded "My Esel".(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Hannes Wallner, My Esel (2))

"Will it last?" Christoph Fraundorfer is still confronted with this question ten years after founding the wooden bicycle brand "My Esel". How did the company based in Traun come to be founded in the first place? We spoke to the 41-year-old from Perg about pain as an initial spark, skepticism and staying power.

Christoph Fraundorfer had not planned to become a bicycle manufacturer. Born in Perg, he studied architecture and then worked in Vienna.

"I rode my bike a lot - but everything always hurt," says the 41-year-old, who put the pain down to a poor sitting position due to his height of 1.94 meters. Because he already liked building furniture back then, he simply started tinkering with the customized bike.

Heinz Mayrhofer has been on board with the wooden bicycle brand since 2015.(Bild: Hannes Wallner)

The story of the wooden bike brand "My Esel" began in 2014, with Heinz Mayrhofer joining a year later. The man from Waldzell worked for sporting goods manufacturer Fischer Sports and brings a wealth of material and development expertise with him.

Concentrated bicycle know-how in Upper Austria

60 years after KTM Fahrrad GmbH launched its first model on the market, the Mattighofen-based company has long since become one of the leading players in the bicycle industry. The Innviertel-based company launched its first electric bike in 2009 and is still a family business: Johanna Grabner-Urkauf took over the helm from her mother Carol Urkauf-Chen in 2018 and runs KTM Fahrrad with Stefan Limbrunner. Pierer Mobility is now focusing entirely on electric bikes - and on the premium segment, as they say. High stock levels and falling sales prices hit Stefan Pierer's company and led to extraordinary devaluations.

"We started with nothing and spent two years building prototypes," says Fraundorfer, thinking back to the early days, when they first had to pass all the tests and obtain certifications for the wooden composite frame. Sales started in 2016.

"We are a manufactory"
And today? Last year, the Traun-based company produced and sold 1,000 bikes. "That's not a lot by international standards, we are a manufactory," says Fraundorfer.

The goal is clear: "We want to grow, to become bigger." We still have to convince consumers: "People who don't know us ask whether the bike will last." Looking back? "It's been a long journey, which you also have to finance and manage economically." In 2020, the company made a profit for the first time.