The guiding principle of the event is Ford's reorientation of the vehicle segment. Away from purely getting from A to B, toward freedom and adventure. And this is happening less and less with the combustion engine and more and more often with powerful e-power. In other words, what the American company calls the "Adventurous Spirit. "What Stevens represents in the bike sector, Ford represents in the vehicle sector: a provider of authentic and credible products with independent design that can now be described as icons," says Olaf Hansen, Director of Marketing at Ford-Werke GmbH in Germany.
Powerful e-drives and the spirit of active leisure and sustainable locomotion can also be found in STEVENS models such as the E-Inception e-fully MTB series, which is why top models such as the E-Inception AM 8.7.1 GTF or the Race variant E-Inception AM 9.7.1 GTF with limited Bosch Performance Line CX Race drive unit were available for extensive test rides.
The base camp for the event was the "Wirthschaft zum Kohler". From here, the test rides with Ford's new adventure models started, as did the bike tours guided by local guide Matthias over exciting and varied trails between Feldberg and Schauinsland. Beforehand, the bikes were shuttled up the mountain in Ford models such as the impressive Ranger Raptor pickup.
Seven-time German Cyclocross Champion Marcel Meisen and three-time Cyclocross Masters World Champion Jens Schwedler traveled to the Black Forest as gravel bike instructors. They led gravel bike technique trainings and gave valuable tips around the current bike trend topic number 1. It was entertaining with STEVENS development engineer Thomas Marquardt. The passionate mountain biker and developer of the STEVENS E-Inception series was available as a guide for E-MTB riding and suspension technology and was enthusiastic about the feedback during the event: "It was great to see how the topic of E-MTB was received by the non-specialist media. There were a lot of questions about the technology, the possibilities and areas of application. And when the test riders came back from the tours with big grins, the interest was much greater than before." Philipp Jann from Funke Mediengruppe was one of them. "It was my first time ever sitting on a mountain bike, and then on an e-bike – it was terrific!"
In addition to representatives of the major automotive and cycling media, various influencers and media personalities were also on hand. One of them: Joey Kelly. The musician and extreme athlete has often ridden STEVENS bikes in the past and was also enthusiastic about the technology and riding characteristics of the current STEVENS e-fully MTB and gravel models in Freiburg.
Olaf Hansen sums up: "The integration of mountain bikes into a Ford product event reinforces the experience of our new brand positioning and above all stands for the many different ways of discovering outdoor adventures." He continued, "First the bike is taken to the tour's starting point in an off-road vehicle like the Bronco or the ultimate off-roader, the Ranger Raptor, then the bike is actively taken off-road – this is Adventurous Spirit and freedom that can be experienced intensely."
"We are very pleased that STEVENS Bikes can contribute to the fascination of Ford's automotive world with riding experiences on two wheels," said STEVENS CEO Jacob von Hacht. "Vehicles like those offered by Ford's model range enable bike fans to follow their passion - for example, to ride in the Black Forest and wherever the potential of our racing and cyclocross bikes, gravel and city bikes, mountain bikes, pedelecs or fast e-bikes can be fully exploited."
