VSF Fahrradmanukfatur (literally: 'bicycle manufacturer') was born in Germany, a country that is similar to Canada for its four-season climate. In this regard, a Fahrradmanufaktur is similar to other Northern European bike manufacturers who make low-maintenance, high-quality, all-season city bikes. But, that's where the similarity ends.

Unlike small, flat, and dense cities like Copenhagen or Amsterdam, Fahrradmanukfatur was born in Berlin, a Northern European city similar to Toronto in size, sprawl and seasonality. Like Canadians, Germans are city folk with a strong outdoorsy streak, and that's why their bikes use modern geometry and lighter-weight materials, designed for longer commutes, hills, or weekend exploration.

Making bikes that are durable but lightweight and efficient yet low maintenance requires high standards and precision engineering. Like an F1 car, regulations drive performance, and performance drives competition. Fahrradmanufaktur practically invented the German regulations for a city bike (see right sidebar) and each bike is chock full of parts made by other German companies who use their engineering heritage to compete for lighter, stronger, and higher performance parts; all at affordable prices.

Fahrradmanufaktur started in 1980's Cold War West Berlin, home to punk rock bike communes run out of collectivist squats. Like Toronto, Montreal and Copenhagen, the bike culture of Berlin was an activist grounds-up phenomena that neither politicians nor the bike industry cared much about. This left a whole bunch of pioneering city bike stores on the front lines of a movement without proper raw material. Dutch bikes were quality but too heavy. Mountain bikes were light but too high-maintenance.

In response, these stores started the Verbund Selbstverwalteter Fahrradbetriebemeant, or VSF, which literally translates as "self governed bike stores" - which is pretty punk rock. The VSF began by regulating what isn't or is a city bike by grading them with VSF status. The idea was that this would pressure the bike industry to make VSF certified bikes. Bikes with internal gears, fenders, chain-guards, built-in lighting and kickstands all received high VSF standards. Today, these VSF standards form the Straßenverkehrszulassungsordnung, or, the Federal law for city bikes. That's pretty cool.

The long and short of the story is that the Germany bike industry still didn't care about some Berliners selling city bikes, so VSF started the bike company that embodied their regulative ideal. And hence, Fahrradmanufaktur was borne.