How everything began...

The company KHEbikes was founded in 1988 by brothers Thomas and Wolfgang Göring in Karlsruhe. Thomas remembers: "I started with BMX in 1981 at the age of 10. Then in 1988, when I was 16, I started a precision mechanic apprenticeship and bought a small lathe together with my brother to produce my own BMX parts. The problem back then was that most of the parts just didn't last."

"KHE stands for Kinky Huge Elephant"...not!

"At that time, everyone asked us what KHE actually stood for. As a result, we printed a T-shirt with the inscription "Kinky Huge Elephant" as a joke." But KHE actually stands for Karlsruhe, the hometown of Thomas and Wolfgang Göring. According to legend, Thomas drew the first logo himself on a glass table in his childhood bedroom (see pictures on the right).

" THE DO-PEGS "

"Our first product was the do-pegs. Since I shot the parts myself at home, the pegs were all different lengths." Since the Do-Pegs & later the Foot Pegs were well received in the scene, Thomas and Wolfgang decided to start a BMX company, which they still run together today. In 1990 the first Grinddisc followed, which was produced in cooperation with Albert Retey. That was probably one of the reasons why there were soon no more Bashguard frames.

FIRST MILESTONES


Over the years, the company KHEbikes became bigger and bigger, which was probably also due to the fact that the founders were always diligently tinkering with new BMX products and patents. In their first office in Karlsruhe, they achieved the following milestones, among others:

' Already in 1992, the company KHE brought the first Freecoaster hub on the market. KHE was the first company to incorporate a Freecoaster hub into a complete bike. Still today the Freecoaster technology of KHEbikes is one of the leading in the world & is used by many other BMX companies.

' The first catalog was also published in the same year. The highlights: Foot pegs, the Freecoaster hub and a fork.

' After numerous add-on parts, the next big step followed in 1993 with the Catweazle frame: the first own frame, in collaboration with the Flatland World Champion Albert Retey. The Catweazle frame was welded together from Mannesmann tubes in Russia and in a first version the brake sockets were mounted under the chainstays so that the brake was not in the way when cherrypicking.

THE INTERNATIONAL BREAKTHROUGH


After KHEbikes established itself in Germany, KHE also stepped on the gas abroad from 1996. With Phil Dolan, Mike Canning and Armin Batoumeni (from France), they had some of the best German BMX riders already Europe-wide known names under contract, but with the sponsorship of the American flatland legend Jesse Puente, it got a new dimension. Other famous riders like Matti Kuoppa from Finland and the Briton Effraim Catlow were brought on board, and even the legendary Chase Gouin (from Canada) had a co-sponsorship deal with KHE for a while. And then there was a certain Jamie Bestwick from the UK. Maybe some of you have heard of him. Jamie was world champion on our KHE Beater Bike & had won the X-Games several times afterwards ...

MARKETINGCOUPS

» Wetten Dass...?? «

In 2011, Thomas Göring came up with another marketing prank: The then KHE team rider James Foster was supposed to jump over a Weber prefabricated house in the TV show "Wetten, dass...". Which posed no great problem for the American mega ramp rider, as you can see in the picture below. Until...yes he crashed badly in training and was hospitalized with serious injuries (broken leg). As a replacement driver was actually Harry Main scheduled & also already on site. Unfortunately he did not want to drive after the crash. So Sven "Sprosse" Lehmann was flown in from Berlin overnight, who unfortunately didn't manage to jump over the roof line of the house during the broadcast due to technical problems. So unfortunately the bet could not be won. James was flown back to USA First Class & was on his bike a few weeks later.

» Dolly Buster on KHE«

Thomas "TG" Göring has always been a shrewd businessman. In 1999, for example, he entered into a cooperation with the erotic actress Dolly Buster, who got her own signature bike "Dirty Buster"... even though she couldn't even ride a bike. One can be divided about this idea, but one thing is for sure: but rarely has BMX generated such a big media echo as at the presentation of the "KHE Dirty Buster" in the Cologne DOME Sports Hall, which was covered by numerous TV stations like SAT1, RTL, WDR & national magazines like e.g. FAZ, Praline, Titus Magalog, Bike, Fit For Fun, Hustler, Kölner Stadtanzeiger, Blond, Moster Skateboard Magazine, Piranha, Bild, Freedombmx, Wochenend. ..reported.

INNOVATIONS & PATENTS

In close cooperation with well-known BMX riders, many innovations and patents were developed over the years, which are still used today in the BMX professional field.

The ''butted'' handlebars

A year before the appearance of the MAC tires KHEbikes had come with another product on the market, which set new standards: Sean Butler's signature handlebars. This is the first "butted" handlebar in the world: the tubes had different wall thicknesses, weak point were strengthened and in places that do not have to withstand large loads, less material can use. Meanwhile, butted BMX handlebars are standard in the high-end range, which is not surprising. They are more stable and some lighter than handlebars that do not use butted tubes.

KHE Stimulatorz pedals

The MAC tires are known pretty much every BMXer. But what some of you may not know: KHEbikes was the first BMX company to offer proper BMX plastic pedals. The 2006 Stimulatorz even came with titanium axles!


KHE "Anchor" handlebar

The "Anchor" handlebar stem system from KHEbikes could unfortunately not prevail on the market. In this system, the stem and the handlebars are welded together. This saved some weight, but the handlebar position could not be changed.

KHE MAC Tires

KHEbikes was the world's first BMX company to offer 20 inch BMX freestyle folding tires - and the parts were ripped out of their hands. The advantage of folding tires is that they are a whole corner just by the Kevlar carcass lighter than normal steel band tires. And so the MAC tire became a must-have product worldwide in no time.

KHE Alechemy Pegs

And here's another product that can be found on most BMX bikes today and whose emergence KHE was at the forefront: plastic pegs. The KHE Alchemy Pegs (made in Germany) first hit BMX stores in 2008 and were made entirely of POM plastic, which made them rather unsuitable for use on the ramps and street. Provided with Griptape it was the perfect Flatland Pegs and could save some weight.

AFFIX ROTOR

After the beginnings of the Internalrotorsystem F-Set but had a rather large diameter & which came on the market in 2000, KHE managed to develop a modern rotor system that is currently unique! It is now called AFFIX and is not only visually, but also from the functionality of a big step forward to all other rotor systems that are on the market.

The special feature: the AFFIX system is very slim compared to conventional, external BMX rotors and especially a lot lighter (you save over 350g). While an external rotor with the many external edges brings a high risk of injury, the AFFIX rotor has a very clean look at the same time very good braking power.

TEAM RIDERS & SUCCESSES


With the further development of the company always grew the KHEbikes rider team. And besides BMX legends like Adam Kun and many others in the team, founder Thomas Göring himself was not idle: he was already German vice champion and fourth in the Flatland World Cup. Our products were always developed in close cooperation with the team riders, so that their needs and suggestions for changes could be addressed. With success: KHE team riders have already won over 10 world championship titles in all pro categories.