Just how valuable a Swiss Army Officer’s Knife can be on a bicycle
tour was illustrated by the following story from British Columbia,
Canada::
«Erich Hensch was travelling with four friends on a 30-kilometre
mountain bike tour in the Canadian forest. After about ten kilometres
the chain on one of the bicycles broke. Since they didn’t have the
appropriate tools with them, the repair was carried out using a Swiss
pocket-knife. Using a large piece of granite rock as a hammer and the
awl of the knife, the bicycle mecha nics struck the knife in such a way
that its awl could knock the defective link out of the chain. The new
link was inserted and the tour continued. The participants all agreed
that without the pocket-knife the trip would have had to be abandoned.»
The astonishing thing, however, according to theletter written by
Erich Hensch to the knife factory in Ibach, is that apart from a few
small scratches, the pocket-knife has remained fully functional despite
being struck with a piece of granite rock.
Now all my friends want one of these knives as well, wrote the sender to Ibach, enclosing an order with the letter.
