Thomas Göring

At that time, the BMX 2000 was the logical next step, and “TG” opted for the black model with yellow plastic wheels. Together with his friends, he built a small track in the Rheinstrandsiedlung neighbourhood in the west of Karlsruhe, where they learnt their first jumps and held small races. He competed in his first proper race in 1982 in Magstadt, and Rainer Schadowski’s personal training track in Karlsruhe-Knielingen became his training ground.

Thomas was certainly ambitious when it came to racing. The track in Grötzingen near Karlsruhe, which opened in 1985, offered completely new training opportunities, and in the very same year he made it to the final of the Autumn Cup in Rödermark, thereby earning the right to compete in 1986 with the number 8 on his plate. But at the same time, he was drawn to freestyle, a sport that was just starting to appear in magazines at the time. The journey to the races was long, whereas freestyle could be practised anywhere. He got to know the Karlsruhe freestylers Christian Wendland, Kirsten Maier, Albert Retey and Jerôme Fuchs. They always rode at Karlsruhe Castle, and he was also taken with the quarter-pipe at Schadowski’s track. Together they formed a show team and quickly secured gigs in and around Karlsruhe, at shop openings and neighbourhood festivals.

In the spring of 1987, they travelled together to their first contest at Cologne’s Jugendpark, and from then on Thomas devoted himself entirely to flatland. They got to know the German freestyle scene, and their training spot in Karlsruhe’s ‘Amisiedlung’ soon became a pilgrimage site for flatlanders from all over the country. Amidst the PX shops and the oversized road cruisers of the stationed US forces, they felt like the heroes from the magazines.

But freestyle was in a difficult state: the sport was evolving rapidly, with new tricks popping up every day, yet the bikes and components seemed to have stagnated. There were thin-walled frames with dubious ‘freestyle’ features and forks whose dropouts could barely withstand the strain of flatlanders on their pegs. And these pegs, mostly made of cheap aluminium and screwed directly onto the axles, in the worst cases didn’t even survive the first fitting.

At the time, Thomas Göring was training to be a precision engineer and worked with ‘proper’ materials. When his brother joined the German postal service, they used his first pay cheque to buy a small lathe, and Thomas turned his first pair of pegs in his bedroom. Made to his own specifications, they were almost luxuriously large by the standards of the time and had a concave profile for better grip. A revelation! No wonder, then, that Thomas’s mates wanted some too, and as early as 1988, Thomas travelled to the contest in Cologne with a cigar box full of pegs, which he sold there like hot cakes. Add to that a name and a logo: KHE Bikes was born – Germany’s first genuine ‘rider-owned’ BMX company. 

Thomas took a liking to the work. Whilst the first batch of pegs was still handmade and their length depended on whatever raw material he had to hand, version two of the ‘Do’ peg, released in 1989, was a proper product: Featuring two different threading options for freewheel and coaster hubs, the characteristic concave design, and made from durable aluminium, KHE took over the German peg market. Friends Albert and Christian became the first team and test riders, and Thomas set about designing new parts, which were still mainly intended to compensate for the shortcomings of the parts available at the time. A double-deck seat clamp, because the frames always broke at the seat tube; huge washers to reinforce the dropouts of the time; angled stems, because the die-cast versions of the day couldn’t withstand the stresses. Thomas tackled anything that could be turned or milled from aluminium, as at the time he had no access to high-quality steel and no way of working with it.

But he needed steel, as he wanted to build a frame. Thomas set out in search of chromoly tubes and approached Mannesmann, but they would only sell the unusual dimensions required for BMX frames by the kilometre – something that was hardly an option for a small firm like KHE. He stumbled across a stock of tubes from the bankruptcy estate of the French bicycle manufacturer Motobecane. The prototype of this frame was constructed in Albert Retey’s basement from PVC pipes using a hairdryer and hot glue. With this prototype and the pipes from France, Albert and Thomas set off for Minsk in Russia, where the first KHE frames were welded.

In 1993, the time had finally come: the first KHE ‘Catweazle’ frames were delivered, and Thomas took a huge step closer to realising his dream of a complete KHE bike. Over the next few years, the company grew rapidly: KHE took over the wholesale business from Heavy Tools and the kitting out of their BMX bikes; they established contacts in Taiwan and were thus able to significantly improve both product quality and production capacity. The first complete bikes hit the market. Sportswear manufacturer Puma came on board as a co-sponsor, and KHE maintained a large team of well-known riders who travelled throughout Europe and the world to shows and competitions.

And Thomas continued to drive the development of BMX parts forward: He developed freewheel hubs, began using multi-butted tubes, designed aluminium flatland frames, a novel rotor system concealed within the frame’s steering wheel, and foldable Kevlar tyres for ramp, dirt and street riding, which were significantly lighter than the tyres of the time.

Unfortunately, it was precisely this scale and the traditional supply chain comprising manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers that nearly brought the company to its knees in 2015. A single unpaid large order was enough to prevent KHE from taking delivery of the goods and, consequently, from delivering them. The company, or rather KHE’s affiliated wholesaler TG Supplies GmbH, was forced to file for insolvency. Thomas and Wolfgang decided to take a step that was very radical at the time: they broke with the established structures and began selling the products directly to drivers via the internet. What was seen at the time as an affront to dealers and wholesalers is now common practice and, in hindsight, saved the company.

And so KHE Bikes continues to sell BMX bikes and parts worldwide via its online shop from its warehouse in Dettenheim, near Karlsruhe, where bikes are pre-assembled and Thomas continues to design products with great dedication. KHE strives to serve a market that, in TG’s view, is criminally neglected: every single part of the bikes can be reordered and is usually available ex-works. High-quality parts at affordable prices, without expensive branding, to make BMX riding accessible to children and beginners too.

On a personal level, too, TG has remained loyal to BMX: he regularly grabs his bike – an updated reissue of the ‘Catweazle’ by KHE, released in 2025 – to pursue his passion for flatland at the Europahalle. And the friendships forged over the years continue to this day. Once a year, the extended Karlsruhe flatland group meets for a weekend at the legendary “Grüner Platz” in Karlsruhe, where they used to spend so much time back in the day.

As one of the very first BMX riders, Thomas Göring remained steadfast in his vision and, in 1988, founded Germany’s first BMX company owned entirely by riders. From a basement flat full of aluminium shavings, KHE grew into one of the largest, globally active BMX companies and continues to drive the market forward with innovative ideas. For this dedication, Thomas "TG" Göring was inducted into the German BMX Hall of Fame in 2026.