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Steve Przybilla
It all started with the “garbage wheel”. When Hans Leitgeb drove to the recycling center five years ago to dispose of cardboard, he noticed the many abandoned two-wheelers waiting there to be scrapped. “One bike in particular caught my eye,” says the 62-year-old Austrian, who lives in the village of Pöttsching south of Vienna. “The saddle was missing, the tires were flat and the chain was broken. But the frame was perfect.” So Leitgeb didn’t hesitate. He threw away his cardboard, grabbed the garbage wheel and took it home. “It’s still possible in the country,” he explains and grins.