Stage 1: From the Office to Debrecen and Hortobágy
Michael Poepke | 24. July 2025
The igus:bike World Tour kicks off in Hungary at a location that feels like home — our igus Hungary office. This building won’t be our headquarters for much longer, as we’re preparing to move to a new, more spacious facility with a 100-square-meter showroom.
To mark this moment of change and growth, our rider — Péter Kasza, an outside sales colleague responsible for the Eastern region of Hungary — began the journey with a short ride from the current office to the new location, just 4 minutes away. It was a fitting symbol of progress and momentum.
Spotlight on Sport and Engineering in Debrecen
The next stop on our route was the city of Debrecen, where we visited one of our customers: Bestrong. This company designs and builds indoor and outdoor fitness parks, offering full services from planning to implementation. Their installations promote movement and physical health — and that’s exactly where igus parts come in. We took a closer look at some of their park elements in action, especially those that use igus bearings to enable smooth and maintenance-free movement, which they are very satisfied with.
After the on-site discussion, we rode through a larger park owned by the University of Debrecen, where one of Bestrong’s other fitness area is located. It was a great opportunity to see their equipment integrated into a real-world, public setting — and to test it ourselves!
Cultural Heritage at Hortobágy and Lake Tisza
Leaving Debrecen behind, we made our way to Hortobágy National Park, one of Hungary’s most iconic natural and cultural landscapes. Known for its vast plains and pastoral traditions, the park is home to the famous Nine-Hole Bridge (Kilenclyukú híd). This 19th-century stone bridge stretches elegantly across the steppe and remains a beloved symbol of the Hungarian countryside. Naturally, we couldn’t resist cycling across it — and capturing a few scenic shots along the way.
Just nearby, we visited the Hortobágy Bird Reservation, a protected area within the national park that provides a safe habitat for countless bird species. During our stop, we were lucky to see dozens of storks nesting and gliding overhead.
To end the day, we arrived at Lake Tisza, a unique artificial lake that’s become a haven for nature lovers and cyclists alike. We stopped at the Tisza-tó Cycling Center, an innovative facility that includes aerial cycling paths leading all the way up to the rooftop. Of course, we made the climb — and were rewarded with sweeping views of the water and wetlands.
This stage may be complete, but the spirit of the tour is just beginning.
Our riders:
Krisztian Karasz
My name is Krisztián Karasz and I have been a member of the igus team since 2004. My task is to sell throughout Hungary and to acquire as many satisfied customers as possible who are happy to work with igus.
I really like my job because our products reach all industries and I have encountered countless interesting applications in over 20 years. With a thorough understanding of customer needs and a strategic approach to problem solving, I try to build strong relationships and offer customized solutions that bring success to both igus and its customers. In my opinion, this ensures smooth interactions and promotes long-term partnerships.
The rest of my life is about my family, my 3 sons, with whom I love to do outdoor activities, we play a lot of football, cycle and hike.
Daniel Illy
I’m Daniel Illy from Hungary, and I’ve been working for igus Hungary since October 2013. At first I started in an inside sales position and then after two years I moved to my current Drytech product manager position.
I am giving advices and engineering support for our outside sales people, as well as managing more closely some key accounts with the biggest drytech projects or turnover in Hungary. The job at Igus is challenging as we often encounter problems and applications at customers which they couldn’t solve on their own or with the more usual methods. I really like this about working here, because this way it is never dull.
Outside of work my most loved hobbies are woodworking and cycling, so it is obvious that I couldn’t have passed on an opportunity like this to take part in the igus bike world tour as a rider.
Peter Kasza
Hello I’m Peter Kasza from Hungary. I have been working for Igus since more then 3 years as the Drytech Outside Sales representative for Eastern-Hungary. I like how I meet many types of people and applications throughout my job and I like to make connections with the customers and solving their issues, this feels really rewarding for me.
As for my hobbies outside of Igus I like to work around my small farm in the countryside. I keep animals, raise chickens and ducks. I even built an automated chicken coop using Igus Drylin parts. I also do beekeeping as a serious hobby. I have more then five bee families who make several dozens of kilograms of honey each season.
Map of this stage:
