Ben, from the Netherlands, e-mailed a link to an interesting Austrian city-bike site. So I started following links and exploring other German language sites. Here are a few that you might enjoy:The bike on the left, called the "half-racer" is made by Welt Trad: http://www.weltrad.de/ The front brake is interesting. I'd love to ride a fixie with that geometry. They also make some more traditional city bikes.
You must download the Velo-Classic catalog. They have parts that are unbelievable, beyond cool: http://www.velo-classic.de/index.htm
Waffenrad has a neat virtual museum of old Austrian, German, and Dutch bikes: http://www.waffenrad.at/waffenrad/index.htm Check out the bike on the left with all the leather luggage and accessories.
Here is another interesting Museum: http://www.schwalbengarage.de/
And how about a collection of fender ornaments, like hood ornaments, but for bikes: http://www.der-schutzblechreiter.de/ They are very Teutonic.
I'll post more sites later; right now there are orders to be shipped.
Would you buy a "half-racer"? I might. And remember, Google language tool is your friend.
Nice post. The Europeans have so many good bike sites and pictures, but I don't speak the languages.
ReplyDeleteI've thought about fender ornaments before, but I've deciced they're frivolty over form. Especially with all these fixed gear track bikes around.
French ebay.
ReplyDeletehttp://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=017&item=270019685624&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1
These things are on here all the time. I have no idea how much shipping would be, I'm sure I couldn't afford it. Awesome rack and chaincase.
Here is another site out of Brazil that has lots of nice city bikes from lots of countries.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bicicletasantigas.com.br
You need to click on Galeria on the left and then the country.
Alemais has the German bikes.
Guys, while we're on the subject of www.ebay.fr, minor tangent back to one of the main themes of this blog. It would spectacular if one of you guys picked up this stonking little rig:
ReplyDeletehttp://cgi.ebay.fr/VELO-PEUGEOT-PX-50-RANDONNEUR-BIKE-MAFAC-SIMPLEX-RIGIDA_W0QQitemZ320018441098QQihZ011QQcategoryZ115209QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
With classy stuff like that for a bike it could remove the 'Oh, but my car is an expression of my personality' argument- a bike can be too, and it don't pollute!
ReplyDeleteMike Flanigan of A.N.T. has built and sold a bike very similar to the half-racer (right down to the funky front brake). You can see it on the A.N.T. website under "Demo Bikes for Sale", and additional pix under "Antique".
ReplyDeleteAgreed, the A.N.T. antique bike is pretty doggone stunning. Everything is pared down to perfection. What neat, neat bikes Mike makes. As Phil Liggett would say, pure "superbity."
ReplyDeleteHere's another one:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.retrovelo.de/
They make "balloon tyre" bikes. Saw them displayed at a bike show here in Zurich. Nice.
Schmutzfänger! What a great word for a mudflap!
ReplyDeleteIt occurred to me this morning that you could buy a number of Kogswell P/Rs with the "40mm" fork, have them painted and box-striped to your taste, outfit them with French chainguards, city bars and block pedals, with a full complement of Velo-Orange accessories and be done.
Sell them as a kit with full assembly instructions.
Philip
Philip, you could indeed. That would probably be a perfectly good way to go. The welding and such on the P/R doesn't look like anything to write home about, but it gets the job done. I have a Kogswell P and the quality's pretty friggin' iffy -- a/k/a the frame's a nicely painted POS in my humble opinion -- but for a city bike who cares.
ReplyDeleteI'd use the fork with the *most* rake for a city bike though. I.e., a 50, not a 40. That'd keep the trail down a little which is what you'd want. To be honest it probably wouldn't make much of a difference in how the bike handles, by the time all was said and done.
Holy cats, Chris. There's about 50 things in that Velo-Classic catalog that I'd put on my wishlist. Is there any possibility you can source their stuff? Way too cool...
ReplyDeleteYou forgot Patria
ReplyDeletehttp://www.patria.net/fahrradauswahl/set_fahrradauswahl.htm
Not as pretty as Wanderer or Patria but almost every bike is fully lugged and come properly equipped from the factory.
The german Fahrradversand will apparently ship to the US http://www.fahrradversand.de/bikes/catalog/default.php?osCsid=ccdd915cd76ac8696efe6e93f8a9e47d
ReplyDeleteIf you need a chaincover or chaincase it might be the place to go.
Weltrad told me they will ship bikes or parts to the US, at one time I nearly ordered some chaincovers and headlights from them. They were sympathetic to the plight of the american cyclist without access to new chaincovers.