I recently
purchased the German language book 'Wiener Mechaniker Raeder' which
has dusted down long forgotten and little used, A level German
vocabulary. My computer keyboard is English, so I don't have the
umlaut or eszett and have used the English dipthong 'ae' instead of
the 'a umlaut' in the title. The book is subtitled 'A journey
through more than a 100 Vienna bicycle makes 1930 – 1980'. The
blurb on the back translates as:-
Vienna is big, but the diversity of Viennese bicycle marques was
once much bigger; more than 100 marques existed in the city from the
1930s to the 1980s, among them innovative, oblique, noble, freakish,
good dependable, solid and off the peg, - for example, noble racing
bikes with paint finishes from another time (Rih), Aero bicycles from
50 years before the aerodynamic craze (RZ), prototypes from aluminium
and small diameter steel tubes (Austria-Alpha), lugless welded frames
(Degen), rethinking of frame design ( Wisent Einheitsrad), to name
but a few examples. For
the first time, the complete history of the Vienna bicycle marques in
a picture book, with all marques from Alpenrad to Ziel.
I found the
contents of the book fascinating. It educated me as to the variety
of different bicycle makers working in Vienna, some from the 19th
century onwards, others appearing for a few years after WW2, then
disappearing. The bicycles used to illustrate the book are well
photographed and in some cases I would have liked to have seen a
little more detail, such as head lugs etc. However, I'm sure the
authors were forced to cut down the amount of material, to be able to
make the book format and they have done a superbe job. The book has
the following chapters:- Introduction (Prolog), Authors thanks
(Dank), The bicycle marques A – Z (Wiener
Fahrraedermarken A - Z), Puzzling machines (Ratselhafte Gaule)
, And now? (Und Jetzt?), Picture index
(Abbildungsverzeichnis), Bibliography (Literaturverzeichnis)
and finally about the authors (Uber uns). The book is printed on
glossy art paper, and each marque is given an introductory text box
showing the years of production, the company address, the owner
details and whether they built their own machines or not. There is
then narrative text, accompanied by the superbe photographs. The
authors have a passion for their subject and have done their research
well, as they mention some bicycle makers lost in the mists of time,
of whom, only a printed advert from a newspaper or magazine show they
existed at all.
The cast
aluminium RZ / Err-Zett children's bicycle illustrated on page 235
of the book and on the front page of the publisher's website, predates the Kirk Precision cast magnesium frame by some years. The
authors record 'Wem dieses Design einfiel, ist leider
nicht uberliefert, vielleicht war es ja ebenfalls Ottomar Rosenkranze
selbst' – 'Whoever came up with this design, is
unfortunately not recorded for posterity, but perhaps it was Ottomar
Rosenkranz himself'. The frame material used in the Kirk
Precision may have been different, but the concept of a cast frame
was clearly established much earlier by RZ / Err-Zett and gives
weight to the old saying 'There is nothing new under the sun'.
The book has
a small section pages 332 – 338 on puzzling machines (german
jocular chapter heading meaning enigmatic old nag, or gift horse!)
which the authors believe to be Austrian bicycles made in Vienna but
of which they have little or no information. The book finally brings
the story up to date with information on modern framebuilders working
in Vienna.
The book can be bought via the publishers website and is now available
through Amazon, the ISBN number is 978-3-85119-342-8. If you order a book through the publisher's website, you will be sent an
invoice in Euros, which will have to be paid through your bank. Once
payment has been made, delivery to the UK takes around two weeks.
The book is well worth the money and is cheaper than some of the
recent Japanese and US books on Toei, Singer and Herse. The authors
have set out to record methodically the custom built marques
originating in Vienna over a 50 year period and add considerably to
the body of historical knowledge. It shows what can be done and it
would be nice to see a similar work published on the framebuilders
working in the London area over a similar time period! The only
caveat is that if you rely on an internet language translator, you
will get a literal translation of the words. The danger here is that
you often need to translate the concept, not the literal words, to
make sense of what is meant by the authors. However, it has been a very enjoyable and educational time spent with my old German
dictionary and this book, discovering the delights of the Vienna
bicycle trade. I can heartily recommend it.
