If Darth Vader ever had a bicycle
- Thread starter XRCD011
- Start date
^ That is the one. And believe it or not the Germans had a system for mounting and carriage of the tube and plate on Truppenfahrrads along with MG42-34, 20mm AT guns, panzerfausts, grenades, MG tripods and ammunition boxes as depicted in Das Truppenfahrrad manual. So while many go on about the Germans fighting WW2 with horses they really do over look the simple bicycle.
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And some more pics to wrap this up.
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Fork mounted dynamo and and bottom of the front wheel spoon style brake.
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Bosch lamp that can run off either the dynamo or battery. Even has Bosch etched in the glass face.
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^ Handle bar mounted "cup holder" does not hold a coffee but can hold a Panzerfaust 60 rather well. There is a bottom J shaped piece that mounts on the front fork that I do not have, yet.
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^ Stricker truppenfahrad bell.
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Handle bar mounted Zeltbahn, bell, relic panzerfaust holder peeking out.
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^ ALARM rear reflector (glass), I have a spare if anyone needs .
Fork mounted dynamo and and bottom of the front wheel spoon style brake.
Bosch lamp that can run off either the dynamo or battery. Even has Bosch etched in the glass face.
^ Handle bar mounted "cup holder" does not hold a coffee but can hold a Panzerfaust 60 rather well. There is a bottom J shaped piece that mounts on the front fork that I do not have, yet.
^ Stricker truppenfahrad bell.
Handle bar mounted Zeltbahn, bell, relic panzerfaust holder peeking out.
^ ALARM rear reflector (glass), I have a spare if anyone needs .
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Got myself a battle damaged ExpressWerke handle bar from Russia that is kind of cool.
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And the path of the projectile that no doubt clipped off a couple fingers on the way through.
That makes two vehicles that have impacts on them from back in the day.
And the path of the projectile that no doubt clipped off a couple fingers on the way through.
That makes two vehicles that have impacts on them from back in the day.
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Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
That Fahrraderist wasn't shot. He just pulled a six-mile 8% grade. He'll be OK in an hour or so once he gets feeling back in his knees.
Well done as always, mate. Top-quality work, beaucoup detail.
The bell is neat. "Ding ding! Zu deiner Linken! Danke schoen!" When you're invading France, there's no point in being a #### about it...
Well done as always, mate. Top-quality work, beaucoup detail.
The bell is neat. "Ding ding! Zu deiner Linken! Danke schoen!" When you're invading France, there's no point in being a #### about it...
That Fahrraderist wasn't shot. He just pulled a six-mile 8% grade. He'll be OK in an hour or so once he gets feeling back in his knees.
Well done as always, mate. Top-quality work, beaucoup detail.
The bell is neat. "Ding ding! Zu deiner Linken! Danke schoen!" When you're invading France, there's no point in being a #### about it...
Good one, thanks for the compliments my friend about the bike that I can honestly say has been a blast to find, track down bits and pieces, get over here during a global pandemic and all the complications of fragile supply chains at the start of this mess in 2020, then putting things right again. I bet the bell was ringing non stop traveling east to west (and west to east in France) in 44-45. The idea to get a truppenfahrad was planted in my head when I was at the cafe just down the road from Mount Ormel and Hill 262 as I was talking to the cafe owner about his truppenfahrrad and checking out his collection of artifacts from the battle to close the gap. That and seeing a pair of old Europeans pedaling around Normandy on a couple of Truppenrads (one with the MG-42 mounted, no kidding) said I got to get me one of them. And now for some more detail pics and answer some questions.
When the truppenrad arrived there was a "mystery hole" in the frame that I came within a ace of migging closed till I saw other bikes with a little knob like thing there. asking around it is a little band brake that locks the handle bars in position and serves a dual purpose 1. to lock the front wheel in position so two bikes can stand leaning to each other (truppenfahrads did not have kick stands) and 2. on long road marches a rider can lock the wheel straight ahead and sit balanced upright/straight backed.
This I thought was cool feature was the rear axle adjusters, never saw that before.
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You actually bring up a good, and important, point. Yes it IS "Brooks Style" saddle and reflected the impact the British had on bicycle development when bicycles first became "a thing". I could not understand why my bicycle, built in WW2 Germany was all Imperial threaded (and even some Imperial threads with Metric heads). Turns out Europeans on the continent copied the Brit bikes in a BIG way so yes it is a Brooks saddle and I now currently do have a true Brooks saddle mounted................maybe they captured it at Dunkerque ??
And soon they will be a second Truppenfahrrad in Canada so the club will grow by 50%
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Not only Europeans.Everyone copied Raleigh,BSA and other British bikes before and in a big way after WW1.
I'm sure they are still produced in India and China and they were produced until recently in S.America.It's entirely possible they are still made in Nigeria and Kenya but I'm not sure about that.
Beautiful restoration.I think we had few threads about cyclist troops use in ww2.Everyone used bikes and they do show up in war films on regular bases.
Thank you for those pictures.Great quality work.
You could buy a generator kit from Crappy Tire. Still had them in the 60's.
Tail light too... Yahoo!!!
Didn't work very well. About the same as a candle with a reflector.
They made peddling harder. Faster you peddled brighter the light was...
I had one of those in the early '70s. Probably got it from C.Tire.
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A little update. The Wehrmacht wartime issue Truppenfahrrad was never equipped with a kick stand and the idea back then was to lock the front wheel straight forward with the handle bar brake knob then lean two truppenrads against each other, against a object or just lay it flat upon the ground. I thought not being a slave to to original detail, and the owner of the Truppenrad AND sick and tired of leaning it against something or laying on the ground I decided to do a "period correct modification" . It would have been to easy to buy a kick stand, bolt it on and and call it done but it had to at least look "plausibly correct" for what a radder would have done back in the day. Then I thought taking a MG34 or 42 bipod leg and see it it looks half ways correct(ish), I took the MG34 bipod off and did a proof of concept test and thought right away this will work.
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Now to find a single bipod leg to repurpose, one call to Marstar, a couple talks on the phone and I am in business with a single leg (a HUGE shout out to Marstar, super helpful and great to deal with). A run to Walmart to buy the least expensive kick stand possible, thinking this should be a easy chop and weld job (wrong) two days later of cutting and adjusting and finally done, WAY more fabrication getting the geometry just right then I thought would be the case but as done for now as I wish to invest on this. So here it is, my truppenfahrad with the Product Improvement Package (PIP) kick stand................just 78 years after production.
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Now to find a single bipod leg to repurpose, one call to Marstar, a couple talks on the phone and I am in business with a single leg (a HUGE shout out to Marstar, super helpful and great to deal with). A run to Walmart to buy the least expensive kick stand possible, thinking this should be a easy chop and weld job (wrong) two days later of cutting and adjusting and finally done, WAY more fabrication getting the geometry just right then I thought would be the case but as done for now as I wish to invest on this. So here it is, my truppenfahrad with the Product Improvement Package (PIP) kick stand................just 78 years after production.
Donny Fenn1
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- East Kootenays
Nice. If you ever need more kickstand parts I probably have dozens in the basement at the shop you can have.
- Location
- Southern Vancouver Island
True fer sure as the Vader bonnet was based on the Swiss helmet.
- Location
- Leduc County, Alberta
Amazing!
I definitely want to get a BSW made Bicycle someday. Will go nicely with my 1937 BSW K98k.
I definitely want to get a BSW made Bicycle someday. Will go nicely with my 1937 BSW K98k.
