29'er German Bomber Bike & New Pedals-Rack

All my research on tire sizes for the old German military bike paid off! The original tire size for the old bike was 28" x 1.75", which translates to 622mm or the modern equivalent of 700c x 45. Basically this is a very wide modern road bike tire. A 45 mm width is a tough tire to find, so I went to the next level up............... The "new" 29'er mountain bike tire size is actually a 700c size tire that is extra tall with an aggressive width. The mountain bike sizing of "29'er" is just a marketing ploy to make it look like it's a brand new innovation!



I bought a pair of Bontrager Jones ACX 29'er tires in 2.2 inch width at the bike swap which is a bit wider and taller that the original 1.75 inch tires the bike originally ran. With a bit of adjusting on the rear fender stay, I got the new 29'er's to fit! Not much extra clearance, but it works great. I converted the rims from the old Dunlop valve set up to a modern Presta tube set up by using adapter eyelets in the valve stem holes in the rims. Worked perfectly, looks great! Success all the way around!

This German bomber is one seriously beefy bike now! Mountain knobbies instead of smooth road tread and BIG!


The saddle in the picture is a reproduction hair-pin saddle that I was just trying out. I'm actually running my new Brooks B-67 saddle with the extra springs in the rear for now. I'll eventually set it up with a Leper saddle like it had originally or a Brooks B-33 which is an exact match to the Leper, only made by Brooks.

The new set of Truvativ Holzfeller downhill mountain bike pedals and Blackburn rear rack with a "secret compartment" that I picked up at the bike swap have been installed........ the rear rack deck lifts off to reveal a storage area for spare tube, CO2 inflator, etc........ Now Sweet Pea's Origin 8 is finished!

Seattle Bike Swap

Well the weekend's over and I'm happy to report that N8 and I had a successful day at the Seattle Bike Swap! We had a great time and the weather was perfect. It rained all the way over from the Peninsula and then it cleared up with sun breaks just as it was time to wait in line for the doors to open. We stayed for the entire swap, from 9 am to 1 pm, with only a short break to haul our bounty out to the Jeep and to grab a snack.......... Great deals all around and we both scored some fantastic deals.

N8 got enough parts to build up a City Single Speed bike with a Surly flip-flop rear wheel, front wheel, Hipster Fixie bars, etc.............. I ended up with nearly everything on my list........ 29'er tires for the German Bomber Bike, new pedals and rear rack for Sweet Pea's new Origin 8, a Hincapie merino wool zip jersey, Trek jersey, two CO2 inflators, a Brooks Saddles saddle wrench .................. we both threw in some odds and ends just to round out the take for the day.

We ended the day with lunch at the Shalamar Restaurant in the U-District and then a trip to Recycled Cycles for a pair of 29'er tubes.

Great day!

Giant Jersey

We stopped off at the local PT Goodwill this morning and I picked up this like-new Giant Jersey! Great deal and it'll go with the Trance :)

Cinelli Bars & Stem

I stopped by Waste Not Want Not, our local used building supply and hardware shop this morning, and ran into a friend who told me about a yard sale down the road that was loaded with bike parts. Needless to say I was out of there in a flash and headed down the road in a quick minute!

I scored the last couple of items that I needed for the LOOK bike....... a Cinelli bar and stem. Both with the Cinelli logos. The bar is a Giro de Italia model.......... I actually have been watching eBay for both of these for the past 6 months, and to top it all off, they were both on the $3.00 each table!

New Goggle Straps

I finally found a suitable leather belt at a thrift store today to use for the new straps on the vintage goggles. I had to do a little trimming to get the leather to fit the strap slots, and after finishing it off with a couple of rivets, I think it turned out pretty good!

Bundesgrenzschutz Bike......More Info!

After doing some EXTENSIVE internet research and following up various hunches and leads (I'm getting better with my German with all this research!), I think I've finally narrowed down the true origin of the new bike.

From the beginning of this whole escapade, the green color of the bike just didn't seem right for an army issue bike.......... all of the old military bikes are painted various shades of black and olive drab, but his one is a brighter green. I knew that I had seen that color in the old German services before, but I couldn't place it exactly. Well, today it all fell into place. The color of the bike matches exactly to the old original colors for the old German Bundesgrenzschutz, or better known as the German Federal Border Guard (BGS). The time line of the early post-war BGS, matches the date of the bike as well.........

After WW2, all of the German military, police, etc., were disbanded and all of their uniforms, insignia, vehicles, paint schemes, etc., were "erased" in what was know as denazifacation. The occupying forces of the USA and Great Britain for West half and Russia for East half, took over all of the police and military functions until the end of 1948. This is when Germany was officially split into East and West Germany. The Western occupying forces decided that there was a need for a competent Federal Border Police to handle the increasing incidents along the East-West border and Czech borders. In 1951 the Bundesgrenzschutz was officially formed by enlisting 10,000 former WW2 Wehrmacht officers as the new BGS. The BGS was organized along paramilitary lines in battalions, companies, and platoons, and was armed as light infantry. It was controlled by the Ministry of the Interior as opposed to the Ministry of Defense, assuring that it was not an actual Army.

This all fits quite well with the bike having 1948 dated numbers and for having olive drab painted inner fenders and a brighter green overall paint job. The fenders are most likely earlier army bicycle fenders that were reused in the new bike. The rear rack is also not of the same type as the army versions used all over Europe up until this date. It looks like what I would call, "Post War Modern". This fits as well.

The modern German Army, or Bundeswehr, was not started until 1955 and the colors were traditional military...... olive drab and camouflage.

Compare the two pictures........... The original BGS patch and color to the color of the bike. It's about as close as you can get! I'm confident that this is the actual ID of the old bike. Early documentation is tough to come by for this period of German history, so it will be a tough research project to track down any actual hard proof, but then I always like a good mystery to research.


Here is a picture of a contemporary German Border Police vehicle and as you can see, the color has remained the same.



The uniforms for the BGS for this period up until 1955, looked very much like the WW2 versions, including the old "coal scuttle" helmet that was replaced in 1955 with a US style helmet.

More German Army Bike Pictures

Here's a more complete set of pictures of the new, most likely, 1948 Bundeswehr bike:


Here are some close ups of a few of the "details:



Here are a series of pics of the rear hub. If you look close you can see the "48" that I'm pretty sure indicates the year.......... the first two numbers in the serial number on the frame ar "48" as well. Still investigating this point.....