alexnagui

Yeah, you're right! I tried fitting a 115mm BB yesterday and it works, a 113mm might even work but I don't have one laying around. With 115 the chain line will be a bit off but I can use some spacers on the rear hub to move the freewheel a little bit. Should not be a very big problem, I suppose.

alexnagui

alexnagui

The Germi is finally ridable! Took it for a short spin today and took some pictures. Some things still need slight adjustment but overall it's a very nice ride and I am really happy with the result.

Here is the list of components:

• Gipiemme SLJ 5500 rear derailleur with Simplex Retrofriciton single shifter
• Stronglight 49D with SunXCD 44 single chainring
• Lyotard 460D pedals
• Suntour Perfect 5sp 15-24 freewheel
• Mafac Dural forge brakes with Weinmann levers
• Titan stem and bars
• Titan 27.2 seatpost
• Brooks B73
• Normandy Sport HF hubs with round holes laced to noname rims (Weinmann?)
• Panaracer Pasela 35mm tires

Thinking about getting a rear rack, maybe Velo Orange Constructeur. Need to find a bottle cage and decide if I am gonna install lights.

non-fixie 

It looks gorgeous! Well done.

alexnagui

Thanks! Will update the thread once I install some extra goodies. And still have to take the bike on a proper ride.

alexnagui

Okay, the bike is fitted with a Velo Orange Constructeur rear rack now. Also, got some small (but quite expensive) Gilles Berthoud panniers. I really love the look of their bags and you know, you live only once and such...
Extra bits include a VO fender reflector and a TA bottle cage. I need to find a nicer water bottle and probably get some decent lock if I ever decide to leave the bike outside for a while.


Germi with a rear rack, panniers, reflector and a water cage


Had to come up with a solution for the attachment of the rack


Took the bike for a 30km lazy spin today. The bags fit my camera, extra clothes, tools, wallet and there was still some space left.

Hudson308 

Wow... that thing is gorgeous!

alexnagui

Thanks!!

JaccoW

I am very jealous of that Titan seatpost. Beautiful build!

You managed to keep it very classy and close to the original intention of the bike.
And nice solution for the rack mount.

As for the water bottle, I believe this bike would be well-served with a Coloral water bottle, provided you can find it for sale anywhere.

alexnagui

Found some time finally to make some changes/upgrades to the bike. I was not very happy with the gearing choises I made before (a 46 chainring with a 14-24 freewheel) which turned out to be not that practical for the type of cycling I use this bike for. I had a 7sp Sachs Aris freewheel which I have converted to 5sp with 16-19-22-26-32 sprockets. This gives me a low of 39 GI and a high of 79 GI. The short cage Gippieme rear derailleur had to go, I've substituted it with a nice Suntour VGT Luxe that I recently bought locally. Those long cage derailleur of that era are not very common around here, by the way. The DT shifter has proved to be a bit akward for the upright riding position so that is also gone now. Instead of that, a nice Suntour thumb shifter is installed now.
I was looking for a nice front rack for this bike to give it more carrying options. I figured that the Pelago Commuter Front Rack in M size is just about perfect for me, not too small and not too big as eg. the VO Porteur Rack. Plus, JaccoW has the same Pelago rack on one of his Koga Miyata bikes and I liked the look. So, I picked the rack from a local store in Rotterdam a week ago and now it's also installed

I also got a small Mijnen Pieper chromed frame pump which I am not very impressed with. I like the look and it fits the bike but it is almost useless wjen it comes to pumping up tires. I am leaving it for now but I'll see if I can get a better vintage looking frame pump.

I also gonna be putting lights on the bike and some extra bits so that's the next step for now.

Anyway, it was nice weather today so I went on a 45km ride to check everything . Here are some pictures.








Cycled over the Jan Linzelviaduct bridge in the Hague for the first time. The company I work for built it this year.

alexnagui

Thanks Jacco!

Titan seatposts are very nice indeed, you don't see a lot of those for sale on Marktplaats, the only one I remember seeing was sold for quite a bit, those bids went quite high. Locating a whole bike from that era with a Titan seatpost is much easier. The steel seatpost which came with my Gazelle CM is also made by Titan, I believe, but has no engraving on it.

Those Coloral watter bottles do look very nice ans stylish, thanks for the tip! Looks like they are sold out almost everywhere though, so I'll see.. Originally, I was thinking about Kleen Kanteen bottles, those are also very nice looking ones.

alexnagui

Just an update, the bike has lights now and I put a pair of mudflaps on it. For the lights, I used a mix of old and new, the head light is a B+M Lumotec IQ-XS and the rear one is a Koets B, everything is powered by an old bottle dynamo I had laying around (don't remember which one anymore).
Got a fender punch as an addition to my bike tools, a very useful tool.

Have to take some decent picture, but for now here is one from a recent ride.

alexnagui

There is another 60's Germi for sale locally by the way, the owner thinks for some reason that it's from 1947.

non-fixie 

^ That bike is a bit of a mess. I'd say it is a bike, with a frame that was made sometime between the late forties and the early sixties, probably in Belgium or the Netherlands. Beyond that all bets are off.

It looks to have been refurbished in the eighties, using some old parts, some of which *might* be original to the bike. Brakes and rear rack are from the early sixties. Chain guard is Belgian.

alexnagui

Haha, that's what they gonna say if my Germi ends up on Markplaats one day. Refubrished in the twenties.

According to Klassiekeracefiets, de Weerd opened his shop in 1952. So, that should be the earliest. It is a bit of a mess, but who cares, it looks much better than any of the bikes I've ever got, they were all way messier.

non-fixie 

If I had the room to spare I'd be tempted to make a low-ball offer, just to see what's what with this bike. But I haven't, so that's out. I do have some concerns with this bike, though. One being those rear dropouts. For a reason I can't quite put my finger on, they don't look quite right to me: