FolderBeholder

Saw new old stock, 90’s era Swiss MO-93 advertised bike for sale. Claims Shimano 7 speeds, hydraulic rim brakes, leather saddle and some badass racks and od bags. Built by Condor Cycles of London.

Does anyone have any input/experience with these? Is it legit? Looks like a very cool ride....its over $1200 bucks and Ive never heard of it before. Anyone?

Drillium Dude 

An old friend had both a '44 MO-5 and -93. The 93 was pretty much as you described, in olive drab and heavy as all get out.

Don't know about value, but they're pretty rare on our shores, and you don't just have to compete with bike people but also military buffs when trying to find and acquire them.

DD

Kovkov

If it‘s legit it‘s built by Condor SA out of Courfaivre in Switzerland. Don‘t know about the hydraulic brakes but the rest sounds ok. Also don‘t know if the 93 model was built by condor only. The older model was built by several manufacturers (condor and cosmos were among them).

verktyg 

Nice video about M05 and M93 Swiss Army Bicycles

Drillium Dude 

Here's a good shot of my buddy's loaded 93:



And yeah, not Condor Cycles in the UK but the Swiss Condor Cycles. My buddy has done a lot of research on both his MO-5 and 93 . Apparently there were over half a million 5s built but only around 5500 93s, so they are definitely rarer, tho newer. The one above is a '94.

DD

Vintage Schwinn

https://www.campfirecycling.com/blog...-that-and-more

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_army_bicycle

Several large military surplus catalog houses and websellers routinely carry both the SWISS MILITARY MO-93 (the 7 speed from the early 1990's) and the SWISS MILITARY MO-05 (that was a single speed, and was military issue from the early 1900's until the end of the 1980's).
here are some current examples but this is not a complete list and I have no idea whether the condition and current state of such bicycles are actually operational as is....You'd have to inquire with each military surplus seller. Pricing varies some, but these are probably extremely overpriced unless I am misinformed because I don't believe that they have the collectible dollar value of for example popular art-deco American made cruisers from circa 1935 to the sixties. For the collector that just wants one and doesn't care about wildly overpaying, to just have a unique bicycle that is more like an oddball vehicle like a Trabant, YUGO, or Sherman tank for there is no practical reason because all mass produced post WWII American bicycles and most English/Italian/French/Austrian/Belgian/German bicycles from about after 1965 are far superior and everything ever imported from Japan from the late sixties onward is massively superior to these SWISS MILITARY BICYCLES.
Your $129 Wallyworld and Tar-Jay cruisers and geared cruisers from China are so much better than these Swiss beauties that it is almost a joke!
https://www.sportsmansguide.com/prod...used?a=1847491

https://majorsurplus.com/swiss-army-...ike-15149.html

https://majorsurplus.com/swiss-army-...nger-bike.html


https://www.sportsmansguide.com/prod...used?a=1781366

https://www.keepshooting.com/swiss-m...ycle-mo-5.html

stardognine

^^ Maybe mechanically better& lighter, but still not Swiss. It just has a certain panache. 😎 I have a Swiss Military watch, that I picked up at a swap meet a couple months ago. The owner had a few nice military-grade watches, including a cool titanium one, U. S. I think, but when I asked how much, he got embarrased and said, " Sorry, that one's not for sale". 🙁


I was a little disappointed, but not overly so. Plus I got a great deal, I think, on the Swiss one. 😎

EDIT: Added a pic. I bent a pin, while customizing an old band. It works great, waterproof to 200 meters, and has glow-in-the-dark hands. 👌

elcraft

There are two "Swiss Army Watch" brands (exactly as with the knives). Victorinox and Wenger. All the Wenger watches, that I have changed the battery in, have non Swiss quartz movements- often unjeweled Myota movements. They keep time well for the first 8 to 12 years of their life. The Victorinox, however, have a Swiss made movement, usually ETA, but sometimes Harley Ronda. These are usually jeweled and have a considerably better life span. I would recommend Victorinox over the Wenger, if someone is choosing between the two brands.

stardognine

Good info, thanks. 👍 I didn't research it at all, before buying it, just another impulse buy. 😉

merziac

No expert by any stretch, but ditto on the knives IMO.

Millstone

https://www.bensbikes.nl/Fiets/Swiss...-Bicycles.html

Enjoy!

And now I want one

stardognine

I should have guessed as much, on the watches. I kinda knew people prefer the Victorinox knives. I only have a really small Victorinox knife, that I use mostly the little file of. For a blade, I have a much larger Gerber. 😎

merziac

Same here, that file is indispensable, great little knife, they all are. I have a few knives, a friend with a big collection recently gave me a Benchmade Crooked river to carry after a guy was knocked down, dragged and had his Colnago stolen from him on a path I ride to work everyday.

Now that's a knife!


Also have a Buck folder and a Benchmade Bali Song in my small collection, need to get another Victorinox Tinker or similar for everyday use.

Noting really wrong with the Wenger's per say but......

Mad Dan Eccles

I currently have an M-05 bicycle '45 dated however its missing the nut for holding on the front mudguard, does anybody happen to know what size nut I'd need to replace it? As I'm drawing a blank searching for anything with this information.