sykerocker 

The sign at the end of the driveway strikes again. I got a call a couple of days ago from a guy who claimed he had a German 10-speed he wanted to get rid of. Figured it'll be another gaspipe special, Simplex, Weinmann or Altenberger, etc. Cleaned up, I can certainly get $100-125 for it. I told him to bring it over when it was convenient.

He dropped by with it today. It was what I expected . . . . . . . . but not quite.



The expected: Seamless steel tubing (roughly Roger Riviere quality, including matching paint job, same color even), the usual German 3-piece steel hubs (nuts, not wingnuts) with steel rims, unbranded cottered crank. Then I started noticing the surprises:



Huret Svelto derailleur on the rear, not the usual Allvit or Simplex Prestige. While the seat and dowtube decals say 'Kolbe' the headbadge is completely different:





Then there's the generator set - I originally guessed its something aftermarket and oddly mounted on the fork:



But then I notice that the wiring for the generator goes into the frame just behind the headtube and comes out on the left chainstay to go up the seatstay to the (badly broken) tail light:





I apologize that the second shot doesn't clearly show the wire coming out of the stay.

Then there's the 3-speed roadster stem:



Finally, if you look back up again at the picture of the Svelto, you'll notice that the mounting points for the rear rack (I'm convinced it's original) were drilled for fender stays. There's a couple of them on the forks, too. So this bike was originally set up as a lighted and fendered tourer, not until a Gitane Hosteler - only it's 10 speed, not 15. But who puts a 5-speed corncob on a fendered touring bike? The final picture is of the remaining decal, on the top tube just behind the head tube:



Of course, what was a completely uninteresting fix and flip as quickly as possible has suddenly gotten interesting. And, it's my size (grumble). I've got a funny feeling that we're looking at another addition to Syke's shelter for abandoned 70's gaspipe.

Anyone out there run across another one of these? I'd be very curious to find anything out about this.

Oldpeddaller

certainly interesting and unusual Skyerocker. The Svelto was actually the most common rear mech on entry level European bikes in the 1970's, and the cheapest to buy in the shops, however it was very efficient and robust in use. The bike looks very similar in frame and equipment to the "Tensor" 10-speed that I was given a few years ago. That was made in "West" Germany and assembled and marketed in Tyneside UK, probably made in the same German factory?

frenchbikefan

must be an interesting gas pipe day, I picked up an early 60's alpina this morning

sykerocker 

Interesting point regarding the Svelto: In the U.S. it definitely wasn't very common, actually very few Huret (other than the ubiquitous Allvit, most often seen as "Schwinn Approved") derailleurs got much market share. SunTour headed them off big time starting around 1972. In the U.S., the usual formula for a European $100.00 10-speed was: seamless steel tubing, Simplex Prestige derailleurs (occasionally Huret Allvit or Campagnolo Valentino depending on national origin), unbranded steel cottered crank, German three-piece steel hubs, Rigida steel rims, Mafac/Weinmann/CLB/Universal centerpulls (again depending on national origin), Ava/Pivo alloy stem, steel bars, whatever cheap rat trap pedals.

Polk1986

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I've only found this and one other thread menitioning the Kolbe brand. It seems they are a bit obscure.

Long story short, I just purchased a Kolbe mixte to build up as a commuter, and I was wondering if you knew what threading the Kolbe bikes used for their bottom brackets? I'd like to explore the possibility of replacing the old bottom bracket and cranks as I've heard cottered cranks are no picnic as far as maintenance goes.

Also of note, this mixte has the same internal dynamo wire routing as the one in the first post.