Cool Vintage German Bike
#1
Shawn of the Dead
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Cool Vintage German Bike
My friends girlfriend showed up with this nifty vintage german bike. A $100 craigslist find. I say its vintage because it has "made in West Germany" on the headtube. It has a front wheel dynamo that powers the lights although the front light needs bulb. Also has a frame pump ,fenders and a rack. I know nothing about it but thought it was cool and there hasn't been a "West Germany" for quite a long time. The downtube says "Keitler Alu-Sportrad" and the chainguard says "Positron PPS 6 gang" The seat tube says something too but she has a velcro strapped bottle cage blocking it. All aluminum and fairly light for a big city bike.
Just thought it was cool.
Just thought it was cool.
#3
SE Wis
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Positron FFS 6 speed date it to mid 80's. Also "can", not will, make some future maintenance an issue. Mostly cable replacement or freewheel removal.
Edit - Looks like it may just be Positron without FFS
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...alling-me.html
https://velobase.com/ViewShiftSystem...d-779c1840e286
Lots of threads on Kettler.
https://www.google.com/search?q=keit...&bih=617&dpr=1
Kettler is still around
https://www.kettler-alu-rad.de/dk-en/
Edit - Looks like it may just be Positron without FFS
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...alling-me.html
https://velobase.com/ViewShiftSystem...d-779c1840e286
Lots of threads on Kettler.
https://www.google.com/search?q=keit...&bih=617&dpr=1
Kettler is still around
https://www.kettler-alu-rad.de/dk-en/
Last edited by dedhed; 03-18-22 at 08:25 AM.
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SE Wis
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#6
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Kettler was the company which pioneered the aluminum frames in Germany in the 80s and 90s. Typical setup for this time with the bottle dynamo. This is a practical utility bike. Nothing fancy. But even new bikes are not that different from a styling perspective. Nowadays they use hub dynamos and have disk brakes. I however would replace the old style filament based lights with modern LED lights which are a lot brighter. Yes you can run 21st century LED lights of a bottle dynamo. I have done this on one my bikes using B&M LED lights with a bottle dynamo.
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Yep, appears to be a typical "department store" quality German bike, which isn't a bad thing. I ran a similar Mars Trekking bike for several years as an errand bike. Nothing fancy about the bike at all but it just worked reliably and was actually a pretty comfortable ride. I'll second the comment about running LED bulbs, I did the same thing. Much better, but still marginal, lighting.
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6 gang means 6 speed for the non-German inclined.
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Neat little bike. Not many made it stateside but they show up here periodically. One local dealer has a his 'n' hers pair on display on his wall.