# Help! Information needed on this German Bauer



## Dirtboy (Dec 1, 2015)

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## Dirtboy (Dec 1, 2015)

Anyone have information on this bicycle? Rarity? Value as is? Value restored? Etc. I can't seem to find much of anything on it. Haven't even found a picture of this exact one. Thanks


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## jkent (Dec 1, 2015)

It Looks a lot like an american made Murray.
It has a lot of the same characteristics.
JKent


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## juanitasmith13 (Dec 1, 2015)

It appears to be early 1960s... some 50 years of age. Schwinn seat. Perhaps a soldier brought it home to USA? I saw grips for sale this weekend that had both with green reflectors... this one has both with  red; need to mix 'em up to get "starboard" and "port" straightened out. It's a solid bike... I never had a NEW bicycle;so, I lean toward restoration revival...

Any vets who were stationed in Germany... 1960s? have any knowledge of Bauer?


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## filmonger (Dec 1, 2015)

http://thecabe.com/vbulletin/showth...an-1961-Bauer-50th-Anniversary-road-race-bike

http://www.cybermotorcycle.com/euro/brands/bauer.htm

"The L. Bauer & Co factory in Klein-Auheim started as a bicycle factory in 1919. In 1936 some small motorcycles with 75cc and 98cc SACHS engines were added to the production line. After World War II some models with SACHS and ILO engines were produced with great success. Then they designed an own engine, a 248cc fourstroker with the carburetor in front of the engine and the exhaust port at the rear of the cyclinder head. Some technical problems were never solved, and at the end of 1953 the complete motorcycle production ended."

http://campafreak.com/Vintage_ligthweights/  BAUER  West  Germany/page82.html

"BAUER build in the small town of Klein Auheim (close to Frankfurt) in the post war years round about 100000 bikes per year. They covered the entire palette from city cruisers to race bike build with Reynolds 531 tubing and Nervex lugs. After Heinz Müller won the pro Word title in 1952 (Luxemburg) the top of the line model were referred as ‘Rad des Weltmeisters’ in English 'Bike of the Word Champion'. "

*From the Rat Rod site - not sure if this is correct so keep this in mind when doing your research...though most of the time the stuff on the Rat is fairly accurate.*

I think by the late 50s, the baur brand and several others were acquired by Union Cycle, who also made pedals. I have a Royce Union that's similar.









 German bicycle by Bauer. They built all kinds of bikes and were one of the largest manufacturers around but I'm pretty sure that yours is their top-of-the-line model called "Weltmeister". "Weltmeister" means "world champion" and refers to Heinz Müller winning the road world championship on a Bauer in 1952. So, starting from 1953, their top model always had that name.
According to this diagram, your bicycle should date back to the early sixties.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/velocifer/sets/72157629732969801/

The Bauer-Werke, which manufactured carbide bicycle headlights, was established in 1911 in Frankfurt and moved to nearby Hanau (Klein-Auheim) in 1914. Hanau is the town where the famous Grimm Brothers, of fairy-tale fame, were born. The company began to build complete bicycles in 1922 and continued to do so until going bankrupt in 1968. The company also manufactured a range of small motorcycles and even built an engine in-house for them. The bicycle range was quite broad and the racing program included Reynolds 531 frames built with either in-house lugs with nice cut-outs (as is the case of my bike) or curly Nervex lugs. Track frames are, unsurprisingly, quite rare.



There seems to have been a factory team, and Bauer bikes did appear in the Tour de France as well. In 1936, the Rund um Berlin road race was won by Fritz Ruland, racing for the RV Bauer Klein-Auheim team and there was a Bauer Preis race in Gross-Auheim. In 1952, Heinz Müller, riding a Bauer, won the professional World Championship on the road and the upper-range models subsequently were festooned with the rainbow stripes. Incidentally, Müller was the first of only two German pro world champions, although five German women have won the title.



Post-1961 Bauer bicycles had a "50" included in the headtube badge to note the 50th anniversary of the founding of the company. The company was building over 100,000 bicycles annually but clearly not at a profit as it went broke 43 years ago. The Bauer name was purchased in 1968 by another firm, which continues to build city bikes under the brand. There is still a street in Klein-Auheim named after the founding Bauer brothers. I gather that the Bauer company was held in some esteem in its heydey. The factory building still exists but has been renovated into apartments.

Bauer Volume


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## filmonger (Dec 1, 2015)

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## Slight_Rust_is_Accepted (Mar 13, 2017)

I'm in the process of trading for this so I only have the pics that were sent to me. I found this thread looking for info myself, this one was listed at $130 and is in extremely nice original condition once I get it home I'll get better pics taken of it.


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## pigeonjre (Jan 22, 2019)

I also would love any info on this bike just found one in excellent condition. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks


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## Andrew Gorman (Jan 22, 2019)

It's a bike built in Germany to American specs for export to the US.  There was a flurry of these bikes in the late 50s-early 60s.  I've heard that there was a strike or other production problem at a US factory but have not confirmed that.  Presumably the exchange rate was also pretty favorable as the post-war economic miracle rolled along.


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## juvela (Jan 24, 2019)

filmonger said:


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Thanks so much for all of this great information!  

Much appreciated here.

Note on Union name.

The Royce Union badge is one of several belonging to the Union Bicycle Co. of Brooklyn, New York.   They are not  a manufacturer but at various epochs have distributed machines constructed in Holland, Germany, Italy, Japan and Taiwan.

No relation to the Union of Germany, maker of spokes, hubs, pedals & drive chains.

http://www.marwi-eu.com/history.php

Just for a dash on confusion there us a Union badge bicycle based in the the Netherlands which is unrelated to either.

https://www.union.nl/en/

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## Adamtinkerer (Jan 26, 2019)

Wow, a lot of great info! That's my red Royce Union above, and it's very similar to the Bauers, but not identical. I'd assumed they were made by Steyr/Daimler/Puch, as the RU most likely is. This is a hobby where you never stop learning, and decades after they were made, we're still figuring out what came from where, and when!


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## Donk (Jun 3, 2020)

I'm so glad I found this thread. My brother and I started paper routes in 1957 in Carlsbad Ca. I was 12 and he was 10. My dad took us down to the local bank and had us take out loans (which he co-signed) to buy bikes to deliver the papers on, and had us set up savings accounts to put our earnings (after our monthly loan payments) into. We got Bauer bikes because he thought they were the best made. They weren't available in the US so we had to order them from Germany and waited about 6 weeks for them to arrive. The bike in the original post is the one we got, except I don't believe that is the original seat. Loved that bike. Thank you for posting it!


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## philinsd (Oct 3, 2020)

Donk said:


> I'm so glad I found this thread. My brother and I started paper routes in 1957 in Carlsbad Ca. I was 12 and he was 10. My dad took us down to the local bank and had us take out loans (which he co-signed) to buy bikes to deliver the papers on, and had us set up savings accounts to put our earnings (after our monthly loan payments) into. We got Bauer bikes because he thought they were the best made. They weren't available in the US so we had to order them from Germany and waited about 6 weeks for them to arrive. The bike in the original post is the one we got, except I don't believe that is the original seat. Loved that bike. Thank you for posting it!



Donk, I too had that Bauer bike which I got in 1960.  I must say it was a very good bike. Mine was exactly like the picture of the first one or the second picture but with the proper saddle as in the first on.  The fenders were chromed with what looked like painted with 2 red stripes over the chrome indentendations.  I was my first real bicycle. I remember those black rubber pedals had the name 'WEGO' stamped on both sides.  The bike was considered a middleweight by the standards of the time. It's tires were thinner than the most popular Schwinns of the time.  It rode better than my friends Schwinn Corvette which cost about twice the price which I think was around $29 at the time. The only thing I didn't like was the white plastic grips and those red stripes on the fenders. So after awhile I took the fenders off (but left the rear rack). It made the bike lighter and it rode better.  I think those grips were glued on so I don't remember removing them. However I do remember removing the tank.  

What's kind of funny I too had a paper route in the summer of 1964. My uncle bought me a new red Sears bike because maybe they thought my fenderless, tankless Bauer was in need of replacing. I used the red Sears bike to deliver the papers. I probably quit riding the Bauer because it had two flats that I didn't bother to fix.  It probably needed new tires also.  I would park that Sears bike near the end of my route next to the side of an old apartment building. Then I would finish my route on a rather large college campus and then rode home. No one ever stole that Sears bike and it was never locked. 

At the end of that summer of delivering papers I bought a Schwinn Sting Ray which had a rear racing slick, chrome fenders and a 2 speed Bendix  rear brake hub with the money I made delivering those papers. That Sting Ray cost a whopping $72.95 back in 1964. After 9th grade I gave it to my younger sister which she never took care of and let it get stolen.  So much for little sisters.


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## mr.cycleplane (Oct 4, 2020)

Verrrrry interesting!


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## Roryr98671 (Dec 11, 2020)

Andrew Gorman said:


> It's a bike built in Germany to American specs for export to the US.  There was a flurry of these bikes in the late 50s-early 60s.  I've heard that there was a strike or other production problem at a US factory but have not confirmed that.  Presumably the exchange rate was also pretty favorable as the post-war economic miracle rolled along.



My parents got me this model around 1961 or 1962 I was 8-9 year old. It was a bit tall for me at the time. I enjoyed the bike and got good use from it until high school around 1970. I wore it out! It must have been inexpensive as my folks did not have a lot of money. If I recall correctly we got it from either Kress or Woolworth in downtown Seattle. By 1966 the rattling of the pretend gas tank bother me, so I removed it. Unlike current cheap bikes, it did not rust and it was outside most of its career. Good memories for me!


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## Roryr98671 (Dec 11, 2020)

Andrew Gorman said:


> It's a bike built in Germany to American specs for export to the US.  There was a flurry of these bikes in the late 50s-early 60s.  I've heard that there was a strike or other production problem at a US factory but have not confirmed that.  Presumably the exchange rate was also pretty favorable as the post-war economic miracle rolled along.



I forgot to add that I married an "Auer." Was my B auer bike a sign of good luck? I think so! Deborah and I have been married since college, '76.


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