# GERMAN BUILT folding bicycle? HELP!



## partsguy (Aug 16, 2010)

Here is today's find. A real addball. It is a Ted Williams Free Spirit FOLDING BICYCLE and BUILT IN WEST GERMANY. Every single part Seems to be foreign in some way. My mom had one almost exactly like this back in the 60s when she lived in Germany (U.S. military family). Except it was a different color and had German writing where "Free Spirit" is. It appears to be mostly complete and I do have a front basket which I didn't get in the picture. It has aluminum fenders and I'm surprised they didn't get scrapped. Its in really nice shape and will clean up well. Can anyone tell me ANYTHING about this bike? What year it is, why all the German parts? Value? etc. Typical stuff. Also, I paid $50 for it, which I thought was a great deal.
















The seat pan, springs, and those triangle like patterns on the sides and the logo don't look right for the 60s or 70s. At least compared to Amrican seats, they sure look different.











The SERIAL NUMBER is "518  45  917". VERY STRANGE, it does not have "502" as what we typically see.





HOW ABNORMAL IS THIS THING?


----------



## partsguy (Aug 18, 2010)

Anybody know anything?


----------



## M.Martian (Aug 22, 2010)

I've got the same extact bike.  The guy I bought it from said they used it for camping and bought it around 1971 (maybe).  Mine has a Sach Torpedo 2 speed automatic coaster brake on it.  The numbers on the bottom bracket are 518 45 924.

I paid $30 for mine and had to replace the tires on it.  Rides pretty smooth and shifts nicely.  It looks like mine has more surface rust than yours, but the tins on mine are still really straight.  I figure I will eventually sand and prep mine for paint and repaint it one of these days.  The thumb knob to loosen the handlebars on mine really sucks trying to turn by hand.  I haven't tried figuring out the bolt thread sized on this to get some wing nuts for stuff like that.


----------



## dave597 (Oct 10, 2010)

I just bought one of these bikes for use when we go camping. It cleaned up nicely and the two speed auto shifter works fine. I went to a local bike store and ordered a metric "bone" wrench, for $6, to use when I need to loosen or tighten the seat or handlebar locknuts. It is amall enough to carry on the bike and fits about ten different size nuts or bolts.


----------

