# Lüders ....... 6-Day TRACK bike



## corbettclassics (Feb 16, 2022)

I have looked for one of these Track bikes for many years.  I finally have one and would like to share the story of one of the great German 6-Day frame builders.  This is a great read - written mostly by a friend in Germany.  Enjoy

There is no doubt that Karl-Heinz Lüders is one of the most admired and successful German frame builders. While his original profession was an orthopedic specialist, he built his first frames for himself in the early 60's and raced them. In 1962 he opened a bicycle shop in Charlottenburg, a quarter of Berlin. Lüders took the chance when he met Sigi Renz ( 6-Day rider ) who was a star of the velodrome races during the 1960's. When the champion of the Western German National Road Race in 1963 spoke to Lüders, he complained about his Masi frame – it is too soft!  Lüders offered to build him a frame stiffer than Masi did.  Sigi Renz was impressed by his new Lüders frame and became a regular customer of master Lüders. In an interview Lüders said that his way to make a frame stiffer was to use tubes with a  larger diameter. But in these days the size of the tubes were limited to the size of the lugs and the fittings of the bottom bracket shells available. Logically he decided to make his own shell which he milled out of solid steel so he could braze larger chain stays on it (25mm). Together with larger seat stays he remarkably improved the stiffness of the rear triangle. Additionally to this he also milled his own fork-bridge which could embrace wider fork blades. In its time a Lüders frame appeared massive but it was still well-proportioned. In the following years Lüders became a kind of an insider tip among racers. Until the late 70's master Lüders was the most preferred frame builder of Germany to professional and amateur riders who all won several national and international races with his bikes, like the German champion Dieter Kemper. As well the Western German National Team used Lüders bikes for their races.

Lüders was a perfectionist and his frames are stiff, reliably strong and they work very well. He was a precise and diligent working craftsman and executed all work by himself. Even when his order book was overfull, Lüders had decided not to move onto a manufacturing production process. He refused making a career like Masi, Colnago or DeRosa. He looked at himself as a frame builder not as a business man. He did not expand his business or render it to others by following the call of investors.

When you see a Lüders bike in original colours you can be sure that the master carried out all the works by himself. He worked out the construction and the technical drawings. He did the cutting of the tubes, the brazing, the painting and the lug lining by himself. He even put the decals on by himself. Every detail of the frame is as accurate as it could possibly be. Lüders even produced sleeve nuts for the brakes which had his name engraved instead of Campagnolo ( as also seen here in the seat bolt on this blue track frame ). Accordingly you do not see a Lüders very often. But every time you see one, it catches your eyes with its beautiful sportive appearance and superb quality. Of course almost everybody who owns a Lüders is obsessed with it and wants to keep it. It is not an easy task to find a Lüders that fits your size and preferences and then try to convince the owner to sell it.

Master Lüders is known as a man with character. Lüders bike enthusiasts know a couple of anecdotes about him which support the picture of a man who knew exactly what he was doing. One of these anecdotes is that one day the great Eddy Merckx came through the door of the small shop in Charlottenburg and wanted to order a frame. Merckx was by no doubt the man to tell Lüders the geometry of the frame he wanted. But in the end Lüders rejected the order of the worlds most famous champion. After a small dispute Merckx left the shop a little bit irritated. But ... the story continues when two weeks later he came back ordering a frame designed by master Lüders. Lüders once said that he never sent someone away who wanted a frame built from him. But if someone wanted a frame in the geometry of another master, he rejected it and suggested instead to go to the other master directly. It is a proof of his strong personality that master Lüders built frames of his design only – the Model Lüders.

Size: center to center = 22-3/4" (or 58cm)





















After my first ride with it ->




The great Dieter Kemper #4 riding a 6-Day race aboard his blue Luders.




Dieter Kemper of Germany also rode a white Luders.




Form the bottom front row:
1) Rudi Altig on his "RU-FA SPORT" ( I'll show one of these 6-Day bikes later )
2) Dieter Kemper on his white "LUDERS"
3) the legendary Patric Sercu ( believed to be on his "Dreher" )


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## dnc1 (Feb 16, 2022)

Really nice.
Can we see a close up of the oversized stays etc?
What a great colour too.


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## corbettclassics (Feb 17, 2022)

dnc1 said:


> Really nice.
> Can we see a close up of the oversized stays etc?
> What a great colour too.




Thanks for the nice comments.

All track bikes of the time were basically 22mm attaching at the b/b.  He made his at 25mm and you can actually see the difference when standing over it and looking at this b/b area.  Otherwise it's hard to tell but I do see the difference.

I'll try and get better pics of it but these pics sort of show the difference between 22 and 25 where 25 does actually look beefier!


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## labile (Feb 23, 2022)

Some of the top Italian framebuilders did use oversized chainstays for pro track sprinter and stayer framesets back in those days, they were the same used for tandem ones.


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## comet (Mar 9, 2022)

I had to wipe up some drool 🤤. That bike is beautiful and my size. Wow 🤩


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## corbettclassics (Mar 17, 2022)

labile said:


> Some of the top Italian framebuilders did use oversized chainstays for pro track sprinter and stayer framesets back in those days, they were the same used for tandem ones.



Yes probably so that after "Luders" was the first to do it for 6-Day Track bikes then others copied him.


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## labile (Mar 17, 2022)

corbettclassics said:


> Yes probably so that after "Luders" was the first to do it for 6-Day Track bikes then others copied him.



You can find oversized chainstays in pre 1950s Italian sprinter bikes


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## corbettclassics (Mar 17, 2022)

Probably so ( oversized as you say ) ...... I don't know of any Italian "6-Day" bikes that used the "25mm" chain stays in the 60's.  I believe that as per the Germans that "Luders" was the first builder to use 25mm chain stays in the 6-Day circuit because all b/b shells of that time only used 23mm.  Those larger tubes wouldn't fit in the smaller b/b shell.  I'm curious what Italian "6-Day" bikes were used in the 1960's 6-Day events that used the 25mm b/b shell.

* I recently heard a story where Moser was riding a 6-Day event back in the day and noticed the "Luders" with 25mm stays of one of the top stars.  He immediately went out and ordered 25mm chain stays for his next 6-Day bike.

::: Here it is again where Sigi Renz was riding an Italian bike at the 6-Day events ( a good read ) >>>>>>>>>>

There is no doubt that Karl-Heinz Lüders is one of the most admired and successful German frame builders. While his original profession was an orthopedic specialist, he built his first frames for himself in the early 60's and raced them. In 1962 he opened a bicycle shop in Charlottenburg, a quarter of Berlin. Lüders took the chance when he met Sigi Renz ( 6-Day rider ) who was a star of the velodrome races during the 1960's. When the champion of the Western German National Road Race in 1963 spoke to Lüders, he complained about his Masi frame – it is too soft! Lüders offered to build him a frame stiffer than Masi did. Sigi Renz was impressed by his new Lüders frame and became a regular customer of master Lüders. In an interview Lüders said that his way to make a frame stiffer was to use tubes with a larger diameter. But in these days the size of the tubes were limited to the size of the lugs and the fittings of the bottom bracket shells available. Logically he decided to make his own shell which he milled out of solid steel so he could braze larger chain stays on it (25mm). Together with larger seat stays he remarkably improved the stiffness of the rear triangle. Additionally to this he also milled his own fork-bridge which could embrace wider fork blades. In its time a Lüders frame appeared massive but it was still well-proportioned. In the following years Lüders became a kind of an insider tip among racers. Until the late 70's master Lüders was the most preferred frame builder of Germany to professional and amateur riders who all won several national and international races with his bikes, like the German champion Dieter Kemper. As well the Western German National Team used Lüders bikes for their races.


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## labile (Mar 17, 2022)

I think tandem chainstays used for sprinter and stayer track bikes were 24mm (instead of the standard 22mm ones).
I’ve attached 2 pics: one from a early 60s cinelli track bike (chromed) ridden by a former Austrian sprinter champion and one from a late 1948/1949 team Atala track bike. Both with oversized chainstays


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## corbettclassics (Mar 17, 2022)

labile said:


> I think tandem chainstays used for sprinter and stayer track bikes were 24mm (instead of the standard 22mm ones).
> I’ve attached 2 pics: one from a early 60s cinelli track bike (chromed) ridden by a former Austrian sprinter champion and one from a late 1948/1949 team Atala track bike. Both with oversized chainstays
> View attachment 1590302
> 
> View attachment 1590303




Yes, I think you're right about the 24mm on some bikes from the 22mm - ( but 6-Day? )

These are "6-Day" bikes you're showing me right? ( 6-Day bikes - a completely different ball game than sprinter bikes! - or tandem etc )


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## labile (Mar 17, 2022)

As written before, the chromed cinelli have been ridden by a former austrian sprinter champion from early to mid 60s. About the Atala, I do only know that was ridden by someone from the pro Atala team (1948-1949). Neither of the two have ever done a 6 day event


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