Ca. 1937 Adler Dreigang / 3-Gang German bottom bracket 3 speed

[Andrew Gorman]

Spent some more time cleaning off the Rustoleum. The original paint is sadly NOT in good shape. It's tough where it still is sticking, but there are a lot of bare areas. When the repaint was done, someone slathered on some yellowish primer which definitely helped the new paint stick, but fortunately it also comes off with Goof Off graffiti remover (an urban household staple) and steel wool. The pinstriping was relatively unharmed by this harsh treatment, but again there is not much left. Here is the mostly cleaned up front fender:

I was able to confirm again that there is no box striping on the fender- the blue and silver pinstripes shoot straight off the rear end of the fender as well. I have my Beugler striper packed. so once the black is tipped back in I can add and distress the stripes so the bike looks presentable, but 79 years old. I haven't been real happy with aerosol paints, even the Eastwood "chassis black" was pretty tender and chippy. This time I will try black tractor paint with the hardener added. Applied with a brush and color sanded. Anyone out there tried this? Missed Macro Monday, but here is the rear end of the front fender:

 

[Andrew Gorman]

I'm finally able to do something towards getting this bike back on the road. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I was pulled off of the Newport RI project and shipped off to another (actually more interesting) one in Richmond VA. This left co-workers to box up and ship all of my field gear and projects. It sounds like the small parts from the bike were shipped to San Francisco, but the major parts will catch up with me here. It will arrive on Friday so I can do an inventory then. I did pick up a probable parts bike- a Ladies Rixe with some decent chrome remaining. I almost backed out when I saw it had 28" wheels, but I have other uses for 28" clincher rims. The Torpedo brake on the Rixe is dated 1970, but it sure looks older.

 

[Andrew Gorman]

I tried the 28" wheels and tires on the Adler. They look sharp! At least without fenders... The Rixe wheels have Woods valves- not hard to use, and look a little different. Think of them for your next ratrod project. The Adler fork is a bit shorter than the Rixes' . Most German bikes of this era have a lot of daylight between the fenders and tires. The stamp brake/ Stempel Bremse / spoon brake needs a good bit of clearance to operate, and a noticeable gap gives space for mud. The Adler was a 26er, so I will lace up the Velocity Blunts. Maybe I can use a higher profile 26" tire, but I think that MTB fad is over(?). I am out of the loop. I will give the frame a going over with graffiti remover this weekend. The more I look at it it doesn't look that bad. Not good by any means, but it's 79 years old. The real question is what to fill the gaps in with. A Sherwin Williams rep I met in a bar recommended "SherCryl" which you can put on with a roller. It looks great, bit the smallest can is a gallon. That is a lot of black bike paint, but could be worth it.

 

[Andrew Gorman]

Here is the bike frame with the 28" wheels. They fit, but it is a tight squeeze. And the junction of the tire and fork crown is unharmonious. With a wheelbase this long and the geometry so slack this bike is going to track as straight as can be. I at least like that.

 

[Andrew Gorman]

I've been doing some more work on the bike, but nothing worthy of a picture. Main effort is to shine up what paint is left. Overall, probably 60% is left, with the barest areas being the chainstays and the top tube The fenders are the real weak spot, but on the frame and fork where there is original black paint it shines right up with Meguiars PlastX, which was on sale at Harbor Freight. Once again I am very impressed with asphalt/copal oven baked enamel. If you have an old bike with some factory paint, especially old black bikes try to shine them up! I may try to tip in and sand down some touch up areas, but will have to experiment first. I have some Tractor Supply implement enamel and hardener to work with in my minimal free time.
I am really happy with goof-off graffiti remover for taking off the top layer. It has some thickener in it so it will hang on the frame. and crinkled up the previous re-paint right away. And after a while (and being re-wetted with LA Totally Awesome from the dollar store) would soften up the yellow primer applied for the repaint so it could be scraped off the underlying original paint, all while not messing with the pinstriping too much- the rubbing compound had more impact on those. All of the gearbox pieces have been removed and are carefully labeled. The works are not very complicated so should go back together without issue even if what I have does not exactly match the 1936 and 1938 drawings. Next step is to calculate spoke lengths for the Blunts and the German hubs. Working hours that would be illegal in the EU means I need to sit down and take a deep breath before crunching numbers. I have found no sign of a downtube Adler decal or a "dreigang" decal on the rear fender. From what my lousy German can figure out, during the Nazi era bling was frowned upon. Export bikes had painted darts at the head and lots of decals, but domestic bikes and women went without makeup . Again, this is a really interesting bike from an interesting period in history. I'm really enjoying this project as a "data target"! And it gives me a chance to use what little German I have.

 

[Andrew Gorman]

Slowly progressing... I dropped the rear wheels off at the local bike shop to pop the sprockets off, since I do not have a decent vise. I haven't heard back from them yet. I did get the front wheel built with a German hub, instead of the New Departure that was on it. And found some appropriate reading material.

 

[Paulclarke]

This is the same adler that I have! Very hard to find photos of online. The chrome on mine is in bad shape. Frame has original paint but chain guard is painted over. Mine is missing the flying eagle emblem that goes on the front fender. I noticed you have a photo of one. Any info on one of those would be great. Looking forward to seing more updates.

 

[Paulclarke]

Nevermind! I saw the photo of the ladies bike. Very similar to my adler. Frame is very close. Front brake. Oh well. Nice work!

 

[kwoodyh]

Nice work how did you fix the tear in the fender? Painting with a brush and or roller works well just more work to get it all rubbed out smooth!


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[kwoodyh]

Another option on how the bike got to the states is it could of been shipped back by a GI with an eye for craftsmanship and knowing he would have the only dreigang bike around? You mentioned export bikes had more embellishment and yours looks like a domestic style.


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