I feel lucky to live in the Netherlands, since our Velorama Museum in Nijmegen has certainly the finest collection of 19th century bicycles in Europe. This bicycle is a German Falkenberg & Büsing from 1887. If someone knows more about this maker or this bicycle, please send me an e-mail.
It is a marvellous late ordinary bicycle, with oval backbone, fluted forks, tangent spokes, hollow rims front and rear and long spoke nipples. This is amongst the very best high bicycles ever built. The bicycle has an unique rear suspension system: it may be an after sales accessory. Furthermore, it has the British Bown Aeolus ball bearings, which were produced by Bown or built in license by Falkenberg & Büsing. Many manufacturers used Bown's patent - these were quite common, but very good bearings.
Falkenberg & Büsing was the firm of Wilhelm Falkenberg and Friedrich Büsing in Dortmund. In full it was called the Westfalia Fahrräder und Waschmaschinen Fabrik Dortmund. The firm is mentioned for the first time in 1886 in the 'Dortmunder Address Book'. The address is Stubengasse 28, but in 1888 they move to Weiherstrasse 7. Thanks Markus Beer for this extra information.
I did some research but it seems to be a completely different enterprise than Westfalia motorcycles and (in later years) the Westfalia that builds Volkswagen campers.
It is a marvellous late ordinary bicycle, with oval backbone, fluted forks, tangent spokes, hollow rims front and rear and long spoke nipples. This is amongst the very best high bicycles ever built. The bicycle has an unique rear suspension system: it may be an after sales accessory. Furthermore, it has the British Bown Aeolus ball bearings, which were produced by Bown or built in license by Falkenberg & Büsing. Many manufacturers used Bown's patent - these were quite common, but very good bearings.
Falkenberg & Büsing was the firm of Wilhelm Falkenberg and Friedrich Büsing in Dortmund. In full it was called the Westfalia Fahrräder und Waschmaschinen Fabrik Dortmund. The firm is mentioned for the first time in 1886 in the 'Dortmunder Address Book'. The address is Stubengasse 28, but in 1888 they move to Weiherstrasse 7. Thanks Markus Beer for this extra information.
I did some research but it seems to be a completely different enterprise than Westfalia motorcycles and (in later years) the Westfalia that builds Volkswagen campers.
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