Best bike ever!

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Been having a think and today this takes it. Bontrager, no surprises there! Solid, dependable, fits well, comfortable, relatively lightweight, does everything I need it to and in my opinion happens to look good too, always a bonus! View attachment 926610

I agree very nice. What fork is that Ben?

 

[benjabbi]

Thanks Bob.
It's a Bontrager Composite fork.

 

[KayOs]

Lets see some of your bests Matti, always interesting to see another countries bikes. @KayOs What stuff did you have in the DDR?

Hmmm....for me there is only one brand: Diamant.
This is their Modell 67 from 1939, the "Berufsfahrer-Modell", i.e. a bike for professional racers.


Frame made of 0.6 mm chrome-moly tubes, 2.65 kg including fork, 3-speed derailleur gears from Fichtel and Sachs with stylish shifter, handlebars, stem, pedals and brakes made of aluminum and of course the matching bottles.

I did my first laps on the track on one of these Diamant track bikes, and the riding experience was amazing.

In GDR times, the quality of the bikes on sale was getting worse and worse. The best bikes were exported or reserved for professionals.
This was a great pity as the brand was always very innovative.
In the 90s it was then taken over by Villiger and finally by Trek in 2002. Unfortunately, nothing is built in Hartmannsdorf in the former factory anymore.

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Kay that is beautiful, truly speaks to me. What sort of bikes were about when you were youngsters?
@MattiThundrrr @Ingola check the paint finish!

 

[PhillB]

I did my first laps on the track on one of these Diamant track bikes, and the riding experience was amazing.
View attachment 926669
In GDR times, the quality of the bikes on sale was getting worse and worse. The best bikes were exported or reserved for professionals.
This was a great pity as the brand was always very innovative.
In the 90s it was then taken over by Villiger and finally by Trek in 2002. Unfortunately, nothing is built in Hartmannsdorf in the former factory anymore.

This one is Epic!!

 

[KayOs]

Kay that is beautiful, truly speaks to me. What sort of bikes were about when you were youngsters?
@MattiThundrrr @Ingola check the paint finish!

Not so many. My grandfather had a 28" Diamant sports bike which he kept "refining" over the years. In the end he had a 2x10 drivetrain. He rode it everywhere.
This was the model but he had a self made aluminum basket for his old dog on it.

My first bike was my cousin's old Blitz in 12" and then a 20-inch Mifa.
Like these two:

One of my friends even had this bad boy:
I always wanted a BMX but there's a saying about life in the GDR:
"We had nothing, not even hunger".
Accordingly, my grandfather's motto was "ride what you have, 20" is 20", you can also ride BMX on a Mifa. What is that supposed to be anyway? BMX?"
I later had a 26" road bike and finally my first MTB in the mid-90s. It was a cheap Everest but still that changed everything.

 

[KayOs]

View attachment 926683

This one is Epic!!

Yeah, I loved them, I should have tried to get one when the cycling club replaced them with newer bikes from the west.

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Not so many. My grandfather had a 28" Diamant sports bike which he kept "refining" over the years. In the end he had a 2x10 drivetrain. He rode it everywhere.
This was the model but he had a self made aluminum basket for his old dog on it.
View attachment 926711
My first bike was my cousin's old Blitz in 12" and then a 20-inch Mifa.
Like these two:
View attachment 926715View attachment 926712
One of my friends even had this bad boy:View attachment 926714
I always wanted a BMX but there's a saying about life in the GDR:
"We had nothing, not even hunger".
Accordingly, my grandfather's motto was "ride what you have, 20" is 20", you can also ride BMX on a Mifa. What is that supposed to be anyway? BMX?"
I later had a 26" road bike and finally my first MTB in the mid-90s. It was a cheap Everest but still that changed everything.

Your grandfather was a wise man. He spoke sense, which to a young man doesn't always sit well. It can take a few years to sink in sadly.

Any pictures of the 26" bike and the Everest?

 

[Scott-S]

One of my friends even had this bad boy:View attachment 926714

I loved the look of your Grandfathers Diamant, very dependable and purposeful look to it
But an adult sized version of your friends trike looks like it would be far more fun than any unsupervised adult should be allowed to have

 

[KayOs]

Your grandfather was a wise man. He spoke sense, which to a young man doesn't always sit well. It can take a few years to sink in sadly.

Any pictures of the 26" bike and the Everest?

Sadly not. They are somewhere but I don't know where....