The Altenburger/GB/Magistroni Road Ensemble

[juvela]

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for a short period in the years immediately following the second world war the component manufacturers Altenburger, GB and Magistroni (Officine Mecchaniche Giostra) joined forces to offer a road ensemble

do not know specific start/stop years for this effort

GB, for example, was the U.K. agent for Altenburger derailleurs for some period

have never seen an advert or brochure presenting this tripartite offering

it must have been shown at trade shows of the time and likely advertised in cycling publications

does anyone have any information on it?

thank you


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[Canuk]

The GB Altenburger rear derailleur seems to have been a flop: mounted under the chainstay it looked pretty precarious. Here's the blurb on it:

In 1950, Karl Altenburger bought the patent for the horizontally pivoting rear derailleur from Nieddu, Mariani, and Blaser. ... Heinz Muller, a famous German bicycle racer, was also a skilled toolmaker, and he revised the first model to incorporate a horizontal parallelogram It was sold in the UK as the GB Altenburger.’

 

[Old Ned]

Here's an ad from Sporting Cyclist -

 

[non-fixie]

Those derailleurs are cool. I'd never heard of them until I found this example a while ago at a bike jumble. Too intriguing to not take home for a euro. Other than the missing jockey wheel it seems to be all there.

 

[juvela]

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thanks to all for the replies

yet seeking information on the road ensemble...


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[Canuk]

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thanks to all for the replies

yet seeking information on the road ensemble...


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I can't find any mention, (or evidence) for such a groupset. There's nothing at all on the Classic Rendezvous site and Joels Blackbirds pages on Magistroni say nothing of it. He's pretty much the expert on it.

Of note though, is the fact when Magistroni disappeared in the early 60's, a few years later OFMEGA started (OFficine MEcchaniche GiostrA), surely no coincidence. Ofmega did go on to produce entire groups but not until the 1980's.

Apparently Magistroni catalogues are almost impossible to find, so I think coming across sufficient evidence for a collaborative effort with GB and Altenburger and three Italians might be a very difficult task. Good luck

Rebour drawing of Magistroni's revolutionary bottom bracket design with annular bearings.

 

[non-fixie]

And Joel Metz has consulted with some of the best experts on the subject ...

 

[Canuk]

I suppose it's a bit like the French cycling components industry, it's a mystery why such a strong and vibrant manufacturing base with many innovative and world leading products should all but vanish in a few years at the end of the 80's. Some things just get lost to time and that's that

 

[non-fixie]

I did some trawling through the large documentation database of the V-CC, but so far that has yielded exactly nothing. Neither did the documents I had collected following the find of my own Altenburger derailleur.

What I am getting from the information I did come across is that the most logical period for this venture would have been the late fifties to early sixties, when Campagnolo introduced their own cranks. This would have worried Magistroni, as that made Tulio's outfit a competitor instead of a business partner.

This jibes with the ages of bicycles I find that are equipped with Altenburger gear ensembles, such as Cinelli and Sütterlin, which both used the braze-ons and the drop-outs. Grunewald and Göricke also offered Altenburger-equipped machines. I stands to reason that some of those would have been equipped with Magistroni cranks, as German and Swiss builders looked more towards Italy for inspiration than, say, France.

For a sponsorship link with a cycling team I'd be looking towards Germany or Switzerland as well. Unless that is perhaps where Gerry Burgess came in. @bagpuss did once mention a possible sponsoring collaboration between Carlton and Altenburger ...

All very circumstantial so far, I'm afraid.

 

[Canuk]

Nice that: but still not really evidence of a 'groupset'. Magistroni were producing headsets, bottom brackets, chain sets, chain rings (for other people) and hubs. Knowing a little about Germans and Italians (I've lived in both countries), they're not the best for collaborative projects! I just can't see it. Italy's top tier producer and the nice but boring German components...