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Here we have a "not in the barn, but outside the barn" farm-fresh boy's straightbar that looks to be postwar. Front facing dropouts, a Komet coaster hub and no apparent badge holes or paint traces where a badge would have been. Peaked fenders and an attractive rack but no chain guard...
Markings on hub read "F&S 56 M Komet Super D.R.P. - D.B.P. Made in Germany" Didn't Sachs make these? I've seen them on various dep't store branded bikes - Western Flyers and Sears bikes from mid-50s into the 60s at least.
The serial is on the bottom bracket and reads "A56508 6" I'm going to go way out on a limb here and say the bike hails from circa 1956 seeing as how that's also the number on the kraut hub.... but who made it and who sold it? Thanks in advance for any help.
More on the post-war German patent situation later. This bike predates the Berlin Wall which went up in 1961 and came to form the heart of the so-called "iron curtain" of the Cold War. DRP and DBP refer to pre-war patents and post-war attempts to retain these patents, sometimes with success and sometimes not. The "R" stands for "Riech" and that particularly distasteful venture came to an end in 1945 after a lot of very serious fighting by a lot of brave anti-fascists from all over the globe, many of whom gave their lives so we could enjoy the freedoms we still enjoy -and still fight for - today.
Also more bike details to come. It seems like this may have had truss bars when new - there is the remnant of a bracket where the "ears" maybe have been broken off underneath the steering tube crown nut. The seat-stays have a flat steel deep V brace that dovetails into the peaked fender nicely. The rear dropouts have an upward reaching tab to connect to the fender brace. I haven't yet looked at the branding etc on the tire, or what's left of it. The stem looks very Wald-ish and plain.

Markings on hub read "F&S 56 M Komet Super D.R.P. - D.B.P. Made in Germany" Didn't Sachs make these? I've seen them on various dep't store branded bikes - Western Flyers and Sears bikes from mid-50s into the 60s at least.

The serial is on the bottom bracket and reads "A56508 6" I'm going to go way out on a limb here and say the bike hails from circa 1956 seeing as how that's also the number on the kraut hub.... but who made it and who sold it? Thanks in advance for any help.
More on the post-war German patent situation later. This bike predates the Berlin Wall which went up in 1961 and came to form the heart of the so-called "iron curtain" of the Cold War. DRP and DBP refer to pre-war patents and post-war attempts to retain these patents, sometimes with success and sometimes not. The "R" stands for "Riech" and that particularly distasteful venture came to an end in 1945 after a lot of very serious fighting by a lot of brave anti-fascists from all over the globe, many of whom gave their lives so we could enjoy the freedoms we still enjoy -and still fight for - today.
Also more bike details to come. It seems like this may have had truss bars when new - there is the remnant of a bracket where the "ears" maybe have been broken off underneath the steering tube crown nut. The seat-stays have a flat steel deep V brace that dovetails into the peaked fender nicely. The rear dropouts have an upward reaching tab to connect to the fender brace. I haven't yet looked at the branding etc on the tire, or what's left of it. The stem looks very Wald-ish and plain.
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