Vintage continental bike info sought : "Torpedo 36" on hub

[Squirrel]

Hi all just joined up on this forum. Bought this bike and I am trying to find out something about it. I am thinking it’s vintage and German make. It says Torpedo 36 on the hub. I will post some photos all information welcome. Cheers

[simonineaston]

My own modest contrib. - Torpedo is a brand name that used to belong to Fichtel & Sach, maker of internal hub gears - see here. As far as I know, the word was used quite widely by the company and doesn't refer to any one particular model. Fichtel & Sachs are now owned by SRAM, the big US company. I'll take a punt and suggest the number 36 refers to the number of spoke holes - and of course it'll be easy to check if that's the case... although just because the rear wheel does have 36 spokes doesn't mean for certain that's why the hub is stamped with that number!

[thirdcrank]

The bike appears to have a coaster or back-pedal brake which is/was a common feature on Dutch roadsters. I don't really know much about European regulations but AFAIK, a front brake isn't / wasn't compulsory in the Netherlands. The front brake may, therefore suggest German origin. Or not

[Brucey]

the front brake is a weinmann and (I would guess) is late 1960s or 1970s, maybe early 1980s. Anyway being a weinmann it will probably have a date mark on the back. This may help you date the bike.

cheers

[jimlews]

The rear hub is a Fitchel and Sachs Torpedo; a two speed (I think some were three speed) with a back pedalling brake.

[Brucey]

'torpedo' branded hubs from F&S were originally singlespeed, but the name has been used for two, three (and more) speed hubs too.

There is quite a good write up on F&S bike hubs here

https://yarchive.net/bike/torpedo_hubs.html

cheers

[Squirrel]

Ah ye great all of ye with this informatio looked for date on brake. I see 1023 on that! There are also 36 spokes! Adding a few more pics.

[Squirrel]

And it has a brake when one peddles backwards

[simonineaston]

English speakers tend to think of the sound of their name as "...itch" - it's a more common syllable for us, as in "titchy" or "ditch", however Germans are of course funny people wot don't talk proper and they're more used to the sound made by "...icht"
so the company name is Fichtel & Sachs.
Talking of mis-pronouncing gear manufacturers' names, as a youngster, I wasn't comfortable with the name "Sturmey", always thinking it should be Stur man y... don't ask me why.

[Vorpal]

I think it may be a Danish bike. I've seen ones like that in Denmark, with the curved support between the frame tubes, and couple of common Danish brands have done those (e.g. SCO)

Danish bikes must have a VIN. Normally, it will be on the seatpost tube or downtube. They are sometimes put on the BB shell.

If you find one, the numbers will identify the manufacturer and date, but you'll have to look up the code.

if you don't find one, I'm wrong & it was made elsewhere.

[backnotes]

The plastic cover for a Sachs Torpedo trigger gear changer seems to have come off and slipped down the gear cable? It's the cover off a 3 speed changer, but that doesn't mean it is a 3 speed hub.

Are there any other things that might be a brand name or logo - e.g. on the chainguard or at the top of the frame under the saddle? Is the name on the badge at the front Paloma or Palomar (or something else)?

Paloma.jpg (18.03 KiB) Viewed 635 times

[pq]

As I recall the bike Heinz Stucke used for most of his exploits had a Torpedo hub gear, so I guess they must be pretty robust. Google his name and you'll find loads of info. If memory serves he set off from (West) Germany in 1962 but I doubt the bike was new even then.

[Vorpal]

The plastic cover for a Sachs Torpedo trigger gear changer seems to have come off and slipped down the gear cable? It's the cover off a 3 speed changer, but that does't mean it is a 3 speed hub.

Are there any other things that might be a brand name or logo - e.g. on the chainguard or at the top of the frame under the saddle? Is the name on the badge at the front Paloma or Palomar (or something else)?

Paloma.jpg

The bike does look similar to the Viking Paloma. Maybe an older model?

[thirdcrank]

The Viking Paloma seems to be a current bike with some retro features.

Viking is the name of an old English manufacturer that went belly up and the name has recently been revived by another manufacturer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_Cycle_Company

[Ugly]

Date codes for F&S hubs here, see note at T for location

The letters "I" and "Q" were not used, skipped due to similarity to "J" and "O". In 1982, the list was restarted with "A".

A = 1958
B = 1959
C = 1960
D = 1961
E = 1962
F = 1963
G = 1964
H = 1965
J = 1966 (I is skipped)
K = 1967
L = 1968
M = 1969
N = 1970
O = 1971
P = 1972
R = 1973 (Q is skipped)
S = 1974
T = 1975 (Marking moved from hub shell to brake reaction arm, the lower letter is the year, the upper is the month)
U = 1976
V = 1977
W = 1978
X = 1979
Y = 1980
Z = 1981
A = 1982 (List restarted)
B = 1983
C = 1984
D = 1985
E = 1986
F = 1987
G = 1988
H = 1989

Month codes:

In the period 1975 to 1989, a production month code was added above the year code, using the following pattern:
(Again, "Q" was skipped)

N = January
O = February
P = March
R = April
S = May
T = June
U = July
V = August
W = September
X = October
Y = November
Z = December

After mid-1989, the week number and year of production was printed on the hubs with plain digits.