The world of cycling is truly diverse,
encompassing sports, transportation, technology and social history.
Set at a human scale, many of its stories and artifacts have been
lost over the last century but much too has been saved. In Europe
many of the mainstream state museums, such as transportation wing of
the Deutsches Museum in Munich, give short shrift to the two-wheeled
past but one finds a surprising number of rather eccentric little
museums heroically taking up the slack. Pezcyclingnews has already
taken you to museums in Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy
and Germany but today we introduce you to yet one more, this time in
Austria.
Retz is a town of 5,000, located in
Lower Austria directly on the Czech border and some 80 kms northwest
of Vienna. Dating back to 1180, the town has has seen its fair share
of events, including being destroyed during the Hussite Rebellion in
1425 and then again in the 17th Century during the Thirty
Years' War. Located in the Austrian Wine District (Weinviertel) it
boasts one of the finest and largest market squares of any place in
the country and the Gatterburg Castle, constructed between 1660 and
1670. In the basement of this city castle you will find the
Fahrradmuseum Retz (simply “the Retz Bicycle Museum”) and its
jovial proprietor/manager, Herr Fritz Hurtl.
Austria was of course once much more
than Austria alone, ruling over a vast multicultural and multilingual
empire until 1918 so it should be no surprise that the country once
boasted a significant industrial base which included the manufacture
of bicycles. In its collection numbering more than 90 examples the
Retz museum covers the history of the bicycle from the days of the
hobby horse/Laufmaschine craze
of the 1820s up to racing bicycles of the 1980s with a particular
emphasis on Austro-Hungarian brands. Some of these names still
resonate even in the English-speaking world of models exported in the
bike boom of the 1970s: Puch, Steyr, Austro-Daimler.
The basis of what
you see in the museum, which includes not only complete bicycles but
also accessories, pictures, advertising posters and parts, came from
the collection of Herr Hurtl. With a band of supporters an
association was formed and space was found in the castle cellar. In
1999 the museum was opened to the public and operates daily in the
afternoon from May to October. Herr Hurtl is a great enthusiast and
is delighted to discuss the finer points of the collection (although
visitors may wish to note he does not speak English and his German
bears a very strong Austrian dialect!). He was concerned that the
museum may have to eventually relocate, something that seems to be a
common problem for these small museums. The lease with the castle
landlord was due to end in 2013 but is continuing for the moment but
the association, “Verein 's Fahrradl im Schloss," would like
to have a permanent location of its own. The current space is not
wheelchair-accessible and lacks space for special exhibitions.
Walking
through the museum one sees a number of very early two-wheelers,
including a replica of Baron Drais' 1817 Laufmaschine,
considered to be the first bicycle (at least in the German-speaking
world!), and several others from the Iron Age of Cycling. There are
some nice highwheelers as well but the major part of the collection
covers the safety bicycle, in its myriad forms. There are bicycles
with weird suspension systems or peculiar drivetrains and one is
again reminded of the myriad avenues, many of them leading to dead
ends, of technological innovation that characterized the development
of the bike. In addition to the well-known Austrian brands
mentioned, there are some quite obscure ones such as Burg, Jacobi and
Miesenstöck along with French, Czechoslovak and German models.
Particularly pleasing is the Bismarck bicycle with its two-speed
bottom bracket transmission.
In the walls of the
cellar there are niches which have been used to highlight objects of
special interests. One of these features a Puch “Waffenrad” from
1915 and is devoted to the Puch story. Founded in 1889 in Graz by
Johann Puch, the company was a successful manufacturer of bicycles
under its “Styria” and “Puch” brand names. The first
Paris-Roubaix race was won on a Styria bicycle ridden by Josef
Fischer in 1896. In 1900 operations were expanded to include mopeds,
motorcycles and even cars; by 1908 the company was already producing
variable-gearing bicycles. By the time of the founder's retirement
in 1912 the Puch factory was producing 16,000 bicycles annually. In
1928 the company merged with Austro-Daimler and subsequently again
with Steyr in 1934. Post-World War II the company produced a very
wide range and Puch bicycles were ridden to many race successes by
Austria's best cyclists in Team ASKO Knittelfeld in the 1970s and
1980s but the collapse of the US export market post-1975 led to
disastrous losses. The company was sold to the Italian firm Bianchi
in 1987. The merged group is now part of the Swedish Cycleurope
group, which includes other historic brands including France's Gitane
and Sweden's Monark and is owned by the Monegasque royal family. The
“Waffenrad” name is still used by Puch but the bicycles do not
have the unique style of the model featured at Retz with it beautiful
chainring!
The museum is
packed with interesting artifacts although one must admit that the
racing component is a bit weak. Nonetheless, everything is
accessible (Herr Hurtl will move bikes for you if you want to take
some photos—take that, Deutsches Museum!) and the whole project is
one of great charm. It is worth the short trip from Vienna and
provides the opportunity not only to enjoy the museum but also the
very attractive town and the Weinviertel, whose attractions are quite
obvious.
Fahrradmuseum Retz
Verein " 's Fahrradl im
Schloss"
Schlossplatz 5
A-2070 Retz
Österreich / Austria
Tel: 0664/ 6431791
Schlossplatz 5
A-2070 Retz
Österreich / Austria
Skype +43-664-6431791
website (primarily in German, but with English and Czech sections): http://www.fahrradmuseum-retz.com/
The museum is open daily from 14:00-17:00 May to October but can be visited otherwise by appointment. Admission is 3 Euros for adults.
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