INBIKE / TEXTIMA

From East to West

The roots of this time trial bike go back to East Germany, but it was not built until after Germany’s reunification. In a specialist department of the Textima company, which in its day-to-day business specialized in textile machines, racing bikes for elite cyclists were also produced. The precision and quality of their construction caused a furore in international competitions. The number of the model featured is 112062.
After the reunification, the Textima legacy was carefully managed by Christoph Hähle and carried on under the name of Inbike. The reinforcement plates were typical of later Textima bikes. The carbon handlebars by the Italian firm 3ttt, developed by Paolo Martin, head designer for Pininfarina, were a perfect match. In the second half of the 1980s these handlebars could be found almost universally on time trial bikes.
The Dura-Ace-10 parts, with their subtle reduction in size, are also noteworthy. Instead of half an inch, the chain pitch measures 10 millimetres, which makes the chain ring, for instance, smaller, by 21 per cent. It is also lighter by 38 per cent – a quantity that does not need to be accelerated when sprinting. However, bicycle evolution decided to neglect this invention, perhaps because changing the chain norms was considered too complex.



~1990, GER/GDR
Frame: Steel varnished
Bicycle gearing: 1 Speed fixed
Brakes: /
Tyres: 27“ Tubular / 27“ Tubular
Weight: 19,18 lbs