Fact test: know the true story behind this vintage spring bike

An image of a vintage bicycle with unique spring wheels and a gun on it is viral with the claim that it is from the British period and that these bicycles were stored in police stations in India.

Several Facebook users posted the photo of the bike with a caption in Hindi which is translated as ‘The bike of the British era stored in police stations.’ The British era is in the context of India during British rule before independence.

India Today Anti-Fake News War Room (AFWA) found that it was a German bicycle used in the First World War. It is a 1905 Herrenrad Victoria Model 12 bicycle with a Mauser GEW 88 rifle and has never been used in India.

The archived versions of the posts are stored here, here and here.

THE BIKE STORY

Using reverse image search, we found the same image on Reddit. Some websites and some Facebook users also posted this picture last year. Most of them claim that it is a German bicycle with spring wheels that was used in the First World War.

By paying attention to this and using appropriate keywords, we found a website called onlinebicyclemuseum.co.uk – a website dedicated to enthusiasts (https://onlinebicyclemuseum.co.uk/ww1-german-bicycles/) . There is a detailed article regarding these vintage German springs. Here we found the picture of the exact bike, as well as some similar spring bikes.

(Image courtesy: onlinefietsmuseum.co.uk)

This site deals with vintage bicycles and is recognized as the most comprehensive public database for bicycle history. Colin Kirsche, the creator of this online cycling museum, is also the author of the book “Bad Teeth No Bar”.

According to the author, the bicycle seen in the viral image is a Herrenrad Victoria Model 12 German bicycle from 1905 together with the Mauser GEW 88 rifle, which was used in the First World War. Victoria was a bicycle manufacturer in Nuremberg, Germany.

The author writes how the spring wheels were not part of this particular bike when he found it in France. “I managed to locate the front spring wheel at Beaulieu Autojumble, and I got the rear spring wheel from the US a year later, just in time to use the photos in my book,” the author writes.

Beaulieu is a town in England where the International Autojumble – the most famous car event and the biggest outdoor sale of car items takes place.

According to the Colin Kirsche article, there was a shortage of rubber during World War I. A spring wheel in a bicycle was sometimes used as a replacement for rubber.

Kirsche also has a Facebook page about bikes, where one can buy from his vintage collection.

The claim that the bicycle in the image is from the British era and is used in police stations in India is therefore misleading.