DKW Fahrrader

Jorge Rasmussen was never a man to let an opportunity pass by. Once DKW began building clip on bicycle 'help motors' in 1919, he decided they should also make the bicycles. These bicycles were especially strengthened to be able to mount a help motor at a later date. One line of this business evolved into the DKW motorcycle company. Initially the bicycles were sold under the brand name DGW, but the name quickly reverted to the familiar DKW.

Sales of the DKW bicycle however proved to be disappointing, as this lament from the 1929 DKW dealer magazine (DKW Handler) notes:

"Again and again we have to make the comment that a large percentage of our gentlemen who sell our DKW motorcycles, also sell bicycles of other brands. To fulfill the wishes of our customers, we have bought a DKW branded bicycle onto the market under the name "DKW Original". which in terms of quality and equipment is in no way inferior to the bikes of other well-known brand manufacturers. It has all the features that you would expect from a first-class brand bicycle, namely seamless steel tube frame, hard soldering, copper-nickel plating and enamelling, set off with double gold lines, yellow leather seat, nickel-plated pedals, torpedo hub and red or blue colour scheme. The bike has a classy design and is virtually indestructible. If you now consider that our bike is at least RM 5 to RM 10 cheaper than the brand-name bikes, then we really don't understand why our motorcycle salespeople, who on the one hand make good earnings from the DKW motorcycle business, don't on the other hand, support us by promoting bicycle sales.

Surely it should also be in your interest to personally convince yourself of the quality of our DKW original bikes by purchasing a few sample machines. We are definitely counting on receiving your order in the next few days.

We know very well that the bicycle business itself has not started this year in a way that one could have assumed after the successes of the previous year, but you should certainly be able to achieve better results if you are able to offer your next DKW- motorcycle customer the opportunity to buy a DKW bicycle."