On 12 September 1896, the Fahrradwerke Bismark GmbH was registered in the commercial register of Lennep. Before that the oldand retired Reich Chancellor Prince Otto von Bismarck has given his personal consent to use the Bismark brand. Thus in 1897 the first bicycles were produced in Bergerhof, Radevormwald. In 1918 the company was renamed to Fahrradwerke Bismarck, Schütte & Co., Bergerhof Rhld.
In the 30s a two-speed gear, which was integrated into the bottom bracket, was developed. Bicycles equipped with this gear mechanism got the name "Berg wie Tal". Although the Bismark racing team earned many national and international victories the greatest success of the racing team took place in the postwar period. For instance earned the Bismark team victory in the Deutschlandrundfahrt 1951 and 1952.
In autumn 1957 Bismark went bankrupt and was sold in pieces. The naming righs went to a firm called Falter in Bielefeld, which build and sold bicycles up to the late 90s under the Bismark brand.
Unfortunately I didn´t come over more information about the Modell 126 and the relationship between Toni Merkens and Bismark. Toni Merkens was born in 1912.
Merkens completed an apprenticeship as a bicycle mechanic at Fritz Köthke in Cologne. In 1933 he won his first German Championship in the sprint. In 1934 he was able to repeat this success and also won at the British Open Championships and the Grand Prix de Paris. At the track world championships in the same year in Leipzig, he finished fourth. In 1935 he again won the championship in the sprint from Germany and Great Britain as well as the Paris Grand Prix.
At the World Championships 1935 in Brussels Merkens could also win the title, as he successed against the Durchman Arie van Vliet with 2:1 runs. At the 1936 Olympic Games he was able to repeate this victory.
The above photograph shows Toni Merkens at the 1936 Olympics with a Hetchins, not with a Bismark. Other sources also report to have seen him mostly on frames build by Hetchins.
Immediately after the 1936 Olympics Merkens became a professional. In 1937 and 1939 he was German Vice Champion in the sprint. In 1940 he was the German Champion stayer, 1941 Vice Champion, 1942 Merkens became German Champion in the sprint and again stayer Vice Champion.
The Catalog picture shown above explicitly refers to victories won after WW II. But even in these days Toni Merkens demonstrably couldn´t have been involved anymore, because he already passed away in 1944 in a field hospital in Bad Wildbad to meningitis, after he was injured in 1942 on the Eastern Front (Russia) by a shrapnel.
Stay tunes for an update with pictures of my Bismark Model 126
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