1978 - One for the show, one for Dittelbrunn Sachs, SKF and Hercules - Hespelein

Back in the seventies and early eighties Dittelbrunn in Franconia/ Bavaria had a good reputation in the national cycling sports. Ludwig Geyer, Otto Schenk, Günther Ziegler, Otto Karrlein, Andreas Ziegler, Bernd Jänicke, Dieter Burkhardt who rode for RSG Franken Katzwang (later renamed to RSG Nuremberg (Rennsportgemeinschaft Nürnberg e.V.)) and Hercules, Philipp Ziegler, Hans Markert, Erich Hespelein and Remig Stumpf.

First attention to Dieter Burkhard was given, when he was a very young man and rode for SG Dittelbrunn. For my knowledge Erich Hespelein was a generation older and founded his bicycle shop in Dittelbrunn in the early seventies already. He started with selling bicycles and making repairs; later he started to solder frames by himself, which are very well known in the local area and in sports. 

Those Hercules Ajaccio made exclusively for RSG Nuremberg have been made by Hespelein in the early years; later that kind of pro gear should have been soldered by Nöll from Fulda.

Let´s have a closer look at this lovely Erich Hespelein Frame I was lucky to aquire:

Please stay tuned for next steps with more information about RSG history as well as pictures of the upcoming Hespelein re-build.