How much would you pay to own the very intersection between musical history and cycling culture? Well, dip your hand in your pocket, and then dip a little deeper.
Florian Schneider was one of the founding members of techno-royalty, Kraftwerk, and a vast collection of his goods is up for auction by auction house Julien's at present.
Amongst the musical instruments, signed records, posters, and iconic suits is a silver titanium bicycle, made by Speedwell, and ridden by Schneider in the music video for a 1984 remix of the band’s Tour de France single. The lot also includes Polaroids of Schneider on the bike. The initial estimate was in the region of $4,000 - $6,000, but at the time of writing, the highest bid stands at $15,000, more than triple what was expected, and there’s still time for it to climb even higher.
The bike was ridden in paceline formation with the other three members of the band for the video, and appears to be in original spec. The tyres, perishable as they are over long periods of time, have been replaced with Panaracer Gravelkings, and the bar tape may be fresh, but otherwise the machine has a healthy patina, especially on the very classique, perforated Selle Italia Turbo saddle.
Speedwell was founded in 1897 in Birmingham, England, as a sheet metal fabricator, but shortly thereafter transitioned to making titanium bicycles and motorbike frames. Sadly, today the brand no longer really exists in the same sense, and is now US-based and creates slightly odd-looking fat-tyred electric bikes.
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