I purchased this Sieber from a dealer who specialized in balloon-tire bikes. Years before the internet, I paid around a hundred or hundred and twenty-five dollars for a machine I had never heard of before. Those were the days. (Not to disparage the balloon-tire crowd, but I found that in the mid-eighties a good many of the balloon-tire folks were only too glad to pawn off a lightweight bicycle, often characterizing every bike with skinny tires as a "ten-speed.") The derailleur on this bicycle was intriguing. I put the bike in the back of my truck and sped home, eager to call my teacher, Charlie Dixon, who would surely be able to tell me exactly what I had found (this was long before cell phones).
It turned out that my Sieber was a highly refined racing bicycle, made in the small Swiss Italian town of Chiasso. The derailleur was called a "Super Champion," designed by one Oscar Egg, a champion Swiss track rider who set the World Hour Record three times before the first world war, and won stages in both the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia. The first version of the Super Champion, appearing in 1932, featured a derailing fork mechanism attached to the seat stay and a chain tensioner attached to the chainstay. My bike is fitted with the final form of the Super Champion (1935), with the chain tensioner attached to the base of the downtube. Pro riders of the time enthusiastically embraced the Super Champion, exerting pressure on the organizers of the Tour de France to allow derailleur-equipped bicycles in the 1937 Tour.
It wasn't long until my Sieber found its way to Charlie's home (as so many of my bicycles would follow in decades to come). Charlie discovered the original shade of green paint buried beneath a garish red overspray, and preserving the transfers, restored the Sieber to its present form. Note the Maxi-car hubs, the stuff of legend.
It turned out that my Sieber was a highly refined racing bicycle, made in the small Swiss Italian town of Chiasso. The derailleur was called a "Super Champion," designed by one Oscar Egg, a champion Swiss track rider who set the World Hour Record three times before the first world war, and won stages in both the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia. The first version of the Super Champion, appearing in 1932, featured a derailing fork mechanism attached to the seat stay and a chain tensioner attached to the chainstay. My bike is fitted with the final form of the Super Champion (1935), with the chain tensioner attached to the base of the downtube. Pro riders of the time enthusiastically embraced the Super Champion, exerting pressure on the organizers of the Tour de France to allow derailleur-equipped bicycles in the 1937 Tour.
It wasn't long until my Sieber found its way to Charlie's home (as so many of my bicycles would follow in decades to come). Charlie discovered the original shade of green paint buried beneath a garish red overspray, and preserving the transfers, restored the Sieber to its present form. Note the Maxi-car hubs, the stuff of legend.
1940's Sieber ©Daniel Dahlquist