In the collection · Copenhagen, Denmark · 1965
Schrøder
1965
A Copenhagen-built Reynolds 531 racing bicycle. Its workshop ledger preserves what many old bicycles have lost: a frame number, a name and an exact date.
A line in the workshop ledger
Beside frame number PS 1018 B are the name Gert V. Nilsen and the note “delivered 22/5/65”. The brief entry makes the bicycle more than an anonymous green racer: it connects the surviving frame with the person for whom it was originally built.
Copenhagen craftsmanship
Built for one particular rider
Schrøder Cykler was established by Peter Schrøder in Copenhagen in 1920. The workshop became known for hand-built road and track bicycles, made at a time when the framebuilder could adapt dimensions and handling to an individual customer.
This bicycle shows that tradition in physical form. It was built with Reynolds 531 tubing, Nervex lugs and Campagnolo dropouts. Its paint and lining carry marks from use, while the Schrøder name and workshop emblems remain clearly visible.
The bicycle today
Valentino and Balilla
The bicycle is fitted with a Campagnolo Valentino gear group and Balilla brakes. Valentino was Campagnolo’s simpler shifting system and suits a road racer on which dependable mechanics mattered more than a complete professional-level group.
The photographs document the present build. Without a complete original component list, we cannot establish that every part was fitted when the frame was delivered in 1965.
A Danish track connection
Schrøder and Niels Fredborg
The marque developed a strong connection with Danish track cycling. Schrøder’s later company history links Niels Fredborg’s 1,000-metre world title in 1967 and his Olympic silver in 1968 with Schrøder bicycles. Fredborg later won Olympic gold in 1972 and bronze in 1976.
Those results belong to the larger history of the marque. They do not make this road bicycle a Fredborg bicycle; the person documented for this frame is Gert V. Nilsen.
Documented provenance
Three details that survived
Old racing bicycles often lose their first connection with workshop and owner. Here the identity of the frame can be followed directly in the surviving ledger: number, name and delivery date appear together on one line.
The note does not tell us how Gert V. Nilsen used the bicycle. We leave that gap open. What it does provide is a much firmer date than an assessment based only on paint, transfers and components.
The bicycle in the collection
Brief specification
- Make and year
- Schrøder, 1965
- Frame number
- PS 1018 B
- Original customer
- Gert V. Nilsen
- Delivery
- 22 May 1965, according to the workshop ledger
- Size
- 54 cm, centre to top
- Frame
- Reynolds 531 tubing, Nervex lugs and Campagnolo dropouts
- Gears
- Campagnolo Valentino, presently fitted
- Brakes
- Balilla, presently fitted
- Status
- In the collection
Sources
The basis of this page
The frame number, name and delivery date come from the displayed page of the Schrøder workshop ledger. The frame, transfers and present components have been assessed from the bicycle and the collection photographs.
The workshop history was compared with the company history published by Schrøder Cykler/Adventure Cycling. Niels Fredborg’s results were checked against the DIF Museum and Aarhus Cyklebane.
The most valuable thing about this Schrøder is not only the Reynolds tubing or profiled lugs. It is the small, unbroken connection between the workshop, the frame number and the first customer in May 1965.