When Gunnar Asmussen
made the bicycle lower

A machinist on Denmark’s gold-medal team

Gunnar Henry Asmussen trained as a machinist at Sabroe in Aarhus while becoming one of Denmark’s strongest track riders. At the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, he won gold with the Danish 4,000-metre team pursuit squad. It was a discipline in which position, pace and precision had to work like parts of a mechanism.

It is tempting to draw a straight line from the machinist to the bicycles that later carried his name. The documentation is not that simple. But his practical eye for metal, measurements and function followed him into the next part of his life.

A bicycle name in Aarhus

Asmussen opened a bicycle shop in Aarhus in the late 1970s. From 1981 it stood at Fredensgade 54. It sold more than established brands. Bicycles also appeared with the Asmussen name on the down tube, often in black, yellow or strong colours.

They occupied a space between international racing bicycle and local craft. Components might be Italian, but the name, fitting and meeting with the rider belonged in Aarhus.

The funny bike was not strange for strangeness’s sake. It was an attempt to make rider and machine occupy less space in the wind.

When front wheels became smaller

During the 1980s, the time-trial bicycle became an open experiment. Francesco Moser’s hour records in 1984 brought large rear wheels, smaller front wheels and a low riding position to a wide audience. Wind tunnels, aero helmets and new wheel shapes shifted attention from bicycle weight to the air through which rider and machine had to travel.

A smaller front wheel allowed lower handlebars. The sloping top tube followed the low front while the large rear wheel retained a familiar rolling circumference. The result became known as a funny bike: an informal name for a serious pursuit of seconds.