The Bycicles - Introduction
The two Models
For almost one century Swiss Soldiers rode the legendary Ordonanzrad 05. Established in 1905 and used with only a few technical adaptions it served until 1995, from when it was displaced by the Fahrrad 93.
From the "Ordonanzrad 05" to the "Fahrrad 93"
At the beginning of the 1990ies there had to be found a successor for the Ordonanzrad 05, which served Swiss cyclist troops since the turn of the 20th century as a reliable vehicle. The most important reason for a change was the difficulty to procure suitable spare parts and associated high maintenance costs.
After a 3 years evaluation phase the Swiss enterprise CONDOR got the order to manufacture 5'500 bicycles, which were delivered after 1993 to the three Cyclist Regiments. The total costs of the procurement amounted to SFr. 17 millions. With a price of approx. SFr. 2'200.- a saving of nearly one third in relation to the production cost of the "Ordonanzrad 05", resulted at that time.
Advantages of the new bike
The 7-speed-gear which allowed an dramatical speed increase during long distance rides, brought the probably most obvious innovation. For security reasons the new bicycle was equipped with hydraulic rim brakes (Magura). For the lighting a halogen headlight and a conventional taillight which were fed by a front weel dynamo. Framework geometry (only one frame size available) was adapted to the then-needs of soldiers.
|
