All right

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Allright was a brand under which various companies, primarily from Cologne, produced bicycles, motorcycles and automobiles as well as accessories between 1890 and 1965.

Company stories

Founding years and bicycle production

The “Allright Fahrradwerke” was founded in 1890 by the bicycle pioneer Georg Sorge , who was able to celebrate successes as a racing cyclist such as second place in the distance cycling trip from Vienna to Berlin . Initially, components of the brands “Triumph” and “Allright Coventry Safety” imported from England were assembled there.

Soon after the company was founded, “Allright” was able to move from a small workshop on Freiligrathstrasse to larger company premises on Neuenhöfer Allee in Sülz in 1899 . The company also ran its own cycling school. Only seven years after it was founded, the “Allright Fahrradwerke” had established themselves on the market (exact sales figures are not known), as can be seen from the catalog from 1897: “If our factories in Germany are not among the oldest, so is it we managed to successfully pass all the test stations of this new industry and produce the best machines. ”26 different bicycle models were offered in this catalog. The success of the racing drivers supported by the company, such as Jimmy Moran or Peter Günther , who worked as a mechanic at “Allright” before starting his racing career, also contributed to the company's reputation.

Growing cheap imports from the USA, for example, led to a slump in the German market in 1898. Ten years earlier a bicycle had cost 500 to 1000 marks (roughly the annual salary of a worker), now a German bicycle was available for around 200 marks, but American bikes were already on sale for 80 marks. Many bicycle manufacturers had to capitulate, but the "Allright-Werke" survived the crisis thanks to the economic and political activities of their owner.

New structures

A promotional photo: the family of racing cyclist Robert Walthour , all with all-right bikes

In 1901 Georg Sorge converted the “Allright-Fahrradwerke” into the “Köln-Lindenthaler Metallwerke AG” (KLM), the “Rheinische Handelsgesellschaft”, which belonged to the Adolf Hanau bank, became the main shareholder. KLM also added the production of motorcycles and later automobiles to its program. They developed into one of the largest employers in the west of Cologne. In 1905 750 workers produced 35,000 bicycles annually on an area of ​​145,000 m². In 1922, during the inflationary years , KLM took over the struggling local competitor " Cito " with a branch in Suhl; In 1927 they gave up the in-house production of motorcycles and specialized in the supply of accessories. The Thuringian entrepreneur and former technician at Cito, Paul Henkel, took over the Suhl plant, brought motorcycle production to Suhl and produced the “Original Allright K.-G. ” motorcycle there until 1931. ". However, Henkel fell seriously ill and committed suicide in 1931.

time of the nationalsocialism

Even before the seizure of power by the Nazis, the owner of the bank Hanau, Adolf Hanau, on the advice of his friend Lois Helkenberg his companies in supposedly trustworthy "Aryan" hands (→ had Nuremberg Laws ) was added. He handed over the KLM to his operations manager, Conrad Brusselsbach. The real estate remained in the possession of the "Rheinische Handelsgesellschaft", which now acted as the lessor. Adolf Hanau and his mother were killed in the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1942 , the daughter managed to escape to South America, while the son-in-law took his own life. Brusselsbach, meanwhile, saw himself as the legal owner of the works, a "National Socialist model company" that had also produced weapons and weapon parts towards the end of the war, and finally stopped paying rent.

After the Second World War

After the war, Helkenberg sued Brusselsbach as administrator on behalf of the Hanau family. A settlement was made and the total rent was 1870 Reichsmarks. Brüsselsbach's son-in-law, Friedrich Rolf, finally moved production to Hürth - Efferen . There he produced bicycles and mopeds under the name "Allright / Cito Conrad Brusselsbach Fahrradfabrik" until the 1965s. Helkenberg sold the site in Lindenthal to the "Dr. Rüger Group"; he died in 1971.

Motorcycles (1901–1927)

Allright from 1905
Vindec special from 1912 with JAP engine

The motorcycles of the brands Allright and Tiger were created using built-in engines from FN , Kelecom and Minerva . The motorcycles, which were equipped with one and two-cylinder engines from Fafnir or JAP from 1903 and were exported to England, bore the brand names Vindec-Spezial or VS.

After an interruption due to the war, motorcycles with 150 and 175 cc two-stroke engines as well as side and overhead steering 350 and 500 cc engines from the English manufacturer JAP, but also with English Blackburne or Motosacoche engines from Switzerland, were produced again from 1923 .

The takeover of the company Cito-Werke, Cologne and Suhl, secured Allright the production line of the Krieger-Gnädig motorcycles (KG). These had a 500 cm³ block engine and a cardan drive.

Automobiles (1908–1913)

In 1908 a two-seater motorcycle car appeared, which was equipped with an air-cooled V2 engine and four wire-spoke wheels. He weighed 200 kg and drove 35 km / h.

From 1910 an improved model was offered, which was available as a two-seat runabout or delivery van. Its V2 engine produced an output of 7 PS (5.1 kW) at 1300 min⁻¹ with a displacement of 960 cm³. The rear wheels were driven via a leather cone clutch, a three-speed gearbox and chains. The 500 kg vehicle reached a top speed of 55 km / h and cost ℳ 3,000.00 . In 1913 this model also disappeared from the market.

The production of motorcycles was discontinued in 1928, but the company's product range continued to include a two-stroke model with a 98 Sachs engine, which was popularly known as "Hermännchen" (allegedly named after the overweight Hermann Göring , who checked one of these Small motorcycle).

Motorcycle accessories

After motorcycle production was discontinued in 1928, accessories continued to be produced, such as the Tiger suspension fork , which is very popular with many motorcycle manufacturers . Well-known designer at Allright was the engineer Rudi Albert, who later created the Stella at Mars in Nuremberg.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tobias Christ: Searching for traces: Lindenthaler Metallwerke, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger of December 10, 2015, p. 25 and online

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Web links

Commons : Allright  - collection of images, videos and audio files