Georg Sorge

Georg Sorge

Georg Sorge (born August 11, 1868 in Salzgitter , † January 20, 1954 in Berlin) was a German racing cyclist and bicycle manufacturer .

Cycling successes

Georg Sorge was initially a member of the "Hanover Bicycle Club" and later, after moving to Cologne, he joined the "Cölner BC". At this point in time, around the middle of the 1880s, he had already held several high- bike records and was now doing long bike tours, such as the 249.9 kilometer route from Blankenheim to Boppard in 11 hours and 56 minutes. In 1893 he took part in the much acclaimed distance cycling between Vienna and Berlin , which heralded the bicycle boom in Germany. Sorge took second place behind the best road driver at the time, Josef Fischer , to whom he was 54 minutes behind. In 1895 he won the “Mainz-Cleve” race.

Allright works and bike school

For professional reasons, Sorge, who had attended business school and then worked in a hardware store, moved to Cologne and worked there initially as a merchant in a hardware store . From 1890 he sold English bicycles of the brands "Triumph" and "Allright Coventry Safety", which he assembled together with a partner in a small factory, the " Allright Fahrradwerke" in Cologne-Lindenthal .

In addition to the production and sale of bicycles, Georg Sorge ran the “Allright bicycle school” for wealthy customers. Back then, a bicycle was still a luxury item, costing between 500 and 1,000 marks, a sum that roughly corresponded to the annual salary of a worker at the time. After its second place in "Vienna-Berlin" the school was very popular.

In 1897 the "Allright Fahrradwerke" established themselves on the German market, famous racing drivers such as Jimmy Moran and Peter Günther , who had already worked as a mechanic in the company and was promoted by his boss, drove this brand. After a dent in sales due to cheap foreign imports, things continued to improve from 1901, and Sorge converted his company into a stock corporation, the "Köln-Lindenthaler Metallwerke" (KLM), which later also produced motorcycles and cars. Sorge himself withdrew from the operative business as a silent partner, but founded the first wholesaler for automobile accessories in Berlin, the well-known company "Sorge und Sabeck".

Nothing is known about Georg Sorge's further life.

literature

• Horst Nordmann / Fritz and Mika Hahn: Kölsche two-wheeled stories. Pioneers, racing drivers, fates , Cologne 2003

Web links

• Georg Sorge in the Radsportseiten.net database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Walter Euhus: spokes sport. Hanover's historic cycling . Die Speiche, Langenhagen 2001, ISBN 3-9807011-0-7 , p. 94 .