Jack Lauterwasser

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John Jacob "Jack" Lauterwasser (born June 4, 1904 in London , † February 2, 2003 in Bath ) was a British cyclist and bicycle maker.

Youth and beginnings as a racing driver

Jack Lauterwasser's father came from Bavaria and emigrated from there first to France and then to England, where he married a British woman. The parents lived in poor conditions near Oxford Street , where they ran a pastry shop. When the First World War broke out, the father had to return to Germany because he was not a British citizen. The family stayed in London and Jack Lauterwasser and his mother had to look after the family's upkeep. Lauterwasser worked as a delivery agent for a vegetable shop on a bicycle, above which the family now lived in a furnished apartment. Towards the end of the war, Lauterwasser joined the Finsbury Park Clyde Club ; on his 14th birthday he won a 25 mile race. In 1924 he set a national record for 25 miles.

Participation in the Olympic Games

In 1928, Jack Lauterwasser started at the Olympic Games in Amsterdam in the road race, which was carried out as an individual time trial . In the individual ranking he finished fifth, in the team ranking he won the silver medal together with Frank Southall , John Middleton and Charles Marshall.

Lauterwasser as a bicycle manufacturer

In 1929 Lauterwasser opened a bicycle shop in London and mainly built lightweight racing bikes under his own brand "Lauterweight". Its specially shaped handlebars , which are manufactured again today, were particularly in demand . When financial problems arose, he took a job at Rudge and later at BSA , which built folding bikes for the military . He then worked for Raleigh until the 1960s .

Jack Lauterwasser had numerous innovative ideas for building bicycles. When he published an essay on how a four-speed gearshift from Sturmey-Archer could be converted into a five-speed gearbox, he was fired by Raleigh; from 1965 he worked for Alex Moulton . Jack Lauterwasser worked until he was 90 years old and rode long bike rides into old age.

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ In the team classification, the best times of three drivers from a team of four drivers were added.
  2. ↑ singlespeedshop.com  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / singlespeedshop.com  
  3. ↑ Jörg Haase: Soma Lauterwasser Handle Bar | Sella-Berolinum. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on May 11, 2018 ; accessed on May 11, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sella-berolinum.de

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lauterwasser, Jack
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lauterwasser, John Jacob (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH June 4, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH February 2, 2003
Place of death Bath