Tovarischi,
Bikes are a very cool aspect of WWII history that a lot of folks have glossed over. The Finns and the Germans had really taken to the use of the bike for military operations. Utilization of bicycles by US forces was mostly in a rear area capacity except for some limited use by airborne.
In fact European forces in general had adopted the use of bicycles for military use starting in the late 1880's. Spanish soldiers used bikes in Puerto Rico in 1898 as part of their communications protocol when telephone and or telegraph lines went down during battle.
Bicycling was a popular sport in Russia as was soccer, parachuting, shooting clubs and other physical sports so folks were quite familiar with the device. The Soviet Union was a vast area and had its share of urban and suburban dwellers who were not much different than the dwellers of other cities throughout Europe. Thus the bicycle was not as foreign to Soviet culture as we might think. So often we westerners tend to view the Soviet population as a whole as being backward and peasant like. We cannot forget the fact that Stalin had already implemented two of his five year programs(1928-1933 & 1932-1937) prior to the war. Such projects had begun to modernize Russia. However, at a terrible cost. But I digress.
The Soviet Army was not much different from the other European nations with regards to the use of bicycles. They too had been utilizing them in various aspects of military operations years prior to WWII and this shows up quite readily in photos of the period. I have a really cool photo of Czarist era troops and their bicycles and it is very stylish. LOL!
I also have a photo of a large group of what is identified as "Civil Guardsmen" and their bicycles outside of Moscow in 1941. I have another photo attributed to the battle of Budapest with RKKA troops using bikes. Probably the coolest photo I have shows a large group(30-40) Soviet troops riding their bicycles in what appears to be Red Square or Kremlin with each rider having a dog in tow. They are wearing the M-36 helmets.
When you really start digging through photos of RKKA troops you discover that a lot of Frontoviks were putting the bicycle to good use just like their counterparts in Finland and Germany.
I added a folder at Dimas archives and put some of the photos I have of RKKA bicycles:
groups.yahoo.com/group/Dimasarchive/photos/album/0/listThe Soviet Airborne officially adopted the use of bicycles as part of its recon teams prior to the GPW.
So based upon the photos I have plus the other factors(Airborne use, Finns and Germans usage) I wouldn't be surprised to find out that other branches were regularly utilizing the bikes for transportation and recon work for the RKKA either officially or unofficially.
For re-enacting I was very lucky. I was able to find a late 40's Czech bike in nearly perfect condition at a local bike shop for $60.00. I made a reproduction of the military style rear luggage carrier, bedroll carrier on the handle bars and now I am down to installing the generator and headlight.
Basically what you are looking for is a bicycle which mimics the European late 1930's up through the 1940's. Building a repop bike from existing parts here in the US is not that difficult and doesn't cost that much at all vs buying a ready made Swiss bike at $800 a crack. Some folks are looking at getting the Chinese made "Flying Pigeon" bikes and doing a little conversion to them but still you are looking at $200 a crack before conversion.
So take the time to study what the European bikes look like and then start looking around the local junk shops, bike repair shops, flea markets and yard sales for wither complete bikes or parts which fit the bill. In the end you should be able to build a bike for around $150.00 which will look great and serve you well. One of our members found 3 bikes which fit the basic frame design for a total of $25.00 which makes it $8 a bike. Not too shabby.
I already have had the great fun of blasting a Fritzy while riding it and thus my first confirmed kill from the seat of a bike. LOL!
Sincerely,
Dima
(one who likes bikes)
