SUMMARIES ding bike was developed. And is that an invention! A number of ideas were tried for developing a fighting bicycle, but as the World War I started one idea only proved out to be fine: bicycle as a means of transportation. Even big troops were fast and easy to move with bikes on poor roads.
The emblem of Hjalmar Vainionpää’s luxury Maaseutu 1 bicycle.
In the continuing story of military bicycles, Risto Alanko describes (pp 16 – 20) the initiatives of the armies to adopt the technical inventions of the bicycle. In the late 19th century big manufacturers such as Pope and Columbia tried to convince the army about their products. Armies wanted further development, and some new ideas were put into practice, most of them proved not to be good ideas. At first bicycles were treated as non-eating horses with horse armament, but the result was more like comic. You just could not fight with spears and ride the bike at the same time. But in fact, bicycle was much easier to take care for than the horse. The next thing to be tried was to shoot while riding the bike. As you can guess, it was rather difficult too. To make shooting easier even a stan-
Hjalmar Vainionpää was one of the many Finnish citizens to try their luck in the New World. After ten years of American business he returned to Finland with the idea of bicycle production and trade as Marko Eriksson describes (pp 12 – 15). Vainionpää returned to his home farm and started making bikes in a shed in 1913. After a few years Vainionpää was able to enlarge his business and to hire a secretary and a couple of assemblers. And even more: during winter women in the village knitted skirt mesh for the ladies’ bikes. Frames were imported from Germany (Göricke), but later on he could use also Finnish frames of Kone ja Terä and Pyrkijä. Vainionpää used three trade marks, Maaseutu, Hyvä and Kestävä, and each were made in two quality categories, 1 and 2. The emblems were made in Denmark. Bicycle production was in upswing in the 20’s and 30’s. Hundreds of frames were waiting for assembly in the Alavus railway station storage. As Vainionpää had learned
both English and German, he used his skills not only for his own trade but also to help other small bicycle shops and producers. Alavus was a small town, and the market was not big enough for all the 14 bike shops. In the 50’s bikes were dumped and a number of shops were closed, among them also Vainionpää’s. Later on it concentrated in the furniture business. You can still find lots of these bikes. They made people moving further and further from their home village. As the local vicar put it: Vainionpää bike shop had done the most in the town to prevent incest. There are two reports on bicycle conservation. Ari Sinkkonen (pp 21 – 25) introduces us repainting the bicycle frame. Rattle cans are not for serious job, he says, and shows in step-by-step procedure how to grind and polish the metal frame before and after primer. His bike is a Crescent Hellracer from the 30’s. Painting and striping gives him more pleasure and satisfaction. Timo Lanki (pp 26 – 32) writes about conservation of a French randonneur. His point of view is fixing the specs. As his La Porte is found in a garbage bin, the history is unrevealed. He cannot even find anything of the bike in the internet. His only informant is the bike itself. Lanki is also skillful with the decals, which he makes with his own hands and a tiny brush. Pikajalka 21
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