Chemnitz (dpa/sn) – From June this year, a special exhibition in the Chemnitz Vehicle Museum is intended to commemorate a legend from the GDR era – the custom-made Textima racing bikes. The organizers of the show also want to tell the history of the bikes using documents and asked for loans on Wednesday. Anyone who still has photos, documents or even bicycles and bicycle parts from Textima can contact the museum.
While the vehicle industry in the GDR remained in a state of stagnation and the gap to international developments was increasing, the Textima racing bikes formed a contrast, said Ludwig Karsch, chairman of the museum association. “They were made by hand in a small factory on Karl-Marx-Städter Nordstrasse using the latest knowledge and technology.” Chemnitz was called Karl-Marx-Stadt from 1953 to 1990.
The state-owned combine Textima Karl-Marx-Stadt was best known for its textile machines. “But the specially set up research department, which produced racing bikes from the 1970s onwards, was attached to the VEB,” it said. “World champions, Olympic champions and Friedensfahrt winners sat on Textima racing bikes.”
