Hungary

One of Hungary’s most respected bicycle craftsmen, trained by the best in the country’s industry, began his professional frame-building career in 1941.

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“Bicycle building and cycling, as I have described it, is a deeply individualistic and ascetic activity, as the world of sport is known to encourage. It is a conscious or subconscious turning to God, an attempt to understand the world more deeply. The essence of asceticism is a higher spiritual intellectual pleasure…

My father, József Csurdi, worked for one of Hungary’s most famous bicycle manufacturers, the Muszelin workshop, before the war. Two names, Muszelin and Velvart, are the brightest stars in the sky of Hungarian bicycle craftsmanship. The style they represented was dominant in the pre-war era. After the war, artisanal bicycle manufacturing became extinct, only a few dedicated saints tried their hands at it, and their creations were strictly limited to family and friends… I am writing this in honor of my father, the old craft, Muszelin and Velvart. Velvart was also a great competitor, like Karaki, Sharp and Droba…. There was, lived, existed a craft. I have never read anything about it, lately. My father was in it, and I was born into it, lived in it, repaired it, restored it…. We craftsmen dye early. People who do intellectual work are still creating at the age of 70-80. This is rare for craftsmen…“

a quote from a dissertation by Daniel Csurdi (son of Jozsef Csurdi)