Jack Lauterwasser

John Jacob Lauterwasser (4 June 1904 – 2 February 2003) was an English racing cyclist and cycling engineer, who won a bronze and silver medal in the same race at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam.

Background Jack Lauterwasser - he pronounced it Law-tuh-woss-uh with the "w" as in English

He said: "We lived above a greengrocer's and the shopkeeper let me borrow the bike."

Early cycling Lauterwasser joined Finsbury Park cycling club in 1924 were originally judged third best team but were raised to second after Italy was disqualified. Lauterwasser had already returned home with his bronze medal. He was then sent the silver medal as well and was never asked to return the bronze, he said. It took him a further two years to get the silver medal from his club; "Our club secretary's wife considered it belonged to the club," he said. He kept both medals in a biscuit tin.

Other cycling In the same year as the Olympics, Lauterwasser broke the Road Records Association 50-mile record by almost three minutes with lhr 54m 47s and the 100-mile record by more than 18 minutes, in 4hr 13m 35s. He won the Polytechnic CC 12-hour race with a record 237.8 miles. Lauterwasser and others believed he had ridden further, that he had been first to cover 240 miles. Seven years later the course was remeasured and Lauterwasser was credited with 240 miles 76 yards, making his total distance 240 miles 76 yds, the first rider to exceed 20 mph.(ref Finsbury Park CC archives)

Retirement Lauterwasser opened a cycle shop in Holloway Road, London, in 1929. He built lightweight bicycles to order and created a design of handlebar named after him. His lightest Lauterweight bicycle weighed 17.5 lb. The business was not a success, however.

Those were great times, especially in the immediate postwar years, but then, at the dawn of the Sixties, the bubble burst. The advent of the motor scooter, the moped and the cheap car spelt the end of cycling's popularity with commuters and the sport took a major dip, too.

The shop closed and he joined Rudge. He moved to BSA during the Second World War and made folding bicycles for parachutists. He moved to Raleigh when peace returned and worked as a sales rep in the 1950s and early 1960s. In 1965 he joined Alex Moulton at Bradford-on-Avon, making bicycles with suspension. He continued working until he was 90. He died after a fall at home where he broke his leg.