Hima rondrit 1917

Summary

Corporate film about the Hima bicycle tour of 1917.

Corporate film made by H.J.W. van Luijnen, the cameraman for Kinematograaf Pathé Frères. This Amsterdam-based Dutch affiliate of the French Pathé Frères only very rarely produced corporate films; their core business consisted of producing news items.

Hima rondrit 1917 (Hima Tour 1917) is a registration of the tour that M.A. (Puck) Adler, manufacturer of the Hima bicycle, organized in 1917 to promote his bicycles. In eight days, cyclists rode 1200 twelve kilometres through the Netherlands: from Sittard via Ommen and Enschede to the north, eventually winding up in Amsterdam. During their journey, the riders were escorted by a veritable caravan of cars in tow, packed with luggage and attendants.

Among the cyclists were familiar names like Klaas van Nek (the many-time Dutch Champion in time trials, sprints, and road racing, and the winner of the Six-Day race), Frits Wiersma (three-time road-racing champion), John Stol (‘the human train’), and Cor Bleekemolen, who had ridden 500 kilometres on a single day in 1915, behind cars and motorcycles.