A little blurb about handlebars, which may be useful. I've now tried 4 different handlebars and a few stems while checking out position / fit and had a few surprise compatibility issues.
What certainly wasn't obvious to me, the French word for handlebars is translated to "Guidon" - however this is the whole thing Bar ("Cintre") and the Stem ("Potence"). In practice many sellers are using Guidon or Cintre to describe just the Bar.
Looking at various adverts from 1910 and onwards more often than not a complete "Guidon" was specified as options. It turns out too that there are slight diameter differences between manufactures - it makes mixing different bars and stems from different brands a bit risky.
There's also an oddity too that most older bars don't have any engraving about the model or manufacturer; it sort of makes sense because it's on the stem. You see this mostly on production bikes, but you can expect it on older high end bikes too. Older handlebars are generally much narrower too. All this makes sourcing old French handlebars a bit of a minefield to be honest.
Philippe (which later became ATAX) generally seem interchangeable and use bang on 25mm clamp diameter. Philippe also offered each of their bars in either alloy or steel; the shapes and dimensions are identical. I've gone for a very good condition steel Philippe bar (may even be NOS since I found no evidence of mounting ) from a pure safety aspect since I don't fully trust very vintage used alloy. Ebay is a wash with dangerous looking gouged, crushed and bent bars.
Probably about the third time I've posted this. I always look at this and think the modern day bike industry doesn't want to operate on similar terms to help the customer really understand the product. I've got to give it to the French in this respect and time period - 1911. Sadly by about the late 70s, the French way of doing complete handlebar set-ups had gone in favour of aftermarket and competing abroad, all sorts of dimensions started to appear, and notably competition with the Italian masters like Cinelli, ITM and 3TTT ended in tears. I've seen some über rare Philippe MTB riser bars and they are stamped with both the clamp and grip diameters; you can't help but think they only did that for the French consumer.
Just a picture of the Exceltoo Super Competition hub (very similar to the Normandy, if not the same, but slightly better finished) and this quirky Pelissier quick release. I can't find any information about this, but it's old, straight, cam action is basic and the logo is printed upside down compared to today's convention. The only logic I see with this is that it doesn't foul with any mudguard fixings.
I found some evidence in the early days that the lever side was the drive side, Simplex did make a weird specific quick release attachement for the rear skewer and Exceltoo made an even weirder two lever system.
Handlebars .... Guidon, Cintre et Potence 
) from a pure safety aspect since I don't fully trust very vintage used alloy. Ebay is a wash with dangerous looking gouged, crushed and bent bars.
Spec Sheet - Finished Build 
Pictures - Finished Build 
the front q/r is the wrong way round. I'll get my coat....
