I have been building up this Urago frame/fork for the last few months and with a few final parts on order through ebay France and U.K. I hope to have it roadworthy in another month or so. It has been fun to say the least. I managed to purchase the period hubs, rear Simplex Tour De France derailleur, front Simplex rod shifter ( awaiting clamping band ) and later ( though free ) tubular Mavic rims from the seller of the frame who also happens to have a nice collection of vintage road bikes including a 1948 Rene Herse that is being restored. I have some Challenge Strada 25mm tires on order to replace the basic 21mm on at the moment. The frame originally came from the U.K. a number of years ago to a collector in Edmonton, Alberta and then on to the person I bought it from and now onto me via the local Craigslist. I doubt I will see another Urago out here given how uncommon they are, and beyond that there is little information available. I would think this would have been made for an amateur racer perhaps - mid line possibly. The tubing is most likely Durifort and it has Oscar Egg lugs. I hope it rides and handles decently, guess I will find out soon enough! I plan on replacing the Nervar Star crank set with a more proper Stronglight 49d fairly soon. Because someone forced an English threaded Tange fixed cup into the bottom bracket, thicker than original, I had to locate an axle that would work. Fortunately a Campagnolo N.R. I had on hand worked well enough to use. Some of the other components are: CLB side pulls and levers, Ideale 80 seat, Lyotard 460d pedals, OFV stem. I did find one reference to a repainted Tour De France model, supposedly also from 1952 that was thought to be made from Reynolds 531 tubing, but who knows, given the lack of specific information out there. Here are some images.
