Meanwhile all the men who visit there every second day wearing vintage lycra look at them, groaning loudly, "ze bike she took is no good ats all... le groupset is all rong and is mush worse than ze bike i find, if i was her boyfrrrrrrrrend i would claquer les fesses for such silly suggezhion!"
Early 50s La Gazelle - Eau-de-Nil 🛠️ The Merlot Aftermath 🍷
- Thread starter Woz
- Start date
Little Pixie and Little Cherubs
Going to back up a bit to page 1. I mentioned about being brain washed by @Guinessisgoodforyou and @Mickeyspinn - there is a superb thread that is rammed full of very high end bikes here https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/vintage-french-randonneuers-and-porteurs.449944/ I have been following the thread and started to appreciate the work gone into many of these lovely hand-built machines.
This is pretty much how I find the bike at the charity shop. In honesty it was more the other way - the bike sort of found me, and I was easy to be convinced at that time. A distinct little pixie voice was heard saying "Look at me ...... Save me". Moved some bikes piled on top of it, got closer to it and all the parts seemed familiar in my head. Then a cherub with a harp joined the pixie voice and started saying "Look at me ..... buy me!". I got drawn towards the weird transmission, and tried to identify the frame. No head-badge and decals in a poor shape, but I could make out it wasn't a Peugeot or Motobecance, and realised you just would not put decent parts on a mass produced frame anyway. Two more cherubs joined, one with a saxophone and another with a bass guitar. The pixie voice started to say "It's going to piss it down tomorrow ..... save me ...... buy me!"
So I bought it. Not knowing very much.
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/the-communal-drink-and-good-times-thread.447640/page-491
Going to back up a bit to page 1. I mentioned about being brain washed by @Guinessisgoodforyou and @Mickeyspinn - there is a superb thread that is rammed full of very high end bikes here https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/vintage-french-randonneuers-and-porteurs.449944/ I have been following the thread and started to appreciate the work gone into many of these lovely hand-built machines.
This is pretty much how I find the bike at the charity shop. In honesty it was more the other way - the bike sort of found me, and I was easy to be convinced at that time. A distinct little pixie voice was heard saying "Look at me ...... Save me". Moved some bikes piled on top of it, got closer to it and all the parts seemed familiar in my head. Then a cherub with a harp joined the pixie voice and started saying "Look at me ..... buy me!". I got drawn towards the weird transmission, and tried to identify the frame. No head-badge and decals in a poor shape, but I could make out it wasn't a Peugeot or Motobecance, and realised you just would not put decent parts on a mass produced frame anyway. Two more cherubs joined, one with a saxophone and another with a bass guitar. The pixie voice started to say "It's going to piss it down tomorrow ..... save me ...... buy me!"
So I bought it. Not knowing very much.
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/the-communal-drink-and-good-times-thread.447640/page-491
The frameset - La Gazelle
The day after when I got the bike back in my hands and felt much less worse for wear, I started to get to the bottom of what it was and see if I would be regretting the purchase or not.
There is only one good enough intact decal on the down-tube.
On the seat-tube there is a decal in poor shape. It is made from strange paper material and is incredibly hard to see and photograph - too far away you see nothing, too close you see nothing because it's all cracked.
The world championship bands already started to push my bike snob buttons. Time for internet research was calling.
The day after when I got the bike back in my hands and felt much less worse for wear, I started to get to the bottom of what it was and see if I would be regretting the purchase or not.
There is only one good enough intact decal on the down-tube.
On the seat-tube there is a decal in poor shape. It is made from strange paper material and is incredibly hard to see and photograph - too far away you see nothing, too close you see nothing because it's all cracked.
The world championship bands already started to push my bike snob buttons. Time for internet research was calling.
Last edited:
La Gazelle - what's that all about?
The famous Dutch "Gazelle" brand was dismissed straight away. The bike is far too French. Three more Gazelle brands listed, one from Tunis, Tunisia, one from Toulouse, France, and another listed as "La Gazelle", Boulogne, France. To be absolutely sure I waded through various head-badges until I found this:
https://forum.tontonvelo.com/viewtopic.php?t=18162
Bingo. Unquestionably the brand name was found. A positive identity struck
The famous Dutch "Gazelle" brand was dismissed straight away. The bike is far too French. Three more Gazelle brands listed, one from Tunis, Tunisia, one from Toulouse, France, and another listed as "La Gazelle", Boulogne, France. To be absolutely sure I waded through various head-badges until I found this:
https://forum.tontonvelo.com/viewtopic.php?t=18162
Bingo. Unquestionably the brand name was found. A positive identity struck
Last edited:
Guinessisgoodforyou
rBotM Winner
Lovely bike and a great name.
La Gazelle - Constructeur & Specialist Bike Shop.
Another great thread was found talking about this 1937 La Gazelle - according to the thread the oldest found so far.
https://forum.tontonvelo.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=45824&start=30
What I gathered from this and other sources, La Gazelle up to the late 60s was still a Constructeur.
Right now on Ebay.fr there is an old business card for sale.
The beautiful part that absolutely blew my mind is that the bike shop is still there in operation today.
It is the oldest surviving bike shop in the whole of France.
Here is a link to their homepage with some cool old photographs of the shop: http://www.la-gazelle.com/histoire.html
The tragic part, and this is where you guys have helped, La Gazelle lost all records and archives of their bikes. There is virtually nothing written down, just a handful of bikes remainaing. I saw another thread where a guy lives just 200m from the shop and had it confirmed, they can not help with old bikes
Another great thread was found talking about this 1937 La Gazelle - according to the thread the oldest found so far.
https://forum.tontonvelo.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=45824&start=30
What I gathered from this and other sources, La Gazelle up to the late 60s was still a Constructeur.
Right now on Ebay.fr there is an old business card for sale.
The beautiful part that absolutely blew my mind is that the bike shop is still there in operation today.
It is the oldest surviving bike shop in the whole of France.
Here is a link to their homepage with some cool old photographs of the shop: http://www.la-gazelle.com/histoire.html
The tragic part, and this is where you guys have helped, La Gazelle lost all records and archives of their bikes. There is virtually nothing written down, just a handful of bikes remainaing. I saw another thread where a guy lives just 200m from the shop and had it confirmed, they can not help with old bikes
I'll post up a few more snippets and thoughts about La Gazelle, the previous owner of the bike, the environment, etc.
For the moment, I will leave you with this. I think we can safely say, this was a little bike shop who knew what they were doing, were in the custom bike business and had built up a solid reputation. Everything I have seen so far as all been different.
https://forum.tontonvelo.com/viewtopic.php?t=17486
For the moment, I will leave you with this. I think we can safely say, this was a little bike shop who knew what they were doing, were in the custom bike business and had built up a solid reputation. Everything I have seen so far as all been different.
https://forum.tontonvelo.com/viewtopic.php?t=17486
Mickeyspinn
rBotM Winner
You know that cryptic pic you sent me.....I didn't fall for it....
as you say...way to français!
Now that's pretty awesome Boulogne! Possibly the most northern builder in France then maybe?
I'm off for some supplies of liquid refreshment....I might even choose the cheapest merlot on offer and see what magic happens on my return
as you say...way to français! Now that's pretty awesome Boulogne! Possibly the most northern builder in France then maybe?
I'm off for some supplies of liquid refreshment....I might even choose the cheapest merlot on offer and see what magic happens on my return
