Early 50s La Gazelle - Eau-de-Nil 🛠️ The Merlot Aftermath 🍷

1954 road bike - Dilecta, formally De Dion - Bouton. Large flange hubs, Mafac centre pulls. ✅

Think I'm just squeezing in period correctness for how I want the Eau-de-Nil to be. Something a bit more rugged with good stoppers and at least 28c tyres. Really want all of this to tie together with nothing looking out of place for the period. Think the wheelset will be spot on now :)

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🛠️ A bit of rainy day wrenching in the asylum. I still wasn't really happy with the gear calculations and what chain rings and 4 speed freewheels were available until I spotted this. A low ball offer was made and accepted with no quibble :)

The Atom hub & Atom 14 - 24 freewheel according to the date stamp have been in a very close relationship since about 1975. No idea how long they've been in this un-rideable state gathering dust. Needs must, I had to bring in a divorce before the 50th Anniversary.

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There's a few ways to separate a freewheel from a hub, but since I wasn't actually interested in the hub it was a piece of cake with the right tools.

I did prepare cut lines to make flats for a long 32mm spanner if it was really stubborn. The super wide mole grips worked perfect though. 👍

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It's all cleaned up now, oiled and is in superb condition - about as close to NOS without the daft NOS prices 😎
 

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