What a stunnerthe front q/r is the wrong way round. I'll get my coat....
.... see post above
I think you had better get your coat, it's French remember 
Early 50s La Gazelle - Eau-de-Nil 🛠️ The Merlot Aftermath 🍷
- Thread starter Woz
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.... see post above
I think you had better get your coat, it's French remember Guinessisgoodforyou
rBotM Winner
I saw it's in my hand and I was on the way out Very reminiscent of an early Campag q/r.
it's in my hand and I was on the way out Very reminiscent of an early Campag q/r.
Mod-Master
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Toe Clips & Straps 
I admit, I had a moment of insanity and binned the original Christophe toe clips - not realising that there is a peculiar market for vintage stuff like that. I've seen bidding wars on 1920s / 1930s rusty flaking "Paris - Brest" toe clips approach a three figure number
Anyhow, I stumbled on this advert from a bike show in 1949 by Paturaud claiming to be 1st supplier to a number of "Constructeurs", of which in the list is La Gazelle. I just had to have them for a bit of historical bling. The leather protectors / cushions were rock hard and thankfully the stitching was still in good shape. They were soaked in a jar of Neats Foot for 10 days and came out a wonderful very dark, black tobacco, aged colour that practically matched the original Pryma saddle. Finding the right looking toe straps proved a nightmare, so I went back to the originals, removed the green, re-dyed them black and a bit more soaking in Neats Foot gave me more-or-less a similar match. To finish them I polished and smoothed the surface over a copper pipe.
Aesthetically, I'm very much old school and prefer to see black (or dark colours) for the contact points.
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Guinessisgoodforyou
rBotM Winner
Black tape, cables and saddle for me too.
Bars, Grips, Wine Cork, and Mafac Centre Pulls As you can see, I ended up leaving drop bars off this "demi-course" in favour of something a bit different. The style is somewhat similar to an inverted North Road, but not exactly the same. They flare out slightly and importantly are the absolute precise bar for those wonderful Mafac levers which are curved and are fixed just after the grip area, right on the start of the curve. They worked well also with the Philippe Porteur bars but not with Moustache bars.
I'm using some old black grips from a doner bike (60s / 70s); originally I thought about tape and shellac but got really put off at the mess and how difficult it is to do any colour matching. Perhaps I may have a go in the future, but another thing I don't like is that removing it to change the stem or brake levers will be a royal pain.
No French bike would be complete without a Wine Cork stuffed somewhere. I've seen it done elsewhere and thought it is a nice touch to help tie in the contact points together with an aged look.
The vibration damping qualities will also help on that sprint up the Champs Elysee later on.
Yup - black cables is also my go to. For this I had black cables put aside and did have them on a mock build up. I later changed to these very old ribbed thinner diameter cables that mechanically suit the cable guides better and match with that decal on the seat-tube; I think it helps balance the look of the bike a bit better.
There's quite a bit of black on some of the parts, so I didn't want to make it "too heavy" looking either. Another thing is attempting to match all the steel and aluminium finishing is pretty much impossible; as we know the French didn't really embrace the Groupset concept.
Overall I think it looks coherent, a bit of a nod to the past like a Path Racer and a bit of nod to the future to make it more of a rider.
Guinessisgoodforyou
rBotM Winner
It is saved mate you should be very pleased. Quite a journey. Please post in the French thread
Will do
In retrospect now, it was in a bit of a state (and so was I when I bought it
)
Think I will wrap the thread up with a "Ride Report" and few photos out and about over the next couple of weeks.
Mod-Master
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What did you use to photograph it?
As you can see, I ended up leaving drop bars off this "demi-course" in favour of something a bit different. The style is somewhat similar to an inverted North Road, but not exactly the same. They flare out slightly and importantly are the absolute precise bar for those wonderful Mafac levers which are curved and are fixed just after the grip area, right on the start of the curve. They worked well also with the Philippe Porteur bars but not with Moustache bars.
I'm using some old black grips from a doner bike (60s / 70s); originally I thought about tape and shellac but got really put off at the mess and how difficult it is to do any colour matching. Perhaps I may have a go in the future, but another thing I don't like is that removing it to change the stem or brake levers will be a royal pain.
No French bike would be complete without a Wine Cork stuffed somewhere. I've seen it done elsewhere and thought it is a nice touch to help tie in the contact points together with an aged look.
View attachment 755677
View attachment 755678
Pics look stunning btw
