Fairly Mental French and Italian Bikes

[Canuk]

Starting this thread on account of the sheer volume of nutbar French and Italian artisan frame builders. I had no idea there were so many with so many 'out there' designs and customised tubesets and components.

On y va!

A Cavallo

 

[Canuk]

Marcarini twin tube. Still in business.

 

[Canuk]

Saurat. Hetchins rip off! From Montpellier.

There's always some dispute about these frames on tontonvelo (kinda RB De France) about their real origin.

 

[Canuk]

This 1910 Aumon à Nantes velocipede, a snip at 350 euro.

 

[Canuk]

Ganolo, of Paris

 

[Canuk]

It's not thought that the Ganolo sellers, Cycles Laurent/Europe Cycles had their own in-house frame-builder. The firm is thought to have used Edmond Polchlopek instead who had a workshop in the eastern suburbs of Paris (see Cycles Polchlopek), although when the former top amateur roadman opened his first shop in the Paris suburb of Pontault -Combault in 1975 he was known to have engaged the well-known jobbing builders BACO from Romainville to build his shop's frames. This Laurent Ganolo bears little resemblance to a BACO-produced frame, and it seems reasonable to ascribe it to Edmond.

This design is for all intents and purposes a simpler form of his Rigideole II, which used a more complicated and robust seat tube configuration.

 

[Canuk]

Edmond Polchlopek frames are still readily available and sought after on the second hand market. He's pretty much a living legend in French artisan frame building.

 

[Frankenorange]

Polchlopek also made extreme oval chainrings back in the 70's. A bit like Osymetric rings, but with smoother transitions. I think they were for the Campagnolo 144bcd and are quite rare.

 

[Canuk]

Polchlopek also made extreme oval chainrings back in the 70's. A bit like Osymetric rings, but with smoother transitions. I think they were for the Campagnolo 144bcd and are quite rare.

I was just about to post the chainrings! Apparently it's a design (French) originated in the 1880s.

 

[foz]

Ganolo, of Paris

Well ahead of colnago then... And a lot better looking than the latest colnago carbon thingy, which is on the bad side of fugly.

Is the macarini frame french though? Also looks very colnago bi-tubo, and says made in Italy on the chainstay!