Cab
Retro Guru
Does anyone know anything of Cycles Fonlupt? A mate passed on this Fonlupt Equipe to me, he didn’t know any history but we’re guessing it may have arrived with a student, then suffered considerable abuse in a short time.
I’m not an expert on Campagnolo but it’s got an 8sp. Mirage groupset with Ergo-power shifters, & is built of Columbus Thron with lugs. The Zonda wheels were probably original fitment, sadly the rear rim was beyond saving, as was the Mirage rear mech (help me out Bristol jumblers!). It arrived with a manky WTB seat on a Kalloy post, I’m sure these weren’t original equipment. Grease would have been used on the original post, but this one was seized which delayed things until Coke worked it’s magic. I can’t find any frame number, I guess that points to fairly limited production.
TBH I don’t have that much time to put in to internet research, but Fonlupt have no website. The chainwheel tattoo project guy shows a couple of nice Fonlupt chain rings from the 30’s, so the company must have some history! Not being able to speak French is a distinct disadvantage here; I found a couple of sale ads for models of a similar vintage, (& one ad. for a whole pile of low spec bikes which might have been hired out from a resort) and a couple of vintage pictures on French forums. & no mention on other sites except this French ‘Qype’ site. The site has an English version, but the article disappears so I had to use some other website to translate it. The address is Thonon-les-Bains, which is the French side of Lake Geneva, handy for the Alps which explains the Triple chainset. The Qype contributors are merely admiring the traditional style of the shop, and the character of M.Fonlupt, who resisted the advances of property speculators, then was sadly taken ill & the shop closed.
A recent post there says the old chap died, so the shop remains closed and apparently now at the mercy of developers.
They don’t appear to have been in & had a chat with him, but I need to know stuff like: did M.Fonlupt build his own frames, or someone else local? Did he race, or did anyone else race on a Fonlupt bike? The history of the Marque, not just the bike.
I’m not an expert on Campagnolo but it’s got an 8sp. Mirage groupset with Ergo-power shifters, & is built of Columbus Thron with lugs. The Zonda wheels were probably original fitment, sadly the rear rim was beyond saving, as was the Mirage rear mech (help me out Bristol jumblers!). It arrived with a manky WTB seat on a Kalloy post, I’m sure these weren’t original equipment. Grease would have been used on the original post, but this one was seized which delayed things until Coke worked it’s magic. I can’t find any frame number, I guess that points to fairly limited production.
TBH I don’t have that much time to put in to internet research, but Fonlupt have no website. The chainwheel tattoo project guy shows a couple of nice Fonlupt chain rings from the 30’s, so the company must have some history! Not being able to speak French is a distinct disadvantage here; I found a couple of sale ads for models of a similar vintage, (& one ad. for a whole pile of low spec bikes which might have been hired out from a resort) and a couple of vintage pictures on French forums. & no mention on other sites except this French ‘Qype’ site. The site has an English version, but the article disappears so I had to use some other website to translate it. The address is Thonon-les-Bains, which is the French side of Lake Geneva, handy for the Alps which explains the Triple chainset. The Qype contributors are merely admiring the traditional style of the shop, and the character of M.Fonlupt, who resisted the advances of property speculators, then was sadly taken ill & the shop closed.
A recent post there says the old chap died, so the shop remains closed and apparently now at the mercy of developers.
They don’t appear to have been in & had a chat with him, but I need to know stuff like: did M.Fonlupt build his own frames, or someone else local? Did he race, or did anyone else race on a Fonlupt bike? The history of the Marque, not just the bike.
