French Artisan Road and Race Tag Bikes

[highlandsflyer]

Quite a collection you have there!

 

[Canuk]

Quite a collection you have there!

They're not mine! I wish they were. I've put an offer in for the Ganolo, but it's near Geneva. Quite a drive

The Caminades are absolutely stunning, octagonal aluminium tubes, developed in the first world war for lightweight aircraft.

You can pay 10-25k for a good one though. I nearly bought one with a broken fork for 2800 euro in the summer, but someone beat me to the punch

 

[Canuk]

Andre Sabliere. Another 'soudo braze' frame, these normally come with internal bolt seat posts which makes the thing look insanely clean. They are engraved, then anodised, not painted. I'm on my second Sabliere now. They were doing what Cannondale does, oversize and ovalised tubes, but from the mid 1960's.

 

[winjohn]

Thanks for posting these. It is very interesting to see another country's biking culture.

I imagine Japanese biking culture is similarly at a slightly odd tangent to the UK also.

 

[Canuk]

Another André Sabliere. Tour de France rider Roger Pingeon swore by them. In 1976 he made a lightweight bike for Pingeon for the mountain stages, clocking in at a cool 6.25kg

 

[Canuk]

Thanks for posting these. It is very interesting to see another country's biking culture.

I imagine Japanese biking culture is similarly at a slightly odd tangent to the UK also.

I was chatting with a few old boys at the Velo d'Anjou in the summer (I volunteered for the weekend). They were both bike shop owners who started trading in the 1950/60's. They were saying that at the height of bike production in St Etienne (the Nottingham of France) there were about 2500 manufacturers/assemblers/artisan frame builders and the trade shows were dizzying blur of new and innovative kit.

I feel very lucky to be (even in a small way) part of the French cycling 'scene'. There are a lot of young lads (and lassies!) getting into the groove of vintage bicycles, probably on account of the trend for upcycling and recycling, but it's great to see. If you get the chance to go to one bike event in Europe, then Velo Anjou is an absolute blast of a weekend:

https://www.anjou-velo-vintage.com/fr/?origin=serp_auto

 

[Canuk]

Nicolas Barra, of Italian extraction. He wound up a refugee in the south of France after the second world war, eventually relocating to Paris, and started producing these stunning, super light aluminium soudo braze frames around 1948.

 

[Canuk]

Rene Herse race 57cm Reynolds 531, he hand painted his 'decals'. A sure way to make certain there were no knock offs! Sealed bearing cartridge type bottom bracket, in house 'ahead' type stem c.1954. Fed up with poor quality, early Stronglight chainsets he decided to make his own (as you do). Expect to pay 4-12k for one of these early RH in good condition.