French Barn Find - Buckets of Patina!

[Woz]

Only one surviving brake caliper with missing stud bolt. The other caliper as the steel stud bolts corroded and bonded to the rather cheap grade alloy that even the blow torch didn't budge them. Kind of an early roller cam design with no rollers nor proper bushings. I was expecting something Mafac grade.

The seat-post is the shortest I've ever seen made with some really nasty grade steel. Compared to working on the Dion Bouton, there's a clear feeling and sense that mass production and cost cutting is now embedded in the French bike industry. Hubs, rims and cranks are extremely poor quality. Odd butterfly nuts made out of some weird die-cast metal alloy with no substance about them. The strangest and most overly complicating front mudguard mount I've ever come across - bolt through the crown with a hidden perpendicular bolt in the fork column and rubber washer

 

[26er]

Looks like you're keepin yourself busy with Bridget and pugs and whatnots. Which is good. However, the tyres in the de Dion dimension are still hanging on the wall here next door to my new workshop so there was no real need for dehubbing/relacing.

Myself will be off for another 100+ kms today. Wonderful fall day here in the Hell of the North. Sunny and in mid 20s, so screw Greta and long live the warming.

There will be plenty of time to build bikes later. Sure the winter will be just as dark, cold and long as it's always been no matter how many bleedin Teslas they sell.

Too bad you can't tag along. Really miss the old days...

 

[Woz]

Amusingly, back in the day the selling point looking about these frames was "Guaranteed Rust Free". The lugs feel incredibly tinny and thin. The seat binder bolt cluster got damaged getting the binder bolt out.

In the advert on the previous page it talks about an integrated bike lock function in the frame which initially sounds reasonable. Less reasonable is how the contraption actually worked. Don't know about you folks, but I'm accustomed to and feel much more comfortable having a fork column without a gaping hole cut in it.

 

[Woz]

So, I've kept the headset, bottom bracket, bars & stem combo and pedals. The rest is going back to the tip as I don't have the will to advertise it as a NOS Gravel Bike frame set with light storage marks on Ebay.

 

[Woz]

So I'm happy. From the Pug I managed to salvage the pedals with the all important obsolete French thread so I'm closer to a rust bucket functional rolling chassis.

 

[Woz]

I've decided I'm not going to be too pedantic about trying to optimise the gearing.

Going to keep it real, period correct and man up after looking at some early photographs.

 

[Woz]

And well...just because.

It's Sunday evening so a great reason to post a French girl on a old bike with a coaster brake and skinny mudguards....

 

[PeterPerfect]

If you can get a young Bardot to accompany the bike, name your price.

 

[PeterPerfect]

And well...just because.

It's Sunday evening so a great reason to post a French girl on a old bike with a coaster brake and skinny mudguards....

You do of course realise that's Brigitte Bardot !

 

[Woz]

And well...just because.

It's Sunday evening so a great reason to post a French girl on a old bike with a coaster brake and skinny mudguards....

You do of course realise that's Brigitte Bardot !

....perfectly.

( blame THM all the way back on page 2 )