Mickeyspinn
rBotM Winner
Uh oh....dins are burnt....might just skip to beer...loving this thread so far...only page 6 
French Barn Find - Buckets of Patina!
- Thread starter Woz
- Start date
Mickeyspinn
rBotM Winner
Ahhh...that was a few hours and a few beers.
Most enjoyable I feel strangely content and satisfied..nothing like rust,bust knuckles and the presence of Bardot.....thank you
I noted you might at some point require some wood bar grips ? I might be able to assist there sir!
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/wooden-it-be-nice-to-get-a-grip.444947/
Would trade for old rusty french floor sweepings and cast offs
Most enjoyable I feel strangely content and satisfied..nothing like rust,bust knuckles and the presence of Bardot.....thank you
I noted you might at some point require some wood bar grips ? I might be able to assist there sir!
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/wooden-it-be-nice-to-get-a-grip.444947/
Would trade for old rusty french floor sweepings and cast offs
Glad you enjoyed it. As you figured, it's not finished, but I'm edging there.
I'm getting a lot of enjoyment following your and our good mate in the old US of A dealing with a similar project. I don't have both of your skills in metal work so it's on a knife edge with a tight purpose brief. Just like a F1 car, it needs to perform a handful of rides before it collapses.
It's been funny, but we all realised that it's insanity, frustrating, practically worthless but enlightening having a go. There's something stronger than us saying "yeah, god damn, I going to try and make something of this century year old heap. It still looks like a bike". But we've kept our feet planted and we know it makes no sense to spend hundreds to patch these things up. If you get what I mean, it's an incredibly very personal thing to just feel like the custodian, get some enjoyment out of it, learn from it, and retire it with dignity, Absolutely not to throw it in the tip, melted down in China to be sold back as some kitchen shit would be an insult to our fore fathers.
I'm getting a lot of enjoyment following your and our good mate in the old US of A dealing with a similar project. I don't have both of your skills in metal work so it's on a knife edge with a tight purpose brief. Just like a F1 car, it needs to perform a handful of rides before it collapses.
It's been funny, but we all realised that it's insanity, frustrating, practically worthless but enlightening having a go. There's something stronger than us saying "yeah, god damn, I going to try and make something of this century year old heap. It still looks like a bike". But we've kept our feet planted and we know it makes no sense to spend hundreds to patch these things up. If you get what I mean, it's an incredibly very personal thing to just feel like the custodian, get some enjoyment out of it, learn from it, and retire it with dignity, Absolutely not to throw it in the tip, melted down in China to be sold back as some kitchen shit would be an insult to our fore fathers.
Mickeyspinn
rBotM Winner
Woz I think you have all the skills necessary!
First you need a bucket of rusty sh!t.....then you need a bucket of patience....then an eternal tap of lubrications of the oily kind and the grape kind if that's not enough the spirit kind!
Money is pointless with old stuff you can throw it at it as much as you like but it doesn't seem to fix it,everything is a unique odd sized random beyond rare, simply unavailable and usually completely fucked anyway! Facts and specs generally are just hearsay.....
So what you have really is just a rusty blank canvas! Whatever you do that makes it work as a bicycle is exactly the right thing to do.otherwise it's just junk doing nowt .
You say that all its got to do is survive a few rides then it'll hang on the wall.....ha...hahaha ....you'll ride it way more than you think!...in a Swiss Tony fashion.....the rebuild is just foreplay
I thought mine would end up as a hanger.....it's become way more it's unlike any other bike I've ridden I guess the attachment of resurecting it comes into play but the actual ride quality and fit mixed with its quirks like the laziest head angle known to man with rakey forks makes it such a hoot and also a challenge.....low speeds are hazardous! Small moves are big grooves when it come to the tyre contact patch....it's akin to a boat with the rudder at the front
I guess it also literally puts you in touch with how it really was in the early days ....no faff,keep it simple,stiff drink,knuckle down and get it done cycling ....
Well tomorrow is Sunday...that's nocims walkies day and I'm the one by the door wagging my tail already
Look forward to updates ....anything I can assist with more than happy!
First you need a bucket of rusty sh!t.....then you need a bucket of patience....then an eternal tap of lubrications of the oily kind and the grape kind if that's not enough the spirit kind!
Money is pointless with old stuff you can throw it at it as much as you like but it doesn't seem to fix it,everything is a unique odd sized random beyond rare, simply unavailable and usually completely fucked anyway! Facts and specs generally are just hearsay.....
So what you have really is just a rusty blank canvas! Whatever you do that makes it work as a bicycle is exactly the right thing to do.otherwise it's just junk doing nowt .
You say that all its got to do is survive a few rides then it'll hang on the wall.....ha...hahaha ....you'll ride it way more than you think!...in a Swiss Tony fashion.....the rebuild is just foreplay
I thought mine would end up as a hanger.....it's become way more it's unlike any other bike I've ridden I guess the attachment of resurecting it comes into play but the actual ride quality and fit mixed with its quirks like the laziest head angle known to man with rakey forks makes it such a hoot and also a challenge.....low speeds are hazardous! Small moves are big grooves when it come to the tyre contact patch....it's akin to a boat with the rudder at the front
I guess it also literally puts you in touch with how it really was in the early days ....no faff,keep it simple,stiff drink,knuckle down and get it done cycling ....
Well tomorrow is Sunday...that's nocims walkies day and I'm the one by the door wagging my tail already
Look forward to updates ....anything I can assist with more than happy!
Nabeaquam
BoTM Winner
What a mess to sort outActually if I've understood a few things right, it's not chrome, that came around the 30s. It's nickel.
I spent 20mins with a wire brush on an angle grinder to find the De Dion - Bouton engraving on the cranks,
it's there and faint but it definitely looks like all exposed steel is way too far gone to even dream of a shine.
It will be a clean, but rusty coloured rat if that makes any sense
Project abandoned.....
This was always intended to be a background project, but over the last few days I have evaluated it and decided to not pursue it further.
There's too many issues getting the right parts together, there are two rust holes in the skinny chain stays, brake bridge is damaged. EDIT: Oh, the non-original replacement forks have a manufacturing fault: the steering column is not in a vertical plane. Have accepted it is about two sizes too small and my position is dreadfully cramped reach wise. The work time, potential ride time, life expectancy of the frame and space it takes up is hard to justify since I got something much more modern .
An interesting portion is kept back though for man-cave decoration, and a physical reminder of 1910s technological know-how. Now cut-up, I can see the wonders and tricks of the skinny lugless head-tube. The Dion-Bouton head-badge is a work of art, and despite the name being better known for motorised vehicles, is oddly the father of L'Auto magazine, the Tour de France and civilian road tourist maps made famous by Michelin.
Who knows, perhaps another Dion-Bouton may pop-up in the right size and in better condition.
![DSC_0374[1].jpg](https://www.retrobike.co.uk/data/attachments/519/519931-403043c1afaf0810c602859eb0c65ccf.jpg "DSC_0374[1].jpg")
This was always intended to be a background project, but over the last few days I have evaluated it and decided to not pursue it further.
There's too many issues getting the right parts together, there are two rust holes in the skinny chain stays, brake bridge is damaged. EDIT: Oh, the non-original replacement forks have a manufacturing fault: the steering column is not in a vertical plane. Have accepted it is about two sizes too small and my position is dreadfully cramped reach wise. The work time, potential ride time, life expectancy of the frame and space it takes up is hard to justify since I got something much more modern .
An interesting portion is kept back though for man-cave decoration, and a physical reminder of 1910s technological know-how. Now cut-up, I can see the wonders and tricks of the skinny lugless head-tube. The Dion-Bouton head-badge is a work of art, and despite the name being better known for motorised vehicles, is oddly the father of L'Auto magazine, the Tour de France and civilian road tourist maps made famous by Michelin.
Who knows, perhaps another Dion-Bouton may pop-up in the right size and in better condition.
Last edited:
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