French Barn Find - Buckets of Patina!

Was even thinking it may be me being a bit of a moron / too OCD / too precise, but looking at French vintage forums it drives everyone nuts. They also have to deal with inches and fractions which is not a strong point since Mr. Decimal Napoleon Bonapart changed the education curriculum.
 

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The History Man":35mz0gct said:
So what do you think you’ve got?

Measuring the external rim diameter, I get 653mm which puts me between 700A and rim 700B according to the French table above.

From 1912 table, and measuring in old money I get 25 10/16". The first rim profile get's me
very close and I fall with a 28 x 1 1/2" = 700B. The second profile I fall closest to 28 x 1 3/8" which is 700A.

700A means tyres from one supplier in France or one supplier Australia. 700B means better availability.

Started to think to take a plunge with the 700B; better too tight than too floppy, lots of oil to get
it to fit?????
 
Crambie":3ajsnb89 said:
Well he had the advantage that his bike was in pretty ok condition, he still had chrome so much easier. Just a good amount of cleaning. Yours will turn out fine.

Actually 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 ;)
 
More about the tyre / wheel size issue. I have tried a modern 700C front wheel with a wide 33mm gravel tyre in the
rear of the frame (spacing is 110mm) and it clears the rear stays OK, but I'm not comfortable with anything wider than that.
 
Update on the damn tyre size problem:

Found on off-chance a very retro NOS, French, narrow and true 700B tyre; a Michelin World Tour 700 X 35B :cool:

Paid reasonable money, but sadly they only had one and not a pair. Should arrive by the end of the week. Fingers crossed it will be the right size and I can close the size issue and get 50% of the wheels rolling.

I feel lucky already judging by how much these rare tyres are advertised for.....
 
Useless Weightweenie Fact #1

Did a front wheel weight comparison (actual +/- 5g) just out of curiosity to see if road bike technology actually
did advance since the dark ages:

80s NISI Moncalieri tubular rim (still with dried glue :oops: ), Campag Record hub (inc. QR), straight gauge spokes = 1 Kg.

20s Unidentified steel rim, unidentified steel hub (inc. butterfly nuts), straight gauge spokes = 1.44 Kg.

Or put another way, in approx. 60 years a 30% weight saving largely due to material change, rather than design change.

With this in mind, looks like I may lag behind a little out of the starting blocks. :LOL:
 
99,99 eurofukcs for a 35-635 :shock: :shock: :roll: jeeesus

You can get them at BT for cheaper than chips...

:facepalm:

Goddammit, this makes me think of Nena and her neun und neunzig luftballons.
Makes me think of Heartland and My Dominion, too...
My eyes are tearing with nostalgia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvoiHjZju5I

:cry: :cry: :cry:
 
I'm going to scream, and swear a bit. I've received a normal 700C and not a 700B tyre. Back to square one. :evil: :evil: :evil:

26er, just like my tyre supplier, you are getting your tyre sizes wrong! BT homepage does not have any 35-635 tyres. :facepalm:
 

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