French Racing Bicycles

[Canuk]

Another early 1970s Clerc. Note the reinforcement of the bottle cages, a sure tell of the first generation frames.

 

[Canuk]

Third generation early 1980. The fork legs are glued into the steerer, the saddle clamp is by an internal expander seat post, the reinforcement at the bottle cage attachment has disappeared and the rear dropouts are direct mounted. The frames are polished and then sealed in a clear top coat and part painted.

 

[Canuk]

There was early friction between Wolhauser and his supplier Clerc. Wolhauser wanted to have exclusivity but it was not really acceptable to Clerc. He accepted that Clerc wanted to brand his own bicycles and make a name for himself, where else could he have found dural frames of this quality and level of finish?

After purchasing dural frames for a few years from WOLHAUSER, a bicycle dealer from Geneva, VIFIAN, and one from Montluçon, CALMUS, started to purchase directly from CLERC, this caused a rift between Clerc and WOLHAUSER. Raymond Clerc sold most of his production directly under his own brand after this point.

 

[Canuk]

Fourth generation Clerc early 1980s using 28mm aluminium tubing. The expander seat post has all but been abandoned as a bad idea in favour of this grub screw iteration, which was later copied by Vitus. Many of the frames were anodised in vivid colours after this point. These are considered to be the most sought after (and expensive) Clercs in the timeline. Rare finish, dent free rames can readily change hands for 1000 euro+ They are particularly popular in Germany where the brand is greatly admired and collected.

I've never seen one in the UK before, it's perhaps because they were not exported much outside of France and Switzerland.

 

[Canuk]

2nd Gen Clerc

 

[Canuk]

Second-generation frame, c.1978 polished and clear coated, equipped with CAMPAGNOLO C Record components except for the wheels with PELISSIER hubs, and the handlebars, stem, and saddle with CINELLI.

 

[Canuk]

This is a bicycle that has features found on the first three generations: the first generation's monobloc fork with reinforcements, the second generation's rear dropouts, and the third generation's expander seat clamp. C.1980

 

[Canuk]

The expander seat post although very neat and elegant was prone to getting impossibly stuck. It was dropped almost entirely from the 4th gen frames around 1982 in favour of a grub screw into a very neat welded seat lug.

 

[Canuk]

A Clerc branded polished and cleared city bike from around 1979. Featuring all internal cable routing, very elegantly deployed with the now famous Clerc monobloc aluminium fork. Later versions would feature a titanium fork, but these are extremely rare.

 

[Canuk]

After the departure from Wolhauser, which is rumoured was not very amicable, Clerc started to produce frames go Jo Routens, which have all the hallmarks of a traditional Clerc build and attention to detail in finishing.