Vintage French randonneuer's and porteurs.

[Imwit]

The make is Breda. I haven’t found too much about it apart from a few pictures of other (probably 70’s) bikes.


I’m in Australia where getting hold of those brakes to try seems to mean buying them from France or the UK. Factoring in the postage often doubles the price so it would be good to get it right first time.

 

[Woz]

@Imwit - you already mentioned the two brand names for brakes I thought of - Jeay and Bebo. There is some adjustment to the pads, but not much. Which model exactly and which year is hard to say.

I personally think you may struggle with that, and may not be worth the trouble. It may be best to put the money towards a complete vintage bike, and use this one for critical spares like the headset and chain-set.

 

[Imwit]

Thanks Woz.

In hindsight I’m with you on buying a complete bike but I think I’ll try to complete the challenge to finish this build.

This was my giant hillbilly cousin when he collected it for me.

I got the stem and bars, levers, seatpost and chain guard when I was in Paris last year after L’eroica. The wheels are off a later Peugeot. I’ve ordered a Simplex derailleur. It really only needs brake calipers to be a rider. Hopefully I can find guards and a rear rack locally.

There’s some information on Jeay brakes and different models on the anciens velos lyonnais site https://anciensveloslyonnais.weebly.com/freins-jeay.html
My best guess from looking there was that the ‘super’ model looks to have the most adjustment and should fit my post mounts. Maybe the ‘sport’ model has some adjustment too?

Thanks to everyone for their interest

 

[Woz]

Good man. I was actually intending to follow-up, in part because I didn't want to unintentionally discourage you.

I'm in France, and believe me, while on the surface that should make things better, it's not entirely the case.

Fact is, when you buy a a part from Ebay, the seller most certainly acquired a tip find or an attic sale and went to the trouble to collect it, dismantle it, and advertise it. The price thus can be anything from reasonable to eye watering. It's the whole nugget of paying for convenience on-line to be honest. There's almost a constant fact too, for one good bike your need to amass about 4 donor bikes. This is painful, and really the bike should be well worth it to go through such butchery and waste. Hence, like I mentioned very early on here in the thread, look for a complete bike.

If it does help, keep an eye out for a Peugeot or Motobecane ladies bike for parts that did have this kind of set-up - at a guess, even into the 60s pre-Mafac. The French bike industry was rather complex, and I have understood Bebo produced for a while, especially for Peugeot and Terrot. Jeay, I think disappeared much earlier I don't know for sure.

I've said it before, it is best to keep very level headed in these projects. I don't know your budget nor ambition level, but do doff my Beret for having a go down-under in Oz and keeping a flame alive and contributing here

 

[Woz]

This was from about a '49 Peugeot. But from memory, the braze-ons didn't look like yours, They were round, not 6 sided, which to be honest I don't even understand why they are that way on your bike. If only history could talk to us.

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

A long shot. Do you have a Mafac centre pull. If so it might be worth stripping it and seeing how each arm lines up. I'm not suggesting the pivot bolts on the caliper will be the right length or thread but you may be lucky. If the arms work you could get a set of post bolts turned at a local machine shop. The thread is likely to be metric or metric fine. Go for it and finish it.

This is what happens when you get p*ssed, have a raging hangover and buy an incomplete French bike

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads...-eau-de-nil-🛠️-the-merlot-aftermath-🍷.450638/

 

[Woz]

A long shot. Do you have a Mafac centre pull. If so it might be worth stripping it and seeing how each arm lines up. I'm not suggesting the pivot bolts on the caliper will be the right length or thread but you may be lucky. If the arms work you could get a set of post bolts turned at a local machine shop. The thread is likely to be metric or metric fine. Go for it and finish it.

That's a very good idea

Mafac centre pulls in abundance for cheap. Could be quite involved work though thinking about how to fix the spring for the arm return.

 

[Imwit]

A long shot. Do you have a Mafac centre pull. If so it might be worth stripping it and seeing how each arm lines up. I'm not suggesting the pivot bolts on the caliper will be the right length or thread but you may be lucky. If the arms work you could get a set of post bolts turned at a local machine shop. The thread is likely to be metric or metric fine. Go for it and finish it.

This is what happens when you get p*ssed, have a raging hangover and buy an incomplete French bike

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads...-eau-de-nil-🛠️-the-merlot-aftermath-🍷.450638/

Thanks for the Christmas reading. I’ve been engrossed with the eau de nil La gazelle all Boxing Day. I’ve still got a bit to go but it is definitely a cautionary tale and with at least one ‘uh oh’ moment when on a side trip to Sheldon’s page I realised I might need some pedals.
I’ll see if I can round up some Mafac centrepulls locally. I tried a Japanese one but no luck there.
Lots of great tips and entertainment here. Cheers

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

That's a very good idea

Mafac centre pulls in abundance for cheap. Could be quite involved work though thinking about how to fix the spring for the arm return.

You can get the washers that go on canti posts with the spring tail holes in them. I would try putting one between the post and rear face of the centre pull arm. In theory it will be a shouldered bolt, so should clamp the washer and leave some end float for the arms. All supposition though.

 

[legrandefromage]