Guinessisgoodforyou
rBotM Winner
Fin.
Last edited:
Vintage French randonneuer's and porteurs.
- Thread starter Guinessisgoodforyou
- Start date
Guinessisgoodforyou
rBotM Winner
What a beauty 
Motobecane velo de ville in outstanding condition.
Motobecane velo de ville in outstanding condition.
Filochard
Dirt Disciple
@Guinessisgoodforyou
the topic has already been covered in another thread:
On the other side of the channel, we are trying to document the triple triangle design !
for the couragous in French
http://veloretrocourse.proboards.com/th ... bans-crois
but the 1923 date - "advertised" by Sheldon does not seem to be able to be substantiated by documentation or any pic of a Fred Hellens actual bicycle :shock:
We have a french patent from Louis Halotel in 1934 ( not to speak about the curved seattube which must have been an inspiration for Herse tandem )
but nothing...
for the couragous in French
http://veloretrocourse.proboards.com/th ... bans-crois
but the 1923 date - "advertised" by Sheldon does not seem to be able to be substantiated by documentation or any pic of a Fred Hellens actual bicycle :shock:
We have a french patent from Louis Halotel in 1934 ( not to speak about the curved seattube which must have been an inspiration for Herse tandem )
but nothing...
Here is a short film from 1923 where appears a bicycle probably built by Fred Hellens on the velodrome of Herne Hill which was located near his workshop:
Guinessisgoodforyou
rBotM Winner
Thanks, that was easy@Guinessisgoodforyou
the topic has already been covered in another thread:
On the other side of the channel, we are trying to document the triple triangle design !
for the couragous in French
http://veloretrocourse.proboards.com/th ... bans-crois
but the 1923 date - "advertised" by Sheldon does not seem to be able to be substantiated by documentation or any pic of a Fred Hellens actual bicycle :shock:
We have a french patent from Louis Halotel in 1934 ( not to speak about the curved seattube which must have been an inspiration for Herse tandem )
but nothing...
Here is a short film from 1923 where appears a bicycle probably built by Fred Hellens on the velodrome of Herne Hill which was located near his workshop:
grantoury
Kona Fan
My neighbour bought a Batavus road bike a few weeks ago and when we were discussing it, I saw the sticker from the bike shop and it reminded me of the Gitane. So I made a pic and it looks like it is from the same shop in Zuidbroek, which is 20km from where we live. Interesting coincidence and I thought @Guinessisgoodforyou would forgive me for putting a Batavus on the French thread. The small shop is long gone, I remember buying some NOS stuff there when the owner had died and they were selling the inventory.
Guinessisgoodforyou
rBotM Winner
1954/5 Louison Bobet velo de ville.
Guinessisgoodforyou
rBotM Winner
Is it a Vitus? Is it a porteur? It's French, possibly (Probably) fragile and I think an excellent bike. Don't think I'd load the rack with too much though.
Owners translation below!
Because solidity is debatable, here's my 979 utility vehicle. I've been using it as a city van for about 10 years now. It carries my 3-4kg satchel on the front, but sometimes even an 8-9kg case of wine. It drives like crazy on the bumpy, broken-up roads of Marseille, jumps kerbs to get round traffic jams, and has twice got stuck on tram rails in wet weather or slipped on iron. I've just fitted a new carrier because the old one cracked. But no cracks or delamination on my Vitus!
Owners translation below!
Because solidity is debatable, here's my 979 utility vehicle. I've been using it as a city van for about 10 years now. It carries my 3-4kg satchel on the front, but sometimes even an 8-9kg case of wine. It drives like crazy on the bumpy, broken-up roads of Marseille, jumps kerbs to get round traffic jams, and has twice got stuck on tram rails in wet weather or slipped on iron. I've just fitted a new carrier because the old one cracked. But no cracks or delamination on my Vitus!
Guinessisgoodforyou
rBotM Winner
1970 Peugeot PL50 velo de ville. In outstanding condition. Owners translation below.
This is my favourite bike at the 2014 Anjou Vélo Vintage. I bought this lovely Peugeot which looks like it dates from 1970 as the diamond on the rim indicates. I love the Very Happy colour, that's what made me fall in love with it, along with the quality of the chrome and the overall condition. It looks great!
There are a few rust spots though, particularly on the luggage rack.
I'm planning to use it to get to work, and it drives like new! I'm missing a bell, and I'd like to get a small Peugeot bell but I haven't looked at the ads yet.
This is my favourite bike at the 2014 Anjou Vélo Vintage. I bought this lovely Peugeot which looks like it dates from 1970 as the diamond on the rim indicates. I love the Very Happy colour, that's what made me fall in love with it, along with the quality of the chrome and the overall condition. It looks great!
There are a few rust spots though, particularly on the luggage rack.
I'm planning to use it to get to work, and it drives like new! I'm missing a bell, and I'd like to get a small Peugeot bell but I haven't looked at the ads yet.
Guinessisgoodforyou
rBotM Winner
One mans journey to save an unknown 1930s bicycle and all of the associated problems he encountered, well worth the effort though.
Hello, here's my latest find, a ‘Cycles Delfo’ bike,
A brand that was totally unknown to me and I couldn't find anything about it on the Internet.
The frame has taken a battering and the fork is slightly dented, but nothing that would cripple it in my opinion.
By the way, the chain guard is from Rochet. Is it an add-on? Or a Rochet frame? I don't know. The two chainstays are almost flat when they reach the rear dropout.
It's in fairly good condition, almost complete apart from the pedals. It is fitted with Lefol ‘Le Pratique’ mudguards, which I believe appeared in 1935, after which came the ‘Martelés’. It has a nice Suns-ray dynamo ‘imported from Germany’, a big Balaco headlight and a Luxor rear light fixed on a stay. The Wolber saddle looks more recent than the bike, the rivets are very nice.
The calipers look old. They are fixed to the frame by clamps. Moreover, the chain case and pump are fixed by clamps. And I think the brake cables were also attached by clamps, and I'll have to look for those.
This afternoon, I did a bit of work on the Delfo just to get it rolling for a first test.
Take off the rear wheel to put back on the tyre that had gone crazy. The good news is that the two inner tubes are holding the pressure well.
Adjust the mudguards, which were rubbing all over the place. The only solution for the rear mudguard was to screw the rear wheel on and move it forward a bit, as it was touching the mudguard because it was wedged at the bottom of the dropouts. This loosened the chain, but it was enough for a test ride.
I noticed that a small lug on the right-hand side of the front brake calliper was broken. That's annoying because it holds a small spring that lifts the brake pad off the rim when you're not braking. I'm going to have to fix it, but I'm not sure how, find another spring, because of course it's gone.
Otherwise, the bike rides, not too badly in fact even if I have the impression that the frame geometry isn't really perfect. It creaks everywhere, the mudguards move a lot, there's some play in the steering and crankset, nothing insurmountable.
I should point out that I'm not at home but at my sister's in Haute Vienne and it was on the road that I bought this bike. So I only have a few tools here. I rode around the little village (St Mathieu) and believe me, people turned round as I passed! It's a bit like riding a Ferrari Testarrossa.
It's not going to be easy to get it back into perfect running order for everyday, urban use. But I'm hopeful!
I don't think it's reasonable to continue with this Delfo frame. I think I'm going to look for a new 700 men's frame from the same period and put all the Delfo's beautiful fittings back on it.
Folks, I'm feeling pretty blue this morning. I'm disgusted. I've got the very unpleasant impression that I've been screwed and, above all, that I didn't spot the frame's defect when I bought it. It turns my stomach.
It's not a question of money, I didn't pay much for it and I could almost recoup the cost simply by selling the headlight + dynamo.
No, it's really the fact that I've been ridden this morning that's undermining me and that I didn't spot the clearly visible damage.
Yesterday, I took the bike apart but I wasn't in the mood.
I've just picked up a bike, courtesy of my new friend Patrick. The frame of this bike is very similar to the Delfo's: same geometry, same fork, flat chainstays and seatstays, 700 wheels. It's not badged and it's an unknown brand. It will do perfectly well to reassemble the Delfo which won't be a Delfo any more.
So I'm going to dismantle this old bike, give Patrick back all his fittings, wheels, headlight, handlebars, crankset etc and reassemble the Delfo's beautiful fittings, after a lot of work on the frame's rust. Of course, this new bike doesn't have the finesse of the Delfo's joints. Apart from that, they're very similar. Its frame is perfect.
I have the impression that this frame has already received two different nameplates, as there are four holes.
Would it be a crime to rivet the Delfo nameplate onto this new frame? I'd still like to, but the holes will have to be plugged. Who's going to tell me it's not a Delfo, given that this brand is totally unknown to the public?
The new frame is now ready to be reassembled. I sanded it with emery cloth (240) then wet and dry (600 + 2000) and water. Then I applied rustol with a cloth. Now it's dry and still sticky. I think I'll varnish it afterwards.
This treatment brought out some traces of the original blue paint, but they're still very faint, as well as some traces of various threads on the different tubes. There's also some red paint in the holes in the head tube fittings.
All that's left now is to polish everything else, a big job ahead!
I know, I'll make and rivet a plate CYCLE DELFAUX. This afternoon, a little quiet work in the garage. The Delfaux's pedal assembly.
The left crank is also well-finished but it's different, it's also grooved, but it's a hair wider and above all 3 or 4 mm longer. Honestly, I don't mind, I don't think it's too much of a problem for this type of bike. Anyway, I don't have another one.
I've started reassembling the ‘Delfaux’. I've cleaned all the parts but reassembly isn't easy.
The crankset gave me a few problems because I had to use the axle from the ‘unknown’ frame to attach the crankset from the original ‘Delfo’ frame. Because with the Delfo axle, I had a little play in the crankset that I couldn't adjust: either the crankset turned smoothly but there was very little play, or I removed the play but it didn't turn smoothly any more, it was too tight. So I had to resort to using the frame axle of the stranger, but it was a little wider. When I say a hair, I mean a quarter of an inch, because when I looked at my calliper, I could hardly see any difference between the two axes. But still, a tad wider. So I had trouble fitting the crankset. I used sandpaper to try and remove some of the material and I managed to fix the crankset in place. But anyone who wants to remove it will have a hard time. I've also found a left crank that's almost identical and, more importantly, the same length as the crankset.
As for the brake callipers on the Delfo, they're a real pain. I've only fitted the front one, but it's going to be a real pain to adjust, it touches the mudguard, the wheel. I'm going to have fun adjusting it, especially as I don't really know how I'm going to do it.
Here's the left-hand fork and its 3 clamps.
The top one holds the caliper (there's the same one on the right)
The small clamp underneath I took from the caliper of the unknown bike to replace the lug that holds the small spring and that was broken on the Delfo's caliper.
The collar that holds the nice dynamo of the Delfo.
I spent the afternoon adjusting the mudguards and fitting the luggage rack. I can tell you it wasn't easy, and centring the rear wheel is particularly difficult if you don't want it to touch the mudguards. I managed but without the chain. It's going to be tough again.
Hello, here's my latest find, a ‘Cycles Delfo’ bike,
A brand that was totally unknown to me and I couldn't find anything about it on the Internet.
The frame has taken a battering and the fork is slightly dented, but nothing that would cripple it in my opinion.
By the way, the chain guard is from Rochet. Is it an add-on? Or a Rochet frame? I don't know. The two chainstays are almost flat when they reach the rear dropout.
It's in fairly good condition, almost complete apart from the pedals. It is fitted with Lefol ‘Le Pratique’ mudguards, which I believe appeared in 1935, after which came the ‘Martelés’. It has a nice Suns-ray dynamo ‘imported from Germany’, a big Balaco headlight and a Luxor rear light fixed on a stay. The Wolber saddle looks more recent than the bike, the rivets are very nice.
The calipers look old. They are fixed to the frame by clamps. Moreover, the chain case and pump are fixed by clamps. And I think the brake cables were also attached by clamps, and I'll have to look for those.
This afternoon, I did a bit of work on the Delfo just to get it rolling for a first test.
Take off the rear wheel to put back on the tyre that had gone crazy. The good news is that the two inner tubes are holding the pressure well.
Adjust the mudguards, which were rubbing all over the place. The only solution for the rear mudguard was to screw the rear wheel on and move it forward a bit, as it was touching the mudguard because it was wedged at the bottom of the dropouts. This loosened the chain, but it was enough for a test ride.
I noticed that a small lug on the right-hand side of the front brake calliper was broken. That's annoying because it holds a small spring that lifts the brake pad off the rim when you're not braking. I'm going to have to fix it, but I'm not sure how, find another spring, because of course it's gone.
Otherwise, the bike rides, not too badly in fact even if I have the impression that the frame geometry isn't really perfect. It creaks everywhere, the mudguards move a lot, there's some play in the steering and crankset, nothing insurmountable.
I should point out that I'm not at home but at my sister's in Haute Vienne and it was on the road that I bought this bike. So I only have a few tools here. I rode around the little village (St Mathieu) and believe me, people turned round as I passed! It's a bit like riding a Ferrari Testarrossa.
It's not going to be easy to get it back into perfect running order for everyday, urban use. But I'm hopeful!
I don't think it's reasonable to continue with this Delfo frame. I think I'm going to look for a new 700 men's frame from the same period and put all the Delfo's beautiful fittings back on it.
Folks, I'm feeling pretty blue this morning. I'm disgusted. I've got the very unpleasant impression that I've been screwed and, above all, that I didn't spot the frame's defect when I bought it. It turns my stomach.
It's not a question of money, I didn't pay much for it and I could almost recoup the cost simply by selling the headlight + dynamo.
No, it's really the fact that I've been ridden this morning that's undermining me and that I didn't spot the clearly visible damage.
Yesterday, I took the bike apart but I wasn't in the mood.
I've just picked up a bike, courtesy of my new friend Patrick. The frame of this bike is very similar to the Delfo's: same geometry, same fork, flat chainstays and seatstays, 700 wheels. It's not badged and it's an unknown brand. It will do perfectly well to reassemble the Delfo which won't be a Delfo any more.
So I'm going to dismantle this old bike, give Patrick back all his fittings, wheels, headlight, handlebars, crankset etc and reassemble the Delfo's beautiful fittings, after a lot of work on the frame's rust. Of course, this new bike doesn't have the finesse of the Delfo's joints. Apart from that, they're very similar. Its frame is perfect.
I have the impression that this frame has already received two different nameplates, as there are four holes.
Would it be a crime to rivet the Delfo nameplate onto this new frame? I'd still like to, but the holes will have to be plugged. Who's going to tell me it's not a Delfo, given that this brand is totally unknown to the public?
The new frame is now ready to be reassembled. I sanded it with emery cloth (240) then wet and dry (600 + 2000) and water. Then I applied rustol with a cloth. Now it's dry and still sticky. I think I'll varnish it afterwards.
This treatment brought out some traces of the original blue paint, but they're still very faint, as well as some traces of various threads on the different tubes. There's also some red paint in the holes in the head tube fittings.
All that's left now is to polish everything else, a big job ahead!
I know, I'll make and rivet a plate CYCLE DELFAUX. This afternoon, a little quiet work in the garage. The Delfaux's pedal assembly.
The left crank is also well-finished but it's different, it's also grooved, but it's a hair wider and above all 3 or 4 mm longer. Honestly, I don't mind, I don't think it's too much of a problem for this type of bike. Anyway, I don't have another one.
I've started reassembling the ‘Delfaux’. I've cleaned all the parts but reassembly isn't easy.
The crankset gave me a few problems because I had to use the axle from the ‘unknown’ frame to attach the crankset from the original ‘Delfo’ frame. Because with the Delfo axle, I had a little play in the crankset that I couldn't adjust: either the crankset turned smoothly but there was very little play, or I removed the play but it didn't turn smoothly any more, it was too tight. So I had to resort to using the frame axle of the stranger, but it was a little wider. When I say a hair, I mean a quarter of an inch, because when I looked at my calliper, I could hardly see any difference between the two axes. But still, a tad wider. So I had trouble fitting the crankset. I used sandpaper to try and remove some of the material and I managed to fix the crankset in place. But anyone who wants to remove it will have a hard time. I've also found a left crank that's almost identical and, more importantly, the same length as the crankset.
As for the brake callipers on the Delfo, they're a real pain. I've only fitted the front one, but it's going to be a real pain to adjust, it touches the mudguard, the wheel. I'm going to have fun adjusting it, especially as I don't really know how I'm going to do it.
Here's the left-hand fork and its 3 clamps.
The top one holds the caliper (there's the same one on the right)
The small clamp underneath I took from the caliper of the unknown bike to replace the lug that holds the small spring and that was broken on the Delfo's caliper.
The collar that holds the nice dynamo of the Delfo.
I spent the afternoon adjusting the mudguards and fitting the luggage rack. I can tell you it wasn't easy, and centring the rear wheel is particularly difficult if you don't want it to touch the mudguards. I managed but without the chain. It's going to be tough again.
Guinessisgoodforyou
rBotM Winner
Plus.
