Welcome to The Velo Collective
The definitive resource for vintage French bikes.
Remove a Quick Link or Master Link from a Chain – Video
Removing a Quick Link They are a clever piece of modern bike technology, simple and effective, but they can be a real pain to remove once they are fitted. Quick links can prove to be quite stubborn to removal methods by hand, especially ones that have been on a...
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Peugeot PFN 10 Stuck Seatpost – Conclusion ( Video )
The Impossible Task When I took possession of this rather beaten Peugeot bike I could have never envisioned the problem I was about to face. This seatpost, after hours and hours of attempted removal, never even budged a millimetre in the end. Even if I'd seen it move...
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Bottom Bracket Cup Removal Direction: A Visual of French, British, Swiss and Italian Threads
Pre-1982 French and Italian Drive Side Cups It's easy to forget which direction bottom brackets cup turn for removal. I thought I'd provide a visual guide, as it's always the best way to memorise. Before 1982, French bikes had different threads and sizing to other...
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Sometimes They Come Back: Wrecked Atom 600 Pedals
Destined for the Junk Bin I wrote a blog recently about finding an abandoned Peugeot in a barn, and it so happens that these Atom pedals were on that crusty bike, which was in a terrible state. These pedals were totally frozen in position on that old Peugeot. I'm not...
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Look KG 271 Carbon- Regretfully Sold
1986 Tour De France, mid 1980's, and that rivalry: LeMond v Hinault. It's become one of the great events in the history of the race, and I was in my teens at the time. I remember seeing those Look bikes and wishing I had one. LeMond's 1986 winning KG 86 bike has...
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The Mysterious History of Lapierre Bikes
What's So Special About Lapierre? Dijon sits about 250km north of Saint Etienne, that cycle powerhouse of the vintage era. Famous for its mustard, Dijon is a city I've always wanted to visit, but never managed to see. One of France's largest brands, Lapierre, is...
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1976 Huret Challenger v Simplex Criterium Review
Challenger v Criterium It's 1976, and you've just bought yourself a new French bike. Not an expensive one, mind you, as inflation is at a whopping 16% in Britain. You opted for the mid-range bike, something like the Motobecane C3, and shining on your brand new...
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1981 Ti Raleigh Rapide in Team Colours – For Sale!
Glory Days In 1980, a Raleigh bike bike finally became the toast of the Tour De France. It had taken Raleigh nearly one hundred years to achieve such a road racing crown, the day Joop Zoetemelk crossed the line in as winner of the yellow jersey. Ever since, the Ti...
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Review: 1998 Bianchi Veloce Celeste
Vintage and Modern This Bianchi was made in a time when bike technology was revolutionising how bikes were made and ridden. Gone are the downtube shifters and non-aero brake levers, the five speed freewheel and chromed forks; what we have instead is integrated...
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A Closer Look at the Triplex Professional
I, Triplex Wasn't it Claudius who said "Isn't it more important what a man says, than how he says it?". Well, can't the same be said of bicycle components? Isn't it their purpose to function efficiently, and not look pretty and expensive? Ok, if you can get both...
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Peugeot PRL 10 – L’Orange
Frozen Frozen is the word of the week after having suffered the rude and uninvited "Beast from the East" since last Saturday. Its clear skies and icy winds have kept temperatures down below freezing and at night the windchill has been as low as -15°C. All this...
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Peugeot in a Barn Restoration
Murphy's Law I just did a blog about stuck seatposts, and look what happens: the bike I've just bought has a seatpost that is stuck solid. Still, all is not lost; I have yet to try all ways to get the thing moving, but the feeling I have is that it's really frozen...
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A Note about Stuck Seatposts
Buyer Beware I imagine it's fairly uncommon, but it's actually really important; when you are about to buy a bike, you really should check if the seatpost moves in the seat tube. I mean, why not? Ok, I suppose it could be construed as being a bit pushy and perhaps...
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Poor Old Peugeot in a Barn
Rusting Away Staying on a farm for a winter break, I saw this old racing bike stuffed at the back of one of the farmer's storage buildings. This unit is just a canopy and open to the elements even though it has a metal roof, so the bike has obviously suffered from...
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Cycles Legluais – a Bit of an Oddity
Everything I don't know about Legluais Ever heard of Maurice Legluais? I doubt that you have, as his name and his bike shop have fallen into obscurity and there's scant information on the internet about his bikes. What I do know is that his shop was based in...
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Road Bike Test: Modern Versus Vintage
Why this Test? This road test between a vintage and modern road bike came about entirely by accident. I didn't sit there on the couch thinking of a blog to write, or contrive to throw something together to waffle about during this period of inclement cycling...
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The Hill Special: A Bizarre Coincidence
The Hill Special On the 31st August 2014, on the afternoon that Eastbourne's pier burnt, I had the bizarre stroke of fortune to meet the Hill family in my back garden - the day after I just bought a 1982 Hill Special locally on Gumtree. How likely is that? Here is...
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How Many Ball Bearings..?
Ball Bearings are Confusing Note to self: don't write a blog about ball bearings in bike parts, it's a bloody nightmare. In fact it would be a mammoth task for anyone to precisely evaluate the amount and size of ball bearings for each component over the years. To...
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Tubular Tyre Repair: Gluing the Side Trim
Saving that Old Tubular! Sometimes old tubulars look beaten and worn out, ready for the bin. Yet, often they are in better condition than they look, as good quality vintage tubulars were well made tyres. Old tubulars can look scruffy, often they can have...
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French Freewheel Specifications
Maillard Course 1981 6 Speed Weight: 388 grams 13 - 21 Cog British Threaded, 1.375 x 24 TPI Removal Tool: Park Tool FR2 ( Two Prong ) Sachs Maillard 6 Speed 1981 368 grams 14 - 20 Cogs British Threading 1.375 x 24 TPI Removal Tool: Park Tool FR2 ( Two Prong ) ...
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Motobecane Super Competition Restore
The Super Competition Trying to find information about the Super Competition isn't so easy; in fact, a few bike enthusiasts on some forums even dispute it ever existed. Well, here is proof that Motobecane did make this model, albeit infrequently, through the 1970's....
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Creaking Noise When Pedalling – Fix
The Deceptive Problem When your car starts making a weird noise, you know immediately what you're in for. Unless you're already in suspicion, or have been expecting a particular problem, finding the source of a bump or squeak can be a real challenge. A car has...
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Restoring a 1981 Eddie Koepler Bike
Mystery Man There's very little information out there on the mysterious Eddie Koepler. From what I can gather, he was a professional cyclist, perhaps a domestique, who quite possibly rode in the Molteni team with another Eddy, the iconic Merckx. Unlike the...
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Stuck Brake Cable in Brake Lever – Fix
The Jammed Cable Head Your heart sinks when your brake cable won't come out of its lever. After years, perhaps decades, of pulling on the cable as well as from the build up of dirt and rust, the nipple end of the cable can get squeezed deeper into its barrel hole...
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1981 Peugeot Course PFN 10 Restoration
The Earlier, the Better It's well known that Identifying Peugeot models can be very confusing, so at least this bike had its name written on the top tube: Course. In French it means "race", equivalent to the British term for a road bike of the vintage era. Modern...
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Cool Vintage Trek and Specialized Bikes
The Cool Europeans Imagine walking into a bike shop in an American town in the 1970's. For the average Joe, there wouldn't have been much choice if he wanted a road bike made in the USA. The US bike market at that time was dominated by that behemoth Schwinn, and...
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Parts that Broke and Disappointed
How and Why Parts Break I admit it; some of these breakages have been my fault. Some, however, broke because of fatigue and wear, and a certain few because of their design flaws. There's no doubt that there are some French components that are liable to break than...
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Review – A 1980’s Peugeot Iseran HLE
The Tubing Debate I notice on forums that Peugeot HLE bikes get some interesting reviews and opinions. You find that some come from the perspective that if a bikes tubes aren't built with Reynolds, Columbus or similar double-butted frames, then its not that...
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A Vintage Rarity – a 1982 C.N.C Special
Who Were C.N.C? It is not a brand I'd come across before; that makes it often more interesting. This C.N.C bike is quite a stunning colour blue, and was in very nice shape when I acquired it from its original owner. He was an elderly man who hadn't ridden it for...
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Riding the Avenue Verte on a Vintage Bike
Ferry and Bike Imagine being able to cycle from London to Paris on a dedicated bike trail. It sounds amazing, but it's not yet a reality. Riding The Avenue Verte, as its called, may not offer a compete route for cyclists yet, but is a great trail for discovering...
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The Loose Bottom Bracket Fiasco
When a 5 minute Job Becomes 5 Hours Damn that annoying play in bottom brackets, when things have got bad enough to feel that side-to-side movement through the crankset! Inside the nicely designed cups of this Mercier was a Stronglight Competition bottom bracket,...
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For Sale – Vintage Mercier Road Bike with Columbus Tubing
56.5cm Mercier Rose For Sale Beautiful Mercier road bike, 56.5cm frame size from centre to top, 57cm top tube, centre to centre, 10 speed, with stamped fork crowns and hear shaped lugs, Columbus tubing, in used but excellent condition for its age. The paintwork...
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Restoring an Abandoned Raymond Poulidor Bike
Out of the Farmyard The picture above doesn't do the state of this bike justice; it was one of the dirtiest bikes I've ever bought. I bought it from a farmer who didn't talk very much, and who lifted it out of his shed full of tools, abandoned there for many years...
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A Mercier Rose in a Thunderstorm
The Mercier Can I call it rose coloured? I think this bike is more of a purple rose, which is quite unusual and distinctive. I do really like this colour of frame that came from the Mercier workshop, this one being from 1981. It has a French threaded bottom bracket...
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Some Bernard Dangre Bikes
Who was Bernard Dangre? I must admit, I always thought Bernard Dangre was a professional rider. I imagined he was another of those French cyclists, tough and gnarly, who turned to making bikes after a career on the road. Well, that was wrong! Dangre was not a...
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Riding a Motobecane C2 in Brittany
The Tailend of a Hurricane The weather in Brittany in the week that Hurricane Irma hit the other side of the Atlantic, was wild and unpredictable. One minute there would be bright skies and warm sunshine, the next savage cloudbursts of rain that were often short...
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Some of My Favourite Bikes – All Under $400
1985 Peugeot PSVN 12 In pearlescent white and with chrome forks, built with Super Vitus 980 tubing, this bike was a joy to ride. I had the pleasure of riding it on a beach in South Carolina for miles on end, the sand being firm enough to provide an thrilling...
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Perfect Rarities for your Vintage French Bike
Vintage Mavic Handlebars The chances are, when you come across a vintage French bike, it will have either Pivo, Ava, Atax, Philippe or Belleri handlebars and stem. Mavic are definitely rarer to find, and especially these bars, named Comte De Coucy. These were...
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For Sale – Motobecane C5 Road Bike
Dimensions and Condition 1982 Motobecane C5 road bike, top of the range of the Motobecane catalogue that year, 61cm frame size from centre to top, 59.5cm top tube, 14 speed 7 x 2, full Reynolds 531 tubing frame and forks. Huret dropouts, braze on cable guides and...
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Favourite Stronglight Cranksets
Why I'd Choose Stronglight I'd prefer a drilled Stronglight 105 crankset on my bike to Campagnolo Super Record, though many would disagree with me. The great imitators of the day, Shimano, also made a very desirable crankset, the lovely 600 Arabesque, to compete...
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Vintage Components with Inherent Design Flaws
Flaws and Failures Even the smartest companies make mistakes. The day Lucien Juy decided to make plastic parts for his derailleurs must count as one of the bike industry's biggest mistakes. The founder of Simplex, who was a great innovator in bike technology,...
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Huret Success Titanium Road Test
Huret's Best? Huret made some beautiful components in the steel bike era, and the Success was one of the later models of gear sets. It was first released in 1975 and they continued making this successful model into the mid 1980's. These days Huret's Jubilee gets...
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A Brake Lever that Doesn’t Spring Back – Video
https://youtu.be/GTTSewGNqcI Finding the Problem The problem of a sticking brake lever, one that doesn't return to its closed position, can be a tricky one to resolve. It's not easy to pinpoint the issue immediately as there are a number of possible issues,...
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A Daniel Jacotey Hiding a Serious Problem
Good Beginnings.. Its not often you find a Jacotey bike, and from the first moment I really liked it. Great colour, Vitus 788 frame, custom built by a boutique frame builder in Picardy, a nicely put-together bike. Jacotey retired in 2016 as a well known shop owner...
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A Long Abandoned Motobecane C5 ( Le Champion )
The Flagship of 1980 Unridden for twenty years, left standing in a shed and forgotten by its original owner, this lovely bike was under a cover of dust and in dire need of restoration. Made by Motobecane in 1980, this C5 was equivalent to the Le Champion sold in the...
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Changing a Tubular Tyre – Video Tutorial
https://youtu.be/5S3E8h2IeqI Changing a Tubular Tyre: the Basics Changing a tubular tyre doesn't require any tools or special skills, and if a tyre has been mounted before it is generally much easier to refit it back onto the rim. Contrastly, new tyres can be a...
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Mystery Bike – Solved
Definitely not a Peugeot If you don't know the story, this is a follow up to an original post about a mystery bike I bought without decals, with no serial number, and no form of identification. You can read the original post here: It had me stumped, but looking...
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Restoring a Cyril Guimard
The unrestored Guimard The Bike Stablinski, Poulidor, Anquetil..some great riders have lent their names to bikes over the years, many of them being mass produced and cheap to buy. Most Anquetils and Merckx bikes you see around are as cheap as chips, fitted with...
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Shifter Problems With My Vintage Peugeot
The Shifting Mystery It's always really disappointing when you build your bike and get it primed for the road, clean and freshly greased, only to find on your first test run that it's unrideable. When you change up a gear for the first time, and.. crunch..the...
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Clincher Wheelset or Tubular?
Weight Weenies A beautiful wheelset completes a bike. But let's face it, nowadays the cost of a high quality wheelset can be astronomical. The desire, the obsession, for such spectacularly lightweight wheels is obvious when visiting bike shops selling Dura Ace,...
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A Review of the 1977 Huret Allvit
Moving the Masses The Huret Allvit was a workmanlike transmission set and could never be described as inspiring or beautiful. It was mass produced for millions of cheap bikes in the 1970's, including my own first bike as a kid. From the big French brands like...
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Simplex Rear Derailleur Test: SX 410 and S001
The Derailleurs Back in 1978 you had a good choice of Simplex rear derailleurs, but here we see two of them from that year in very different conditions. The better derailleur, as one would expect, has survived the years of service much better than its cheaper...
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Overhauling a French Bottom Bracket -Video Tutorial
I've uploaded another repair video to youtube: overhauling a French bottom bracket video tutorial. I hope this is useful and can provide some easy visual steps to how best service your vintage bottom bracket. Notes and Tools I only used two tools for this...
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A Rare Francis Poirier Bike
The Marque There's very little information about FR Poirier bikes on the internet, even on French websites. Search for "Poirier" and you will come across an old French firm that used to make some bizarre tricycles and pedal powered cars, as well making wheelchairs...
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Stronglight Crankset Removal Video Tutorial
Pre-1982 Stronglight Crankset Removal Video Tutorial Tools I Used 23mm/23.35mm Crank Puller Tool A 16mm, thin walled socket; or a dedicated Stronglight bolt remover (which often comes as part of a complete tool). Needle Nosed Pliers And Coin A large Adjustable...
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Spindle Length For French Bottom Brackets
Stronglight Square Taper Spindle Type: Cotterless Date: 1978 Length: 122 MM Weight: 183 Grams Drive Side Width: 36mm Type: For Double Cranksets Year: 1978 Ball Bearings: 11 1/4 Inch Balls Each Side Cups Size: French, 68mm Taken off a Mercier bike with a...
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Vintage French Wheelsets Compared
Alpin Hubs and Super Champion Competition Rims I really liked these Alpin hubs: hi flange, beautifully made, a French tubular wheelset of high quality that was very light. I polished them up as they were a little dull after decades of service, and they ended up...
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Adjusting Mafac Centrepull Brakes
Stopping Power Buy a vintage French bike and it will likely have Mafac centrepull brakes. These brakes are very adaptable with their long reach arms, and earned a reputation over the years for providing reliable and effective brakes. With their classic design and...
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The Short History Of Spidel
The Final Throw of the Dice Things looked bad for the French bike parts industry. The year was 1984, and the market was rapidly changing; the reign of French components, once so dominant in the bike boom, was now being eroded by competition from Europe and...
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French Stem Sizing 22.0mm
22.0mm Sizing French stem sizing is a quirk of the vintage bicycle era. Bikes made before 1983 will likely have a different steerer sizing than other bikes. Instead of 22.2mm, which is the standard steerer size for most bikes, vintage French steerers take a 22.0mm...
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Mystery Bike.. Restored
The Mystery Bike It was in a shoddy state. Unridden for a long time, I'd guess for more than twenty years. The tyres were flat, the rear derailleur was locked up with thick dirt; the chain was off; the Stronglight headset was rusty and so loose that the whole...
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Repairing a Vintage Huret Rear Derailleur
Spring Tension Repairing a vintage Huret rear derailleur, I have to admit, wasn't a job I was sure of. I really believed that this 1978 Huret Eco rear derailleur was broken, after taking it off an old French bike. It had no spring tension and it seemed lifeless,...
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Restoring Simplex Derailleurs
in I'd consider myself a purist when it comes to restoring vintage bikes. I don't really like seeing good quality bikes, close to their original build, being stripped into fixies or reassembled into some custom street bikes. I'm not saying there's anything wrong...
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Vintage French Seatpost Sizes
The 26mm Issue Vintage French seatpost sizes..or simply called "why didn't they just make one bloody size of seatpost?" Yes, beware the French bike, for there are a surprising number of difficulties that can easily stand in your way to building that great...
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An Eighties Hinault, Possibly
Where Did All the Decals Go? This is the first thing I always think when I see bike removed of its branding. Do they just fall off in time? Do people take them off to protect their bikes from being stolen? Do they just somehow slip off in the rain, or while...
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Regretfully Sold: An Exquisite Super Mondia
Jewel in the Forest One misty spring morning I took a drive out into the forests of Washington State, on the borders of the Olympic National Forest. Though the clouds became darker and the mist became heavy rain as I drove across to the peninsular, I was excited...
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Regretfully Undersold: Peugeot Triathlon
Recapturing My Youth When I was growing up in my city, no one had a good bike. A Peugeot Triathlon? You're kidding. None of the kids I knew rode anything decent, none of the adults I knew had a half decent bike, and you never saw anyone whizzing by, like you do now,...
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Pronouncing Vintage French Bikes and Parts
Many of the French brands in the cycle industry are pronounced wrongly in English speaking countries, simply because unless you've learned the rules of French pronunciation, the way you say these names will more than likely be wrong. It's not surprising that, in...
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1968/69 Raleigh Carlton Longfellow
First of all it's really hard to date a frame when the serial number is meaningless. This was the case with this Raleigh Carlton Longfellow, a model built at the Worksop facility in small numbers from about 1964-69. My best guess is that it was a 1968 model, though...
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Peugeot Galibier v Raleigh Record Sprint
Mid Range Flamboyancy I wish I had more pictures of these late 1980's bikes, a Peugeot Galibier of 1987 and Raleigh Record Sprint of 1985. Unfortunately, I've lost the other, more detailed, photographs I took of it one spring day in Seattle in 2012. Named after the...
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Regretfully sold: my 1974 Raleigh Super Tourer
Lucky Find I suppose all collectors dream of finding that one gem, stored away and forgotten for years, in pristine condition and at a bargain price. The 1974 Raleigh Super Tourer I bought in 2012 was just one of those rare cases, a vintage bike in practically mint...
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What’s Best: A Vintage or A New Brooks Saddle?
Brooks saddles are loved around the world, and especially in the U.S, their biggest market. When I lived in Seattle, they were ubiquitous, a necessary topping on carefully trimmed vintage builds and on modern bikes alike. So what's the best: a vintage or a new Brooks...
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Removing Pre-1982 Stronglight Cranksets
Stronglight Stronglight made some of the best cranksets in the age of steel road bikes. Based in the heart of the cycle industry, St Etienne, the 49D, 93 and 105 cranksets were some of the best ever made, by a company that was competing with the very best Italian...
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More 531 Peugeot and Motobecane Frames
Classic French Bikes I thought I'd present some vintage French 531 frames and a Motobecane Le Champion that I sold this summer, and I thought I’d put a few of the most interesting ones on here. My favourite was the gold framed Peugeot pictured above, I can’t say...
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1978 – Still A Vintage Year For A Motobecane
The Grand Sprint It's strange that all three of these bikes I bought this year all dated to 1978, a fine year to buy a Motobecane. Two of these were the same model with very similar specifications, the C2, or as it was known in the UK, the Grand Sprint. Both were...
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St Etienne Cycles
The Brand Who were St Etienne Cycles? There's little information on this obscure company, even on French websites and forums, which is a sign that this marque was never a significant player in the great city of bicycles in France. They're rare enough that the most...
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More French 531 Frames
The Gold Peugeot I sold some nice French 531 frames this summer, and I thought I'd put a few of the most interesting ones on here. My favourite was the gold framed Peugeot pictured above, I can't say what model it is because I find the Peugeot catalogues...
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The Bike Boom Effect: A Sleeping Giant Awakes
The Japanese Revolution The bike boom in the early 1970's must have been a wonderful period for bike manufacturers and component makers in Europe. Exports of bikes to the USA rose from 7 million in 1970 to to 14 million in 1974. Demand for European bikes and parts...
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The Mercier Rose – A Featherweight Mixte
A rose by any other name.. A very nice example of French bike building for the more discerning female rider, this Mercier rose mixte is a real head turner and as lightweight as some of the higher-end men's bikes of its era. Even with its mid-range French components...
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Shimano Arabesque, 1978-1983
Like it or loathe it The Arabesque or 600 EX is always deemed a bit of an oddball, a strange foray into the exotic by Shimano at the end of the 1970's. There is little information out there as to why they chose to create such an elaborate design to an edition of...
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The Lost Life of a De Rosa Professional
35 years later, this De Rosa has still yet to be built, and has never seen the road. I bought it in Seattle in 2012 from its original owner, a Californian who purchased the imported frame in 1980. He asked the bike shop to fit the first of what he thought would be a...
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The Best Vintage Pedals
Undoubtedly the Campagnolo Super Record groupset is the undisputed king of the most desirable vintage components of today. You only have to look at EBay listings to see how highly prized these components are, even though it is well known that in terms of actual...
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1976 Mercier Rose "Service Des Courses"
The Velo Rose Why did Mercier choose pink as the iconic colour for their road bikes of the '60's and '70's? I don't know the answer, but le vélo rose is one of the most distinctive and eye-catching bikes of any era. This particular bike came with its original receipt,...
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Peugeot PX10, Possibly
This frameset was in beautiful condition. The paint was glossy and free from bad scratches, and the half chrome forks and stays were shiny and free of the rust and weathering so typical of bikes of this era. I believe this was a PX10, I owned it in 2010 and sold it in...
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