Welcome to The Velo Collective
The definitive resource for vintage French bikes.
Video: Restoring and Installing a Bent Campagnolo Valentino Rear Derailleur
Video The Repair What seems to work on a bike stand may not always work when on the road, and this was exactly the case here. I thought I had trimmed the lo screw accurately enough so the chain could be on the lowest cog without hitting the spokes, but it...
read more
How it Turned Out: Restoring the Claud Butler Electron
Kept Indoors? I Don't Think So.. I asked the original owner of this bike, a person who'd owned it from new all the way back to 1976, if it had been left outdoors. I believe she took a slight offence. She replied with a resounding "no", looking rather peeved. But...
read more
The Claud Butler: The Wheels
The Worst of It Rusty, dirty wheels; I don't think there's a tougher task when it comes to restoring a vintage bike. In this case, there's even a question of whether these wheels are salvageable. You come to a point where you have to ask yourself "is it worth all...
read more
Claud Butler Electron Restoration Project
Buying the Bike The lady who sold me this bike seemed quite reluctant to part with it. She had advertised it for a fair price, in view of it's condition and the amount of work that would be required to restore it. Yet, at the point of sale, on a rainy Thursday...
read more
The Mysterious Motobecane Chatard
Not a Typical Motobecane This lovely bike was sent in by Jimi Roller via the Velocollective Facebook page, which you can visit here. It's quite an unusual bike, because it has the decals of Motobecane on the frame, as well as the name "Chatard". Jimi was trying to...
read more
5 Details to Help Sell Your Vintage Bike
Details are Important I loved this bike pictured above. It's actually one of the favourite bikes I've ever ridden, a Miyata 912 that was in really superb condition. It wasn't dressed up in Campagnolo, didn't have a flashy paint job or fancy pants lugs, it was just...
read more
Changing Centre Pull for Side Pull Brakes
Mafac and Weinmann So many vintage road bikes still have their Weinmann or Mafac centre pull brakes intact. They were once the staple braking components on many French bikes, from the introduction of Mafac Racer brakes in 1952, to their eventual demise which came...
read more
Are French and Standard Headsets Interchangeable?
Repairing Old French Threads If your older French bike has damaged threads, you have a problem. French parts are becoming hard to find, and not many bike shops will be able to retap your pre-1982 threads on your bottom bracket shell and fork steerer to the same...
read more
The Jacotey and the Damaged Fork Threads: One Problem Leads into Another..
Background You can read the original post about this bike here. When I bought this attractive red Jacotey last year, naturally I was pleased with my purchase. It wasn't just because I though it was a cool looking bike with a nice Vitus 788 tubeset; it was also because...
read more
When Motobecane Became MBK: a Review of the Super Sprint
Fall of the Giants Motobecane shares a similar history to Britain's Raleigh brand, and sadly both companies no longer produce bikes in their respective countries. Both Motobecane and Raleigh became behemoths in the cycle industry throughout the 20th century, mass...
read more
J’Accuse: Halfords and their Policy Against Bike Boxes.
I'm not Stating the Obvious Everyone knows that Halfords is a big corporate entity, expensive and holding a large piece of the pie of the British bike market. They sell cheap bikes and generic tools and prices in the their bike stores are heavily marked up, which...
read moreRemoving a Stuck Crankset By Extra Force
Some Caveats This method has been useful to me a number of times, with the problem of unyielding crank arms. With s bike stand, you only have so much force you can use with one arm. You may find that you are rotating your crank puller ( with a wrench ) but have...
read more
Recent Comments