Goëland Special Randonneur c.1950 with Spirax Derailleur

The Paris constructeur Louis Moire was quite a prolific maker, from the mid 1930’s to the early 1970’s, under the Goëland (Seagull) name. From his shop at 44 Rue Etienne Marcel, he retailed mid-priced machines which were probably often made by outside frame builders. He seemed to like ‘Speedy’ tubing, a heavy duty cheaper product than the finer productions of Reynolds or Vitus. I’ve seen many Goëland bicycles, and they are often handsomely finished, but rather heavy and fitted with mid-range parts. Occasionally he produced special bicycles in top of the range Vitus or Reynolds tubing, fitted with the best parts and many hand made fittings. This is an example of such a machine.

Constructed in Reynolds 531, the frame has heavily modified and finely filed Oscar Egg (or possibly Nervex?) lugs. Goëland-made parts include front and rear racks, front derailleur and handlebar stem. Rear brake cable and dynamo wiring runs internally. The rear brake hanger arrangement is unusual with the cable looping around a neat alloy hanger and back up to the fitting beneath the saddle. Brakes are M.A.F.A.C. cantilevers with the early open-back levers. Rims are early Super Champion laced to Maxi-CAR hubs, fitted with rare Cyclo ‘Rapid’ quick releases. Mudguards are Lefol ‘Le Paon’. Chainset is Stronglight, with Tank pedals, and Tank 4-speed freewheel. Handlebars are Phillipe randonneur and the saddle an Ideale 59 Professionel. The most interesting fitting, though, is the Spirax rear derailleur. This remarkable and rare derailleur was designed by Raymond Bon in the late 1940’s. Bon was one of René Herse’s team riders. It works on a similar principle to the Cyclo, with the sprockets sliding along a rod with a spiral groove, but it has a single cable and a built-in spiral flat spring, which keeps the chain in tension much more evenly than the chainstay spring on a Cyclo. The gear is also ‘indexed’, the changer incorporating a ball bearing which clicks into place at each gear change. More about this gear in a later post (Does anyone have further information about setting up this gear?)

The bicycle is in excellent original order. The only non-original part being the rear lamp. The original rear lamp appears to have been fitted to the left rear chainstay, as there is a lug and wiring there. The transfers are in reasonable condition, whilst there is extensive light blue lining, beautiful executed.

I will be carrying out minimal work to the bike, touching in a little of the missing enamel, and replacing cables and handlebar tape. One unusual feature of the bike is a rather jazzy colour scheme. The lining is pale blue, whilst the dynamo wiring and brake cables are green, and the brake hoods are red! The little windows in the head lugs are also filled with green paint. This is quite an unusual colour scheme and I intend to keep it like that. I have yet to find green cable outers similar to the disintegrating originals, and red second-hand mafac hoods (anybody got some?), so it may temporarily be finished with light blue bar tape and cable outers until I find the correct parts.

So, here are some pictures of the bike in its as-found state, with more to follow in a later post.

More pictures of Goëland machines here.

Click on photo for large-scale image

René Herse by Jan Heine – Book Review

My initiation into the wonderful world of French bicycles of the great constructeurs was some years ago during a visit to the collection of the March Family, near Bordeaux. I had not previously seen machines by Herse, Singer, Barra and Charrel before ‘in the flesh’, but I was struck by the subtlety and elegance of these wonderful bicycles. Unlike British bicycles of the period, there was little showiness about them. Instead of ‘fancy lugwork’ there was restrained detail, sober paintwork rather than ‘flamboyant’, and an integrated look utilising custom made items, rather than a series of shop bought components bolted to a frame. The cachet of these bicycles was in their attention to detail and their functionality. I became enthralled with them.

Last week an eagerly awaited and very weighty package arrived at my local post office. Luckily I was on my Porteur as carrying this monster of a book might have given me a hernia. This 424 page book weighs in at around 6lbs or over 2 Kgs. It was very thoughtfully packed in a box with custom made foam blocks on each corner, resulting in the book arriving in excellent condition.

Jan Heine is well known to enthusiasts of touring bicycles and in particular the classic marques of René Herse and Alex Singer, through his editorship of Bicycle Quarterly. Last year his Company Compass Bicycles acquired the trademarks, designs and other assets of Cycles René Herse, whilst Mike Kone continues to make Herse bicycles at Boulder Bicycles in Colorado, USA. Heine’s enthusiasm for the bicycles of Herse led to the enormous task of compiling this book from thousands of archive images, and the recollections of many of Herse’s colleagues, riders, and friends. Above all is the input of Herse’s daughter Lyli, one of the greatest women riders of the 50’s and 60’s, during which period she was eight times French Champion.

There are over 400 photographs in the book, mostly from the archive, but also images of about twenty original machines which illustrate the evolution and perfection of the marque. The drawings of Daniel Rebour add to the visual attraction of the book.

What makes this book for me is the clearly meticulous research carried out by the author. Each archive photo is captioned in detail and the text is liberally enhanced by the recollections of people that were actually there when the events happened. The chapters on competitions such as the Technical Trials and the Polymultipliée de Chanteloup bring to life the vibrant cycle-touring race program during the 40’s and 50’s, and these are areas little covered by other publications. These events placed emphasis on light weight and reliability, with points being gained for the lightest machines, but also deducted for any failures of parts brought about by the long and punishing courses. They were the proving grounds for new, lighter and better components. I was particularly struck by the importance of the Tandem in these events, again an area supported sparingly by other cycling publications. Herse’s numerous successes were not only in cyclotouring events, but also included the Women’s World Championship won by Geneviève Gambillon in 1972 and 1974, Briek Schotte’s win in the Paris-Tours of 1947 and Louison Bobet’s victory in the 1959 Bordeaux-Paris. On the track there were successes too, with 24 hour World records for Roger Baumann in 1953 and Yves Gilbert in 1957.

There was an upsurge of interest in cycling in France after the War, and Herse capitalised on this with up to six employees working away in his shop making frames and the many custom designed components that he produced… handlebar stems, chainsets, brakes etc.. which required a lot of hand finishing. But as soon as the early fifties orders began to decline and by the later part of the decade the advent of the moped and affordable motor cars such as the Renault 4CV and Citröen 2CV had taken hold, and led to a lean period and a much reduced staff. The sixties were made healthier by the interest in Herse bicycles from the American and Japanese markets. After Herse’s death in 1976 Jean Desbois took over the shop and continued to make great bicycles with his own distinctive handwriting until retirement in 1986.

I have often heard said that Herse’s bikes are ‘over-rated’. This generally comes from people who have not even seen one, yet alone ridden one. It has been mine and my Wife’s privilege to be able to ride Herse bicycles, which are very special indeed. This book cements the place in history of this great marque. It is not a ‘coffee table’ book but a substantial and detailed history brilliantly illustrated with numerous archive photographs, an informative and entertaining text, and wonderful bicycles. It brings alive a ‘golden age’ when these machines were at the zenith of the constructeurs Art.

The book is highly recommended and is available here.

Vintage Bicycle Restoration 2.1 – Preserving a Dejouannet Randonneuse

A recent purchase was a Marcel Dejouannet touring bicycle in very original condition. It’s a fairly straightforward job to clean up and preserve this bicycle, but I thought that it would illustrate well some of the techniques I use, and some of the thought processes involved. This series will feature ‘before and after’ photographs of various parts of the bicycle, and a definitive guide on how to shellac handlebar tape.

I bought the bike because it was a fine example of a rare maker of considerable quality. Dejouannet made bicycles up until the late 1980’s, the company being founded by Martial Dejouannet in Paris in the 1940’s. Later, working with his son Marcel he moved to Bressuire in the mid-West of France. As part of the process of restoration I have been researching the maker. Little is known of them so I am digging further and am now in touch with his family, who are kindly providing some history and photographs of Monsieur Dejouannet, which will be published here in the near future.

This machine is light, indicating a top quality tubeset such as Reynolds 531 or top level Vitus. It is fitted with classic high-end duralumin touring parts – Stronglight chainset, Maxi-CAR hubs, Pivo alloy rims, Lefol mudguards, Bell wing nuts, Philippe bars and stem, Mafac brakes, Cyclo 4-speed gear. Additionally there are other nice features such as the ‘constructeur’ built front and rear racks, internal dynamo wiring, annular bearing bottom bracket, and a Nivex-style rear dropout which enables rear wheel removal without touching the chain: When removing the wheel you shift the chain over onto the chain rest, which is integral with the dropout, then unscrew the drive side wing nut which is permanently fixed to a short piece of axle, and is also captive in a special fitting. When you release the left hand wing nut, the wheel drops straight out with ease, and without getting greasy hands!

You can read further about my approach to restoration here and here.

I never rush into working on a bicycle. You need to sit and look at it for some time, contemplating what to do, before starting to pull it to pieces. I find that a good beer helps in this process. Then I take extensive photographs to record every aspect of the bike for future reference, and to aid re-assembly.

The next part of the preservation process is to try and date the bicycle and assess to what extent the parts on it are original. A few indicators are noticeable: The Mafac brakes are the early type with ‘m.a.f.a.c.’ stamped on them.

The full stops between the letters denote early production. Similarly, the second pattern Maxi-CAR hubs indicate 1950’s. The overall style of the bike together with the parts fitted indicate a date of early 1950’s, during the golden age of French touring bicycles.

Internet research to find pictures and information about similar machines is also useful. In this case it threw up little information about the maker, and few photographs of machines except for much later ones. The excellent Forum Tonton Velo is generally very useful for information on French bicycles, although it is almost exclusively in French. If you are interested in French bikes then you should learn some French anyway!

The glaringly non original parts are the front derailleur and the brake hoods. The front derailleur lever indicates that it was probably fitted with a ‘Le Chat’ unit, brazed to the seat tube. Unfortunately this was cut off and a modern Shimano unit fitted. There is no damage to the seat tube, and I intend to replace the front derailleur with an original style unit. However, many of you will know that a cable operated ‘Le Chat’ is as rare as hen’s teeth so the only option may be to make one! On searching Tonton Velo I found a drawing of a Le Chat cable operated derailleur, can you believe? (courtesy velodutch63 on Forum Tonton Velo)

However, this is the version where the cable pulls from above, whilst this bike was fitted with a pull from below version. After more digging Dutch collector and connoisseur of French bicycles, Rob Van Driel, very kindly provided me with photographs and dimensions of his Le Chat FD, fitted to his Alcyon randonneuse, complete with dimensions of all the parts. Information sharing like this is so important in this process, and I am indebted to him. So, I am now in a position to have a go at making a replacement.

The horrible brake hoods are very clearly modern replacements so they can simply be cut off and thrown away. The Mafac levers would have either had no rubbers at all, or been fitted with rubber half-hoods.

The enamel paintwork is generally in good condition except for on the racks. They may warrant some careful re-painting but this will be kept to a minimum.

At the end of the ‘contemplation’ process, I decided that this bicycle should be kept as original as possible, carefully cleaned, with some very minor touching in of paintwork only, replacement of non original brake cable outers, and replacement of the front derailleur. The bicycle will be serviced, including rebuilding of the stiff Stronglight headset and replacement of brake rubbers. Tyres will be replaced.

To be continued….

Bicycle Restoration – A contrasting view

I don’t normally publish comments arising from my blog posts, but this one from Bruce in The United States was interesting and thought provoking:

‘There seem to be two diametric schools of thought on the preservation / restoration argument. Though neither of them seem to agree, there is the same school of thought that some antique collectors subscribe to. Dirty is better and clean is not cool. Patina is a nice word for dirt and abuse in the minds of some. I have antique furniture, and though I am not tempted to refinish pre-Colonial antiques, I am always looking at some of the bikes I have.
The second school of thought is the complete replacement of the paint and decals for an out of factory look. Many of the restoration painters will exceed the quality of paint done by a factory or even that done by small hand made marques.
I have received many frames that few wanted because ‘distressed’ look doesn’t sell to the public. I admit that a good refinish is expensive, but if you only want it done once then it might as well be a professional job. If you have ever been at a cycling ‘jumble’ or show the ones that stop the crowds are those refinished to perfection, and parts restored and polished. One you would like to display in your home would be one done by some of the best custom painters in America.’

My first article about restoration was a personal opinion about my approach.

I have a few observations relating to this comment:

‘I have received many frames that few wanted because ‘distressed’ look doesn’t sell to the public.’

The fact that they don’t sell to the public doesn’t mean that they are ‘undesirable’ either from a historical or aesthetic point of view. I don’t prepare my bikes to be saleable, I preserve them to retain originality and to make them usable.

‘Many of the restoration painters will exceed the quality of paint done by a factory or even that done by small hand made marques.’

Exactly! Refinished bikes will often look nothing like the bike did originally. Many original finishes, particularly to lightweight bikes, were in fact a little on the crude side and showed the marks of hand finishing designed to be purposeful rather than showy. Bikes were made to be used not to be ‘shown’. In this country there is a restorer of vintage Rolls Royce motor cars called P. & A. Wood. The quality of their restorations are incomparable, but their refinishing work is probably considerably better than the original finish, perhaps giving us a distorted picture of the original qualities of these cars. Modern materials are not like the ones used 50-100 years ago, so there is no way that a re-finish is going to look exactly the same as the original. Polishing alloy components is another grey area – I know from my examples of NOS alloy components that they often weren’t highly polished to start with, yet polishing to mirror finish seems to be widely accepted in the restoration fraternity. Likewise reproduction transfers are often not at all like the original versions, so once again the ‘flawless refinish’ is in fact highly flawed.

‘..the ones that stop the crowds are those refinished to perfection, and parts restored and polished.’

I think that there is a very considerably growing number of people that will take more notice of the slightly distressed original machine as opposed to the show example. This is evidenced by the market for all types of vintage and veteran bikes where prices are higher for totally original machines.

‘One you would like to display in your home would be one done by some of the best custom painters in America.’

Not for me, thank you!

Originality like in these examples is impossible to reproduce. Once it is lost, it’s gone forever…..

Happy Christmas to all readers of Vintage Bicycle Blog

It’s been a revelation to me that so many people are interested in my blog! Thank you to many thousands of you for looking and taking interest, and for sending many nice and encouraging comments. So, to all of you in Great Britain, France, USA, Japan, Thailand, Czech Republic, Germany, Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines, Armenia, Mexico, Slovenia, Canada, Portugal (that was just yesterday!) and everywhere else, have a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

Hetchins Experto Crede c.1956 with custom-engineered parts

I didn’t have any great desire to acquire a Hetchins but this particular machine interested me. First of all it has, in my opinion, the nicest Hetchins lug design – Experto Crede… very elegant, not too showy, and with the lovely plain double plate fork crown, and ridged top-eyes. The previous owner of the bike was a very fine engineer and what really interested me was that he made several parts for the bike, most notably the hubs! They were turned from a solid alloy billet to a similar pattern to Harden hubs, but with thicker flanges. They run like silk. He also made the beautifully knurled end caps for the Campagnolo pedals, attractive tapered end ferrules for the mudguard stays, and rear dropout spacers. For me this set the bike apart from the norm as he had very much personalised it. This Hetchins was his ‘Sunday best’ bike and has had very little use. It has been ‘modernised’ by him a little, with a 1980’s Campagnolo chainset and rear derailleur. The bike was apparently re-finished by Bob Jackson in the late 80’s in Bianchi green colour, although the chrome is original. Other nice parts include AVA stem and bars, Mafac Dural Forge brakes with drilled levers, Campagnolo bar-end changers and beautiful as new polished Constrictor Conloy rims. Unusually it also has Lefol Le Paon mudguards. Unfortunately the forward extension of the front mudguard was broken off at some stage, and an mis-matched replacement piece attached. If anyone out there has a spare front Le Paon mudguard for 700c/27inch wheels, I would be very pleased to buy it.

Click on photo for large scale image

Woven Cord Suspension Saddle c.1905

Here is a most interesting saddle dating from the Edwardian period c.1905. Many of you will be familiar with the typical woven cord ‘hammock’ saddle fitted to Dursley-Pedersen bicycles (see left), but here is a variation on the theme that can be fitted other suitable bicycles of the period. The framework is of nickel plated wire and the cantilevered nose-piece is tensioned by a substantial spring. The tensioning of the spring is altered by tightening or loosening the knurled adjuster on the bolt which passes through the spring. The cover on this example was beautifully re-woven by Tony Colegrave, and the frame re-plated. I can report that I find it just as uncomfortable as the Dursley-Pedersen saddle!

Sparkbrook Grand Lady’s Light Roadster c.1905

Founded in 1883, the Sparkbrook Manufacturing Co. Ltd. of Coventry made very fine quality bicycles, with close attention to detail and finish. This is the Lady’s version of the top of the range model. One of the unusual features is the cable operated rear brake, very finely made, and fully adjustable in front of the bottom bracket. The cable loops around the pulley under the bottom bracket and back up to the neat adjuster (see photo’s.) The freewheel is a Lea and Francis patent type, and the chain-case a celluloid covered open-back model, to keep weight down. Chain size is 5/8 inch pitch, a rare size also used in the early 1900’s by Humber, Rudge and Lea Francis. Further signs of quality are that there are oilers fitted to everything – steering head, pedals, two oilers to bottom bracket. The spokes are fine and all are tied and soldered. Wheel size is an unusual 28 x 1 3/8 inches, making tyres extremely difficult to find today, in fact almost impossible. Cranks are beautiful oval section items. Much of the green enamel remains, along with signs of lining and transfers. The wheels originally had their centres enameled and lined, with nickel edges. Green was Sparkbrook’s choice of enamel for their top of range machines at this time, whilst later prime machines were finished in a handsome dark chocolate brown. It is interesting to note from the 1906 catalogue that Sparkbrook bicycles at this time were sold through the London agency of Lea and Francis in Piccadilly. The 1906 catalogue further states ‘The Company does not advertise. The aim of the firm has been to make “Sparkbrook’s” advertise themselves’. Over 100 years on, this bicycle rides beautifully and is still a fine advert for the Company.

Click on photo’s for large scale detailed images

Hottest day of the year ride

First of all, my apologies for the lack of posts lately. Vintage Bicycle Blog is re-locating (subject to contract!) to the lovely countryside of the Lincolnshire Wolds, where a large coach house awaits the bicycle collection and workshop. I’ve been busy having a major clear-out and preparing for the move.

Yesterday was the hottest day of the year and, since its cooler on the bike, we went for a ride to the beer festival at the Compasses pub at Littley Green. The temperature soared to 32 degrees whilst we tasted a few fine real ales. There was a huge thunderstorm in the middle of the day, at which point we were safely under cover eating our lunch. In attendance was a very nice 1929 Bentley 4 1/2 Litre Le Mans replica, and there was ploughing by vintage tractors in the field behind. Fine examples of Fordson, Ferguson and Caterpillar tractors with period ploughs were in action. A lovely event with a very amiable atmosphere.

Later we cycled on to teas in Pleshey Churchyard, with wonderful home made cakes and lashings of tea. Tomoko was riding her 1946 René Herse, which she reports hardly needs pedalling at all, and I was on my 1970 Alex Singer.

All in all, a grand day out!

Nagasawa Keirin Bicycle

Not exactly ‘vintage’ but I think a classic example of a modern Keirin racing bicycle. The frame was made by Yoshiaki Nagasawa in 2009 for the British track sprinter Matthew Crampton, to take part in professional Keirin events in Japan during the 2009/2010 season. Nagasawa learnt the art of frame building in Italy, under the wing of Ugo De Rosa, and he built for top professionals including Eddy Merckx. After his spell in Italy he returned to Japan and for the last 30 years or so, Nagasawa has been one of the most highly respected makers, his frames being used by many Champions including 10 times World Sprint Champion Koichi Nakano. Indeed this frame is finished in Nakano’s trademark red metallic finish – Nakano Red. There are some youtube clips of Nagasawa brazing a frame here.

The frame is built to the regulation Keirin specification – a very strong lugged steel frame in heavy duty Tange tubing. All the parts on the bike are NJS certified, meaning that they are approved by the Professional Keirin Association of Japan, as being suitable for use in their races. Parts include Nitto steel handlebars and stem, Nitto seat post and Kashimax 5 Gold saddle, Dura Ace chainset and MKS Custom Nuevo pedals, Dura Ace hubs and Araya Gold rims fitted with Soyo Red tubular tyres. Matthew was very successful on this bike, winning many races and earning himself a great deal of respect, together with a well deserved chunk of prize money.

What impresses me about this frame is the crispness of the construction. The joints are all absolutely clean and sharp, the tidiest I’ve ever seen. The paint is nice and thin so this can be seen. The bands on the seat tube have the Japanese flag on one side and the Italian flag on the other, joined by the World Championhip stripes. Nagasawa’s workmanship similarly combines Japanese precision, Italian flair and World Championship standards.

Click on photo’s for full size image