french bicycle

A highly original Herse racer built in Paris in 1976, just before the great man died. All original finish and lining. Perfect crisp lugwork. Reynolds 531 tubing. Rear brake cable internally routed. Very rare Herse triple chainset, Huret Success titanium RD and Jubilee FD and changers. Cinelli bars and oval logo stem. Campagnolo Record brakes and hubs. Super Champion Competition sprint rims with period Clément tubulars. Chain slap braze-on. Brooks Pro French model saddle on Campagnolo stem.

This bike looked a little sad when I bought it. It required a very careful cleaning job over many hours, and sourcing of new old stock campagnolo brake hoods (at vast expense), new period tubular tyres, new cables and correct period outers, and new bar tape with shellac to match the paintwork.

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According to the previous owner, this bicycle was made for his Father in Paris in 1946. Unfortunately the maker is unknown, but it is clearly of some quality. It is hand built using nice lugs and is fitted with good quality kit. Particularly nice features are the very slim seat stays and a little braze on mount for the rear light. Internal cabling for dynamo. Torpedo coaster brake, alloy 650B rims with heavy duty spokes, Maxicar front hub, Bell wingnuts. Lefol ‘Le Martele’ mudguards, Duprat chainset, original fabric chainguard. Jos front light, Radios dynamo. Ideale 63 saddle. AVA stem, alloy bars, Mafac inverted lever. LAM ‘1/2 Ballon Dural’ front brake.

Alex March e-mailed me to point out that the multi-coloured lining on this bike is very similar to that on a Dujardin that he has. Dujardin was based in Paris where the bike came from, so that seems like a reasonable possibility.

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