Hugonnier Routens Randonneuse c.1948 – naked!

I try to resist buying bicycles which are not in original finish because their treatment poses all sorts of questions and dilemmas. As regular readers will know, I am not keen on ‘restoring’ bicycles. I’ve been looking for a Routens for a few years now, but the top models rarely come up for sale. By ‘top model’ I mean that it should be constructed from lightweight tubing, have the typical Routens fork crown, the Routens cable operated front derailleur, and front and rear racks. It should also be fitted with all the best alloy components of the time.

This tourer from the ‘Golden Age’ fits the bill in all respects except for the lack of original finish. The seller described the bike as being in original paint, but it clearly wasn’t, and I based my bid on that being the case. The builder, Jo Routens, was a Grenoble based constructeur. He was a very fine rider and won a number of competitive randonneur events including the Paris-Brest-Paris. He set up shop with his business partner Hugonnier in 1945. The partnership was dissolved in 1952 after which Routens continued under his own name. The Routens company still exists in Gières, on the outskirts of Grenoble.

The design of his bicycles was clearly influenced by the designs of the Lyonnais builders Reyhand and Charrel. Construction is nearly always lugless, with the top of the seat stays joining the top tube in front of the seat tube. Rear brake cable routing through the seat tube is another Routens speciality.

I tested a few parts of the frame and found that there was no original paint under the nasty respray. I then stripped the frame using a citrus based paint stripper which is very pleasant to use, since you don’t need to use gloves, and the residues can be disposed of without any toxicity. Once the paint was softened, I used steel wool and automotive finishing abrasive pads to remove all remaining traces. The mudguards had also been painted with blocks of colour and here I discovered the original finish beneath the new paint. It was chocolate brown ‘Lyonnais’, with gold lining. The bicycle is almost identical in specification to this one on the Tonton forum, and it looks like the finish was also very similar, including the unusual feature of a painted front derailleur.

The frame (Number HR786 – 60cm) was in excellent condition under the paint, with no rust. The main triangle is in Dur-fort Series C, which was their extra light tubing, with Fobur fork blades, seat and chain stays. All the tubes are clearly stamped with the names. Interestingly the main triangle is fusion welded in the manner of Reyhand, not fillet brazed, except for the characteristic butted seat to top tube joint, which is bronze brazed, as are all the other joints. The frame is very light indeed, comparable with the lightest Herse frames of the period. Very unusually it has the dynamo on the right side – why?

The problem is what to do with it now? Repainting in original colour without transfers will look strange, I think. Trying to reproduce the transfers will be difficult to achieve, and they are unlikely to look much like the originals. The bike on Tonton has beautiful original transfers not only for Hugonnier Routens, but also for the Dur-Fort Series C tubing. I need to think……

Fittings include Maxiplume cottered aluminium cranks with Cyclo Rosa rings, Cyclo 4 speed rear derailleur, Routens cable operated front derailleur, Lewis brakes and levers (note that braze-on’s are very different from Mafac) Maxi hubs laced to Mavic rims, DFV stem with drop bars which are turned around and have had their drops cut off!

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….