[CR] =?iso-8859-1?q?Andr=E9?=Bertin

(Example: Production Builders:Cinelli)

Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2003 08:50:29 -0700
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
From: "Jan Heine" <heine@mindspring.com>
Subject: [CR] =?iso-8859-1?q?Andr=E9?=Bertin

Many remember the "Bertin" bikes that came here during the bike boom. Also, for a long time, the Société André Bertin was the Shimano importer in France, even after they stopped making (marketing?) bikes.

I found a photo in "Le Cycliste" 8/1950, of the grave of André Bertin, famous cyclotourist and mountaineer, who died at age 21 in an avalanche in 1930. At the time of his death, he had travelled most of France by bicycle already. Before his death, he participated at the Easter Rally, and was one of the few competitors who were able to do the entire course by bike (I assume it was on mountain trails), despite inclement weather, and also managed the highest average speed.

The photo was on the 20th anniversary of his death. He rests (rested?) in Saint-Christophe-en-Oisans, where many victims of the mountains are buried.

I suspect the bikes and company were named after him (even though he probably had little to do with them).

A. Bertin was a member of the "Groupe Montagnard Parisien," who set in motion in 1933 the movement toward lightweight bikes, from which we still benefit today: the GMP organized the first "technical trials" in which light weight was awarded points, with the result that the weight of a good French randonneur bike dropped from 20 kgs (44 lbs) in 1930 to 10-11 kgs (22-24.2 lbs) in 1935!

The history of the technical trials, their importance, etc., are the topic of the next issue of Vintage Bicycle Quarterly.

Jan Heine, Seattle Disclaimer: I am the editor/publisher/mail clerk of Vintage Bicycle Quarterly For information on VBQ, check out http://www.mindspring.com/~heine/bikesite/bikesite/index.html