I followed the recent LeJeune thread with interest because one of my two
bikes is a LeJeune -- though not French in anything but name.
It's probably appropriate, then, having lurked on this list for some time,
to combine this with an introduction.
A cycling/barge holiday in Alsace in 1998 rekindled my boyhood interest in
bicycling to the extent that it's become an, um, obsession. Last time before
the present that I'd owned a bike was a mid-range Raleigh 10-speed in
Cambridge, Mass, in the early 1970s.
Today my Sunday ride is a pretty well immaculate 1982 Gios Super Record,
original apart from Look pedals, Shimano 600 hubs, new headset to replace
the indexed SR one, Rolls saddle (but I'm thinking of re-installing Turbo
Hinault) and TranzX stem while I search for a more classic looking
replacement. After some soul-searching I took off the clinchers and have
been using Conti Sprinter sew-ups on Mavic GP4s for about a year. Steep
learning curve, indeed.
The go-fast bike is a South African-built LeJeune, 1997 vintage, lugged
Reynolds 753, with STIs and other contemporary bits.
I've been piecing together my game plan for Paris-Brest-Paris 2007 (to
celebrate turning 50), which includes having local framebuilder Francois du
Toit craft a traditional lugged steel frame under his own name, as he does
occasionally these days. A former racer, he's still very competitive and has
just returned from the world Masters (he rides his own machines), a little
disappointed because illness disrupted his preparation.
Francois kind of established LeJeune in South Africa and it became one of
the more well known local brands -- locally built -- alongside such names as
Hansom, DHC and Peugeot (also under licence). He still owns the rights to
the LeJeune name here. I understand he is thinking of producing some
"specials" for a particular niche market: those people who have hung on to
their SA-built LeJeunes for decades and may be.
The South African framebuilding scene is pretty fragmented now, but still
alive. I'll scrape together a selection of links for those who may be
interested, but frankly there is not a lot available on the net.
For the moment, take a look at
http://www.dutoitcycles.co.za/
Additional information is available on the dutoitcycles.com main page, and of course he can be contacted by e-mail.
I have to say that Dale's living room is one of the more civilised places on this cyber-planet. And I am constantly in awe at the depth of knowledge and interest.
Anthony Doman
Cape Town