Gee, Thanks, Fred, for those kind words...makes me feel kinda old!
I guess you are as young as you feel (who am I trying to kid on here?), but everytime I see an "Osgear" fitted onto a bike I get a kind of "buzz" ..and I am taken back to 1953, when I had just traded a Rotrax for my first continental machine, a Mercier " Francis Pelissier" model..all white enamel with red decals, Vitus tubing..and that all essential Osgear.
They really do look very "continental" but they could be devils to set up and often were very reluctant to change to the larger sprockets...I had a 4-block coupled up to a Durax-Simplex chainset, 51/48 ( and 48/45 for touring), worked by a Simplex rod-type " clanger"...so life was full of noise and exhiloration!
No, Fred, my examining of the Automoto was not all altruism....Having seen the price that the Ebay bike went for I just wanted to check out my own Automoto investment, which was a gift from a guy from whom I bought a top-model 1949 Peugeot, just like Emile Idee's. I'm still quite surprised at what seems to be the old age of this frame...same age as myself in fact.
It also helps top put into some perspective the age of another Automot that I have, that I had put down to an early 30s...but I must start thinking of as a 20's model...
Norris Lockley...still trying to blow out all my candles...Settle Uk