I was checking out more information on Helyett as I try to build up my 1959ish Helyett Speciale with correct period equipment. The ads in Sporting Cuclist of this period list the frame as H-57-UK (Model ANQUETIL). It has a picture of Anquetil in a map of France in a white panel on the seat tube with tricolor bands at top and bottom of the panel. The UK designation in the model number would indicate that Helyett made a special variant for the UK market, and this is borne out by the English-threaded bottom bracket, which initially surprised me. Interestingly, the steerer is 25mm and French-threaded, so the UK version did not run to using different size tubes. However, a 22.2mm quill stem slotted right in, but I have no way of knowing whether the steerer was made that way, or whether it was just at the high end of the tolerance band or whether it had been reamed out from an original 22mm.
French steerers would have been slightly thinner wall (25mm OD, 22mm ID) than English (25.4mm OD, 22.2mm ID) and reaming out a French steerer to 22.2 would make it yet thinner. I am hoping that the 22.2mm ID does not go all the way down to the fork crown and I shall leave in the bit of wooden broom handle that is already in there as insurance. Perhaps it was the French who devised this modification because they broke more steerers with their metric size tubes. The bad news is that my French threaded Stronglight headset has an English-threaded lockring that doesn't work too well -- please let me know if you have a French threaded lockring or complete headset that you would sell or trade.
QUESTION for Simplex experts out there: My frame is evidently designed with the JUY 543 gear in mind because it has two cable stops on the rear stay, but the derailleur hanger on the dropout jogs outwards, as for Simplex TdF and similar derailleurs. All pictures of the 543 show it on a "flat" dropout where the derailleur hanger is in the same plane as the dropout. Is it possible to fit and adjust a 543 gear to work with the type of dropout fitted to the frame?
Looking in a 1937 Helyett catalog, I see that back then their top model was designated H.57, so not much changed in 20 years. As with the later frame, it was enamelled metallic green and made of Reynolds 531 throughout. The 1937 frame was finished with "manchon tricolore Rene Vietto" which I take to be a seat tube panel something like the later frames but with Rene Vietto's name or picture instead. Putting their top/most popular rider's name and/or picture on their frames was obviously a Helyett tradition. Apparently Rene Vietto was immensely popular, but I don't know if that translated into sales. He never won the Tour de France but came close and won the polka dot jersey and had some notable victories. In 1937 the bike came complete with Helyett jersey and musette so that the buyer could look like the pros -- good idea and cheap publicity. Back then, Helyett made a huge range of cycles including carriers, utility, roadster, sporting, road racing, track, tricycles and tandems -- over 40 models in all.
Hugh Thornton
Cheshire, England