[CR]Another neat bike from 40s/50s on French Ebay

(Example: Events:Cirque du Cyclisme:2004)

From: "Norris Lockley" <norris.lockley@talktalk.net>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 00:06:53 +0100
Subject: [CR]Another neat bike from 40s/50s on French Ebay

The "BARALE" that Steve pointed out to the List is quite an interesting fra me in that it looks to be of French manufacture, has a very British name "B RITANNIA" but claims to have some Italian origins - "BARALE"

For whatever reason, in France around about the mid century it was relat ively fashionable to sell French -made frames with English names..WINDSOR c omes to mind and BURTON..and with a coat-of-arms if possible.

This frame with its Simplex ends, Vitus tubing, possibly Prugnat lugs appea rs to typify French road frames of that era.

The BARALE connection comes from the family of that name that produced t hree Pro road racing cyclists. Of the three Guiseppe was slightly succ essful, but Germano was even more so, spending much of his career in the St Pelegrino and Carpano squads.

A couple of years ago I bought a complete BARALE bike from a charity war ehouse, about two hours south of, Paris. At a guess it a mid 60s mach ine, with a complete Campagnolo spec. The saddle, one of those suede-covere d affairs is also badged "BARALE" The Ebay frame is for sale from an outer suburb of Paris called Chavenay. Perhaps BARALE had an agent in Paris.

My BARALE is very much an Italian-made frame...the headbadge carries the name "CICLI BARALE"..the address is Ventimiglia. This is a small town just a handful of kilometres on the other side of the border from Menton at the eastern end of the Riviera.

It would have been easy for BARALE to have found agents in France, just as the several builders such as Bruno Tardivo, of CBT-Italia fame, based in Cuneo, again just near the border, have done so successfully in recent yea rs.

However I think that in the case of this frame the traffic was in the ot her direction, with Barale importing from France. In the last couple of yea rs I have come across quite a few frames built in workshops along that end of the Riviera and they were not all from the URAGO workshops. Just who mad e them I am not sure, but there was at least one quality producer in Marsei lle

Perhaps another reason for the very British name is that the Riviera was extremely popular with British holiday makers during the immediate post-wa r period, even if the majority of them had chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royces.

Norris Lockley..Settle-sur-Riviera, UK

Norris Lockley

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