Rebour showed and listed the following components (see p. 11-13 of Bicycle Quarterly Vol. 2, No. 2, or the original in Le Cycle Aug. 4, 1951):
Durax steel cranks (cottered) Campagnolo Gran Sport derailleurs (Model 51-2, quite rare today) Campagnolo long dropouts, but no teeth (perhaps filed off?) Continuous cable housing to derailleurs, but brazed-on cable stop (interrupted housing) on top tube for brake cable LAM brakes (seen in two-page "centerfold" drawing of the entire bike) Universal brake levers (I think, hard to tell from the drawing)
Also, there is a seal on the bike, wrapped around the seat lug. This usually was done in events where bike changes were illegal. Did this apply to a single stage, or the entire event? I suspect the latter, as re-applying the seals to the new bikes before every stage would have been very cumbersome.
The brake levers are odd, as the photo from Ollivier's book, posted by Norris, has what appears to be Lefol levers. Perhaps these were changed during the event?
Otherwise, the photo and Rebour drawing match nicely, down to the bottle cages and their placement - and as Aldo pointed out, they don't match the bike.
Norris, you still haven't told us anything about the provenance of your La Perle. I take all this for a splendid joke, and I join your laughter, because it has let us look carefully at many photos, which always is interesting and illuminating. For example, I never noticed the seal until I looked at the drawings again today.
I don't do crossword puzzles, but your "Is it real or isn't it?" is much more fun. Keep your eyes out for more of these puzzles.
Jan Heine Editor Bicycle Quarterly 140 Lakeside Ave #C Seattle WA 98122 http://www.bikequarterly.com
At 6:26 PM -0500 1/27/08, Aldo Ross wrote:
>Well I'll be... obviously I was wrong about the LAM brakes. That's the
>first photo I've seen (out of about 50 from that year's race) showing that
>brake set-up rather than Universal Extras.
>
>http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=2222221947&size=l
>
>Off to dig through more pictures...
>
>Aldo Ross
>Middletown, Ohio, USA
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Norris Lockley" <norris.lockley@yahoo.com>
>To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
>Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2008 5:01 PM
>Subject: [CR]Hugo Koblet's 1951 T-d-F bike...?
>
>>As there appears to be quite an interest in Mr Koblet, this 1951 Tour de
>>France bike (?)..and the subject of the provenance of classic Pro bikes in
>>general, I thought I would just add a few more photos to my La Perle set
>>in the Flickr album.
>>
>>The mystery deepens..or does it? Have a look for yourselves, and all ...or
>>possibly somethings will be revealed.
>>
>>www.flickr.com/photos/cyclecrank/
>>
>>Norris Lockley..Settle UK