John,
Re: eBay item # 230364826121
Very nice looking bike! Glad to see you even resisted the temptation to remove all the flaking early bike shop and city permit decals (...back to that ol' issue of originality, again...).
Question for someone more knowledgeable than I:
Are those indeed Nervex Pro head lugs? I realize there were a few different patterns including central "fish tails" and long "fangs", etc. But those just look unlike any Pro or Serie Legere feature cuts which I'm familiar with... The more common and quite long dramatic hooks at the sides appear to have been filed off or at least dramatically shortened and the seat and down tube nozzles of the headlugs appear to be uncommonly long and heavy. Maybe it's just my failing memory and eyesight? Then again, Nervex did also produce individualized patterns for different companies upon request, too... so maybe this was a tamer variation tailored more to the simpler Italian style preferences.
Another point of note is the vertical cutout on the seat lug (in front of the stays). Looks a lot like what I recall seeing on numerous Frejus bikes - as does the scooped style of capping the seat stays.
To my eye the bike looks very much 1960s Italian, in spite of the French city reference on the head badge. Could there have been a secondary French factory, just as Simplex also had a factory in Italy?
In any case, frame is too big for me... but very attractive - regardless of national origin.
Good Luck!
BOB HANSON, ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO, USA