At 3:18 PM -0400 5/17/09, Edward Albert wrote:
>An absolutely original
>(except saddle) Caminade Caminarget track bike serial #573, Stronglight inch
>pitch track cranks, Caminade bars and stem, and.....Caminade wheels
>(although the rear is in rough shape with several spokes pulled out through
>the rim). Rims have Caminade decals in tact and............the downtube has
>two perfect (although dirty) Caminargent decals. I never thought they even
>existed in the flesh. Additionally, contrary to what some have said, the
>lugs were filled in with Red (oxidized) paint and the cranks had pointed
>flutes -- the bike is pre-war the parts original. I would say that the idea
>that rounded flutes mean pre-war and pointed post is not, in fact, the case.
Wow! Congratulations. That seems like a really, really neat bike. Much better than the over-polished e-bay machine with its cobbled-together parts, many of which were bought separately on e-bay in recent months... (A listmember sent me all the various auctions that the seller won to "complete" your bike.) In any case, the e-bay Caminargent has mis-matched cranks... one with rounded, one with pointed flutes.
I agree on the red paint in the headlug windows - the Caminargent in "The Competition Bicycle" has that as well, and it doesn't look like that one has been messed with a lot.
Regarding the pre-war Stronglight cranks: When you look at Stronglight ads from pre-war, they all show the rounded flutes. For example, see
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/
and click on the bottom left page. In addition, all verifiable pre-war Stronglight cranks have the rounded flutes.
Do you have a date for your latest bike? History? It is possible that some pre-war Stronglight cranks matched the post-war pattern, but it's just as likely that your bike was upgraded after the war, or even is a post-war machine... I don't think anybody _knows_ the Caminargent serial number pattern.
In any case, I'll be very happy to see the new Caminargent at the Cirque. We can discuss the cranks then.
Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
140 Lakeside Ave #C
Seattle WA 98122
http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com