And now that I read on.....the posts piled up overnight. what could you possibly mean by
Wow! Congratulations. That seems like a really, really neat bike. Much better than the over-polished e-bay machine with its cobbled-together parts,
How could an aluminum frame be "over-polished." First of all, you polish out the dirt and then, naturally, it will dull over time as all aluminum does. Second, polishing a Caminade does one thing that over restoring does not do as with a painted bike. It does NO harm. The bike was meant to shine....as you said in a post to me earlier when I asked you if wood rims might be appropriate. You said no, it was space age or some such comment and deserved state of the art aluminum parts. At the time I agreed, although I now see that Caminade sold wood rims. As to the "cobbled together parts" distraction. Such comments are totally out of place. I wonder how many of your vaunted Herse and Singer machines have "Herse" parts that were cobbled together from wrecked beater bikes. I know of more than just a few such machines which, in no way takes away from the bike, IMHO. Give me a break. If the bike parts are correct an/or of the era, whether they came on the bike off the assembly line, really is irrelevant given what happens to all bikes that are used over time. As long as we make that clear, to the best of our knowledge. Jan, just what is it you are trying to say with all your "Objective" and supposidly disinterested comments. Yes, see you at Cirque. :) Edward Albert, getting sick of what passes for unquestioned expertise, in Chappaqua, New York, U.S.A. (and boot me if you must Dale)
On Sun, May 17, 2009 at 8:25 PM, Jan Heine <heine94@earthlink.net> wrote:
> 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