About 10 years ago I bought 2 of these NOS frames with cranks and headsets from A1 Bicycle in St Louis. My guess is that the bike that Ben has was mine before he had it. I just reviewed my old pics of them and they are exactly the same. I recall asking Raymond Florman (A1's proprietor) who made these frames and he didn't know. Ben- you may want to contact Raymond Florman at A1 Bicycle Sales in Kirkwood MO and ask him if he remembers those bikes and who may have been the maker.
I recall these being nice looking frames/forks- and the headsets are, as I recall an early and scarce version of the... was it V4 or P3?
John Barron Minneapolis MN USA
Ben Wrote:
Message: 10 Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:22:07 -0500 From: Benjamin Butler <benbutler78@hotmail.com> Subject: [CR] FS: Circa 1950 French Road Bike, Beautiful Condition? To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Message-ID: <COL117-W57951BE26EBFF08A784402B15B0@phx.gbl> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1256"
List,
I'm selling this lovely French mystery bike.
pictures can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/
Road frame c. 1950 with a virtually NOS parts group. Simplex Tour de France and Competition derailleurs, Stronglight headset and crank (with Simplex rings), Simplex seatpost, Ideale 80 saddle, and CLB 700 calipers. Wheels are more modern: Normandy hubs (with wingnuts) laced to Mavic SUP clincher rims.
I've been trying to identify the frame for about 8 months now, to no avail. It's Vitus tubed, chrome Nervex Pro Mk. 1 lugs, and nicely constructed. The lugs are finely filed and the forged Simplex LJ ends are smoothed off and tapered. The top eyes are rounded, tapered, and semi-wrap (much like a British frame). The paint is very thin with neat detailing around the lugs.
Size is 56cm (I'll take more complete measurements in a bit)
My best guess on the manufacturer (and thank you Norris for your help) is Marcaillou or Lapebie. The construction is similar to a Urago, La Perle, Stella, etc. from that era, but the serial# stamped on the headtube is an unusual practice that not many makers followed. I'd be happy to summarize my findings for anyone interested in trying to establish provenance.
I'm asking $775 OBO + shipping. The parts alone are worth almost that much, and I can ship insured anywhere in the Continental US for $50 or less.
I've also got a 1970's Meral with a lot of paint chips for $300 is anyone's interested.
Ben Butler,
Brooklyn, NY