Sheldon Brown (RIP) described Bertins as "Better than average '70's bikes."
Our shop imported Bertins from 1975 until the early 80s.
There's a website with a fairly accurate history of Andre Bertin and his company Cycles Bertin also called Cycles Andre Bertin:
http://bertinclassiccycles.wordpress.com/
The webmaster runs it more as a blog than a forum.
Some of the information on models and hierarchy is based on opinions and guesses from contributors rather than hard facts from those who were in the trade when these bikes were being produced and sold.
A Bertin Reynolds 531 frame for \u20ac 35 sounds like a good deal.
Like most of the French bike makers, a lot of the bikes from the 60s through mid 70s had only the 3 main tubes Reynolds 531 with Durifort forks and stays on their mid range bikes.
Many eBay sellers aren't aware of that or ignore it in their listings.
During those years the best models where all Reynolds 531 or Super Vitus 971 tubing with Campy dropouts.
Post some pictures and I can probably help ID the frame for you.
Chas. Colerich Oakland, CA USA
Peter Rogers wrote:
> Dear All,
> Just purchased a Reynolds 531 Bertin frame on eBay France for 35 Euros.
> I'll post some photos on my blog shortly.
> Does anyone on the list know anything about the quality and pedigree these frames?
> Any help will be much appreciated.
> Kind regards,
> Peter Rogers
> Barrie, Ontario, Canada