[CR] L'express - Antwerp, Belgium

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From: "Jos van Veldhoven" <jos_van_veldhoven@hotmail.com>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2011 17:57:10 +0100
Subject: [CR] L'express - Antwerp, Belgium


Hello All,

I've been mostly reading the CR list and have added a (very) few posts but I wanted to share some more of my Dutch and Flemish racers with the list.

Below is a link to my most recent bike, a 1978 L'express.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49515391@N03/sets/72157625655202488/with/5283746727/

L'express was (is) a bikeshop in Antwerp with a long, long history.

They started in 1927 and started to focus more on racing bikes in the forties and fifties.

I believe Rik van Steenbergen also rode L'express at some point.

In 1975 the bikeshop was taken over by C.Van Den Bogaert who was also renowned for his frame building.

This bike dates from that period, in which they also sponsored a local racing team called "Stuivenberrg" (see picture) and 'tourist' club.

I visited the shop in Antwerp about a year or 2 ago but after yet another move hardly anything was left of the rich past.

In fact, I was told they needed a container to get rid of all the old Suntour, Campy etc stuff that had been clogging up their storage. (Garbage container that is....)

Well, that's the way it goes, but I hope you guys like the bike.

Kind regards, Jos van Veldhoven -- Eindhoven, Holland