Some routine and some not routine. In Los Angeles around the same time, Bicycleville in Santa Monica had some frames called "Dardenne" which were Super Vitus, well-made racing frames of the time; they were straighter and cleaner than the MKM's and Italvegas the same store was selling. Another really strange store also in Santa Monica sold Lejeunes with their own or no decals on; this was a store that sold portait cameras as well as bikes, had piles and piles of 1" pitch NR track chainrings and other similar stuff that was display only, not for sales. I'd bet that the "Hosteler" was made in St. Etienne, France, that was kind of the center of the low-to mid range bike business back then. Kind of the Taiwan of 1971!
David Feldman
----------
>From: Harvey M Sachs <sachs@erols.com>
>To: "Roberts, Micah HS-SNS" <micah.roberts@hs.utc.com>,
"'INTERNET:classicrendezvous@bikelist.org'" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
>Subject: Re: [Classicrendezvous] Anybody heard of a "Hosteler"
>Date: Tue, Nov 21, 2000, 5:25 AM
>
>About 1975, as the bike boom busted, we bought a French road frame for
>Beloved Spouse, at a bike shop bankruptcy auction in Shaker Heights,
>OH. Susan still uses the bike. It was a deep metallic gold color, and
>adorned only with a SuperVitus sticker. It was lightweight.
>
>I've always called "l'Orphelin" (the orphan), because of the lack of brand
>decal. I believe that an awful lot of rather routine French frames were
>shipped here for private labelling. With no better hypothesis, Micah's
>question could be rephrased as "what importer used the brand "Hosteler?"
>
>just my thoughts... No, Susan's bike is no longer original. To work
>better with the Hi-E hubs, I converted it to vertical drop-outs, and Les
>Lunas did a fantastic job of a purplish silver to purplish Imron fade paint
>job.
>
>harvey sachs
>
>At 08:10 AM 11/21/2000 -0500, Roberts, Micah HS-SNS wrote:
>>I posted this a few months ago in the iBOB list before I knew of this list.
>>I thought some on this list may have some more info for me. Sorry if this
>>is redundant.
>>
>>I found a bike at the local used bike shop for only $40
>>
>>Frame: Foil type decals saying "Hosteler" with rainbow stripes on
>>downtube and "made in France" and Olympic rings on seat tube
>>decal, "Huret derailleur" on chain stay
>> no head tube badge, just another hosteler decal
>> Reynolds 531 butted tubing decal in French
>> medium point lugs, not real delicate
>> chrome rear stays and fork tips, poor condition
>> wrap-around seat stay looks to be brazed on, stays somewhat
>>beefy at top.
>> roughly 60x60cm with parallel 73° angles (long top tube)
>>
>> no braze-ons, campy fork tips, long horizontal rear forged
>>dropouts with adjusters
>> tight rear end with little clearance for tire removal,
>>
>>Components: Stronglight 93 crank
>> Maillard 700 high flange hubs
>> Atom 700 pedals
>> stronglight competition headset
>> Mafac Racer brakeset
>> Belliri stem and bars, nice long stem and wide bars!
>> Huret Jubilee rear der. and shifters
>> Maillard course 5sp freewheel
>> rims, front der. and seat post are all cheap replacements
>>
>>I have never heard of the brand Hosteler. does anybody have some
>>information about the brand? Is it worth worrying about the decals if I want
>>to clean up the frame? It fits me well and I want to take care of the bit of
>>rust that is there.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Micah Roberts