Jay!
I'd love to have a list, but he can send it here to Holland!....................I'm right over the boarder! So if you have a place or contact it would be nice and we can save you the troubles. You know most every good sized shop there in Belgium used to market their own house brand, I'm curious if some of these brands from the past are with this list...................As of now there are several wholesalers who provide shops with their house brands for todays market! If you plug into http://www.giannimotta.com This is Simons of Belgium they supply a lot of the lower end to mid rage bikes with another, bike tech supplies the upper end stuff. What you see as their Diamant brand, these very same frames are used by their customer base for their current house offerings!..........Every time there I always count no less than 10 or 12 different marqes on the racks!...........If a customer needs just one bike, it's ready in 2 weeks time! From paint shop to assembly then straight to the customer....................3 GUYS IN THE BACK WRECHING AWAY! When looking through the list, these same 3 guys does all of the wrenching for Simons complete offerings of Gianni Motta, Diamant and Rider...................Then there's all of the house brands! It's like Santas work shop............One of the best deals for the market there, warranties are simple and fast! Geeze! Warrantie framesets from as far back as the '60s are stacked to the high heavens!
BTW: The Belgiums are as crazy about bicycles as they are beer!..................I think there is still well over 2,000 brands running around in Belgium.
Let me know,
BC....................And the gang!!
>
> In response to a (not so) recent thread on Belgian bicycle builders, I
sent an inquiry to a Belgian vintage bike club. From them I received a list
of all the Belgian builders/constructeurs active from 1895 to 1965. Holy
cow! The list runs 25 pages long and lists over 2,400 makes. The list
includes the name brand, the name of the "constructeur" or "kopmerk"(meaning
wholesaler or distributor) with a designation for one or the other, and the
town or city of origin. For example, I learn that the marque "Groene Leeuw"
is a constructeur built bike, built by A. De Kimpe from the town of
Kruishoutem. Also there were three different "Gloria" marques, each built in
different towns by different builders. Who knew? I would be willing to
provide copies of this list, but the compiler is asking 5 euros for it,
including postage to US (more or less elsewhere)to compensate for his
troubles, so I don't think it's right that I give away what he has worked so
hard compiling. Email me offlist if y
> ou wish the contact information.
> Jay Van De Velde
> Seal Beach, CA
> ps. from what I surmise, their is no distinction made among the builders
of the bicycles, they are all refered to as "constructeurs"