Paris, I've been there many times and it is not the place to pick up a bench to do some Vintage bicycle watching! Now I can say for sure that the Bourdux wine region is the place for some Vintage cycles watching! I was there a few times while visiting Roland, ebay seller '' Anttion!'' He was showing me a few wineries and I was saying why don't you open a cycle ''Vintage!'' shop in the aera? He said, oh no there's no one here interested in these old bikes here and there wouldn't be enough work. Well long and behold within 20 minutes I must of seen a good 15 or 20 older guys riding solo on their Vintage race machines. Hey look! There's one and look there, there goes another. For sure local old guys with the top tube keeping their bellies from going any lower than that of the the top tube. I can also say areas in Belgium can be fun for some good cycle watching and I can say I have spent a whole day at a cafe with some friends talking for hours and hours. We ended up at a cafe for lunch soon after here came the coffee and pie, dinner timew rolled in so we stayed for some dinner and some more bicycle watching. Looking here and there all of these old guys were making their way around the market place of this mid sized town.You name it and it was there, Masi, Colnago, Legnano, Bianchi, Gitanes, Peugeots Merciers,De Rosa, Gios and on and on! Of course these were older guys that couldn't handle the drop bars anymore so many of the bikes were fitted with up right bars. Belgium is a race happy country and race bikes is in their blood. Goes to show you how crazy they are about bicycle racing, Belgium is the only country that shows every single major classics along with mid week coverage of other races on the tube. On the weekends you can count on catching a good race. All major tours are shown as well!
If you want to go and look for old bikes to buy then Queens day in Amsterdam is the place to be, the whole city turns into one big party with people selling their goods all over the city! One thing to make note of! The city of 6 million can swell to over 12 million for this day. At the stroke of midnight of the day before Queens birthday the party and selling begins. Now this is not just in Amsterdam but all of the big cities are partying away as well............Just make sure you have a flashlight and a loads of battries, being out at midnight and going through the early morning hours can be very rewarding................And then again maybe not.
BC Baron C.........................And the gang!!..........With loads of work to do. Renaissance cycles Eindhoven Holland.
> All the bikes I see parked on the street are 1960's and 1970's bikes
> with metal shimano tourney-type derailleurs. I guess in france they
> replaced their simplex prestiges with 7-speed steel derailleurs, like
> this one from ebay :
>
>
http://ebay.com/
>
> item #3664355563
>
> I have seen a few bikes with nice lugs, and many mixte frames. All of
> these bikes are badly worn, with upright handlebars. Today I saw one
> with a AVA-type stem and hubs with wingnuts - probably one of the best
> bikes i've seen here. Peugeot and Gitane are a big rarity here. Most
> brands are ones i never saw importd into the USA. I am staying at
> Montparnasse near the latin quarter (student area, near sorbonne).
> However, things are the same way 3 mi north of here. The city is not
> friendly towards bikes.
>
> I have only seen 1 classic high-quality 14-speed, it was in for repair
> at a small shop North of Notre Dame. I think it was named "Collini",
> with a Colnago Drean-type multicolor paint job, chrome headlugs, and
> all cinelli //C lugs, crown and //C BB shell, and a flourescent bike
> rider guy on the top tube, a look-down / top view, so when you look
> down you see this speedy cyclist with flames coming out the back of
> his bike to inspire you.
>
> Monday I will go to Alex Singer. It's near the arc d'triomphe, where
> much of the real estate lists for 1.5 - 2M E$. I suppose you get a
> bicycle made for you just as somebody would tailor a suit. Many of
> the stores in that area display grand total of 20 or 30 items of
> merchandise in the entire store.
>
> There is a sporting goods store ("Go Sport") right below my hotel,
> like a "Big 5" / K-mart if you Californians know what that's like. It
> has every sporting item imaginable, plus a small bike repair shop. I
> have never seen a store with absolutely every bike part for sale on a
> card (most are low quality), but including things like 10 types of
> freewheels / cassettes (even one campy mirage), 30 types of built
> wheels, including low-end mavic 27", five types of seatposts plus 2
> suspension ones, and a triple crankset for E$40, and michelin carbon
> comps for E$25/ea. With a frameset, you part up a bicycle with only
> the carded parts on the walls.
>
> - Don Gillies
> San Diego, CA /
> Paris, France