The seatstay treatment does indeed look like LeJeune, but most of the high-end Lejeune road bikes I have seen, including my 1973 F-70, have brazeon brake cable stops under the top tube, and often a brazed on rear brake hanger. Also, the long point lugs with heart cutouts are very un-LeJeune, in fact very un-French. I've also never heard of a Lejeune with Gipiemme DOs, unless maybe one of the later South-African made Lejeunes. The lugs are more the Italian style, but French thread pretty much rules out an Italian bike, or a British one. Bertin definitely used lugs similar to this, but Bertin had a pretty distinctive seatstay treatment, which looked nothing like this. Some late Follis's may also have had this lugwork, but again the seatstays don't seem right. Of course this could be a more obscure French marque we've never heard of, but I'm guessing Belgian.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Houston, TX
Fred Rafael Rednor <fred_rednor@yahoo.com> wrote:
Kim,
I would not rule out that this is a French bicycle! It
looks very much like a road version of my LeJeune track bike,
which I believe was the output of some contract builder in
Saint Etienne. Note the similar lug and seatstay tretment:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/
> Hmm, French threading but Gipiemme rear DOs and more "Italian
> style" long point lugs. Makes you wonder if maybe this
> isn't French at all, but some other nation that used French
> thread. That would probably be Belgium, Spain or
> Switzerland. This is not Zeus or Razesa, so Spain is
> unlikely, and most of the Swiss bikes used fancy Nervex lugs.
> the least "French" of the French bikes was probably Bertin,
> (I think Andre himself may have been Belgian born), and I've
> seen lower end Bertins marked as made in Belgium. But that
> semi-wraparound seat stay doesn't match anything I've ever
> seen on a Bertin. So maybe this is Belgian, Flandria maybe?
>
> Regards,
>
> Jerry Moos
> Houston, TX
>
>
>
> kim klakow wrote:
> Howdy Y´all,
>
> anybody have an idea what this might be? It used to be gold
> until it got
> this red paintjob. the fork was gold too and then got it all
> scraped off.
> Threading is french, rear drop-outs are Gipiemme, front
> Huret. nicely
> wrapped stays. Might these be a give-away. Simple shifter
> braze-on.
> I don´t think it is top of the line tubing, but not all bad.
>
> http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/
>
> To aid you francophiles, ....
>
>
> Kim "Marianne" Klakow
> Berlin, East France
>
>
> --
> Kim Klakow
> Diplom Grafik Designer
> Akimbo71@gmx.net
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