well today I went to the local bike co-op and picked up a lime greenish colored frejus. I'm assuming it's a tour de france model. I would like some info if you anyone can provide it. I checked the archives and I see it's difficult to date these. Here's the breakdown of the bike I picked up today.
The saddle is branded Frejus, tag says Italia regis 30024 It's a bit hard but in decent shape and I think I can save it. The cottered cranks and headset are both badged frejus. The frame and fork have campy dropouts, chromed stays and part of the fork. the lugs on the head tube are chromed but plain. It's made of columbus tubing but the decal does not match any of those on the CR columbus site. There is a 1950 tour de france logo on the seat tube and from what I read this does not nescesarily mean it's from the 50's. There is a serial number on the seat tube: 95030 The bottom bracket has the following stamped into the bottom of it: T.d.F 54 I didn't read about anyone mentioning a stamp like this, could this mean the bike is from 1954?
The rear derailleur is a campy turismo, not a gran turismo, it looks like a gran sport. The shifters are campy clamp on, there is also a campy cable guide. The front derailleur is a simplex, i'm assuming a replacement. Would it have had a campy push rod front derailleur? The wheels are sew ups, mavic red label rims laced to campy hubs, winged logo with campagnolo underneath. Campy freewheel as well. When I saw the brakes I thought they were universal but they are alloy balilla sidepulls. The levers still have the hoods with some of the colored logo still. The levers have quick releases. The stem and bars are ambrosia champions.
It's in overall decent shape. The paint has scratches but it still shines nicely. The chrome is decent, fork needs to be rechromed. I would appreciate any info about this bike. Where was the TDF in the frejus line up? I paid 175.00 for it, was this a fair price. I will post some pictures later. thanks again.
marc garcia
chicago IL