I saw some SA-built LeJeunes, butted 853, I believe, about 5 or 6 years ago at Daniel Boone Cycles in Houston. The lug work was OK, but the paint was terrible, The paint was peeling on brand new bikes on the bike shop floor.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Houston, TX
Anthony Doman <Anthony@rsp.co.za> wrote:
I followed the recent LeJeune thread with interest because one of my two
bikes is a LeJeune -- though not French in anything but name.
It's probably appropriate, then, having lurked on this list for some time,
to combine this with an introduction.
A cycling/barge holiday in Alsace in 1998 rekindled my boyhood interest in
bicycling to the extent that it's become an, um, obsession. Last time before
the present that I'd owned a bike was a mid-range Raleigh 10-speed in
Cambridge, Mass, in the early 1970s.
Today my Sunday ride is a pretty well immaculate 1982 Gios Super Record,
original apart from Look pedals, Shimano 600 hubs, new headset to replace
the indexed SR one, Rolls saddle (but I'm thinking of re-installing Turbo
Hinault) and TranzX stem while I search for a more classic looking
replacement. After some soul-searching I took off the clinchers and have
been using Conti Sprinter sew-ups on Mavic GP4s for about a year. Steep
learning curve, indeed.
The go-fast bike is a South African-built LeJeune, 1997 vintage, lugged
Reynolds 753, with STIs and other contemporary bits.
I've been piecing together my game plan for Paris-Brest-Paris 2007 (to
celebrate turning 50), which includes having local framebuilder Francois du
Toit craft a traditional lugged steel frame under his own name, as he does
occasionally these days. A former racer, he's still very competitive and has
just returned from the world Masters (he rides his own machines), a little
disappointed because illness disrupted his preparation.
Francois kind of established LeJeune in South Africa and it became one of
the more well known local brands -- locally built -- alongside such names as
Hansom, DHC and Peugeot (also under licence). He still owns the rights to
the LeJeune name here. I understand he is thinking of producing some
"specials" for a particular niche market: those people who have hung on to
their SA-built LeJeunes for decades and may be.
The South African framebuilding scene is pretty fragmented now, but still
alive. I'll scrape together a selection of links for those who may be
interested, but frankly there is not a lot available on the net.
For the moment, take a look at
http://www.dutoitcycles.co.za/
Additional information is available on the dutoitcycles.com main page, and of course he can be contacted by e-mail.
I have to say that Dale's living room is one of the more civilised places on this cyber-planet. And I am constantly in awe at the depth of knowledge and interest.
Anthony Doman
Cape Town