Norris,
I never have seen builders personalize their chainguards, so it is doubtful that the AS means Alex Singer. Still, Nivex dropouts - if that is what they were - rarely were used by "cheap" makers. However, vertical dropouts (but without chainrest) have been common on mass-produced bikes in France for a long time.
Happy hunting for those old Alex Singers.
Regarding the chopped frames - I know that same seller (parisbicycle) has chopped some bikes for which I would have paid more money complete than he ever could hope to raise through sales of used dropouts. It's a shame, really. As pointed out before, the best way to stop this is to pay more for bikes than for the sum of their parts! -- Jan Heine, Seattle Editor/Publisher Vintage Bicycle Quarterly c/o Il Vecchio Bicycles 140 Lakeside Ave, Ste. C Seattle WA 98122 http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com
and a resplendent highly polished aluminium chainguard, its bright silver Art Nouveau design, reflecting the sun's rays..,except for that area in the middle where the letters "AS" stood out proudly from a tooled backgraound.
The frame was a bronze-welded affair with a mighty, impressive ,fork crown worthy of a "randonneuse"... the other noticeable feature being the very abrupt rear vertical drop-outs - identical to those spotted on the orange tandem in the brushwood only hours earlier. Could it be that both machines were made by "AS" himself. What a coincidence !
The next day I went back for the tandem .. just in time to see someone else wheeling it way. Would he suspect the handiwork of "AS"
Now I know from the eBay picture of those severed drop-outs that the ones I had noted but not recognised were Nivex.. but what I do not know is who on earth "AS" is ! yes of course Alex Singer comes to mind.. and the neighbours who gave me the lady's bike hailed from the suburbs of Paris not 30 minutes from the great mans's workshop... but is it really reasonable to hope that that the drab burgundy bike could really be his work ? I may soon find out, for the bike was consigned to the chicken shed in the garden..,and I return to France next week.. so with the aid of some 3M Wet-and-dry, gentle care and attention on the down-tube..." Watch this space.." as they say.
As for the French seller who is amputating the front and rear ends off bikes... it is possible that he either doesn't know what the frames are,,, as with my "AS" or he has come across the machines for 10 or 20 euros ( about the same in $$$ I think) at some charity warehouse. There are dozens of lady;s twin lateral-framed bikes to be had in France for little money.. many are sent to the waste skip... and let's face reality.. if I offered you a Tendil, a Guegneaud, a BTR etc etc.. the names wouldn't have you jumping for the Paypal button, would they ?
Norris Lockley.. Settle-sur-Loire.. or almost