Peter Paine emailed the List some days with advance warning that he was about to list this Terrot on Ebay'
It is item 6542999857.
Although, as Peter states, this bike might not be the top-of-the- range machine, it certainly is very attractive, and comes equipped with some excellent tackle. It looks to absolutely original.
Terrot was very active in the 40/50s in the professional squads and was a highly respected brand. I have been trying to find just such a bike in my size - much smaller than this one for some time now, in France..and they really are RARISSIMMO. In May of this year I actually went over to Dijon where the Terrot factory was situated, in order to search around the second-hand , and charity shops, brocantes etc But I had absolutely no luck. I have come across several lady's Terrots from the same era, and very elegant they were too...but no gent's machines. Terrot seem to be a bit like Dilecta, another famous brand from that era..both disappearing on the 60s. My house in France is not too far from Le Blanc where Dilecta were made...but apart from a superb light roadster that I saw in an exhibition, I haven't seen anything resembling a Dilecta. Luckily I have found one in the UK...what a superb =frame it is.
Back to the Terrot... if this is a 1949 model it may have been early enough not to have benefitted from the early Simplex drop-outs (Anyone got a Simplex catalogue from that era?) I have several very high class frames from the later 40s and not one of them has the Simplex drop-outs..all have the type on this Terrot. In fact my VERY BEST French road bike..apart from the two Reyhands...and absolute marvel of lug profiling and tapering also has these drop-outs.
Peter's starting price is £250, and the auction has about 6 days to run. It seems a very very reasonable price to start off what is a very rare bike. That beautifully elegant fork alone must be worth £150. You don't get raking that these days!
Thank goodness it is too big for me...and I shall be back in France when the auction closes..and without a laptop.
Norris lockley..Settle UK