Hey Joel,
My guess is.........................
French, possibly Follis, re-fitted and re-finished. Odd to see a french tandem with campy drop-outs................... Hmmmmmmm
My Follis has cantilevers, but didn't originally. They were added later causing the seamed seatstays to split. Dave Feldman did a great job of replacing same stays with nice beefy Dedacciai seatstays and Campy 1010 drops. Some restoration-repair-reorientation of the braze-ons was also done.
Good luck
On Mar 2, 2006, at 8:04 PM, Fred Rafael Rednor wrote:
> To me, this bike appears to be French-but-not-LeJeune. Then
> again, the fork looks identical to the one on my LeJeune. Then
> again, many of these French bikes were made by subcontractors,
> so perhaps there was one atelier turning out nothing but tandem
> forks? The headset looks like the Bardon (?) unit that's on
> almost every old French tandem I've seen. Also, the blue part
> of the paint job can't be original, can it?
>
> Most importantly, the serial number looks as if it was
> imprinted by a firm that was serious about this sort of thing.
> On French tandems from smaller manufacturers, the serial number
> was clearly an afterthought, if it was on the frame at all. So
> I have to _guess_ it's a Motobecane. Then again, every
> Motobecane (or LeJeune or Urago) tandem I've seen had MAFAC
> cantilever brakes without such beautiful mounting bosses as on
> this bicycle.
>
> So that probably doesn't help much. I suppose you'll _have_ to
> pull the cranks to check the BB threading... (If you've read
> this far, just imagine that I've pursed my lips and I'm
> shrugging my shoulders in that special French way.)
> Best regards,
> Fred Rednor - Arlington, Virginia (USA)
>
> --- joel metz <magpie@blackbirdsf.org> wrote:
>
>> this bike has its current owners stumped... so i took a bunch
>> of
>> pictures in hopes that someone here might be able to help...
>>
>> it says "early 80s" to me, *maybe* late 70s.
>> oversize tandem headset.
>> 531 tubeset.
>> ovalized boom/boob/whatever tube.
>> back-and-forth purple/red fade paint may or may not be
>> original - i
>> tend to think it is.
>> serial # on stoker bb shell (see pics).
>> seatstay caps appear to be cut and squashed (sorry for the
>> bad pic -
>> my cameras screen cut out about at this point, so i was
>> shooting
>> somewhat blind.
>> double plate fork crown.
>> entirely fillet brazed, smallish fillets.
>> parts mix - suntour pedals, front der, shifters. weinmann
>> centerpulls, ta crankset. huret rear der. specialized tandem
>> hubs
>> wilh non-drive drum threading.
>> brazed-on centerpull bosses.
>>
>> there are parts that say "british" or "french" to me, but
>> something
>> overall about it says "american". just a gut feeling, but im
>> hardly a
>> tandem expert.
>>
>> i dont know frame sizes, seatpost sizes, or threadings,
>> unfortunately, but i could probably find out if need be.
>>
>> pics at http://www.blackbirdsf.org/
>>
>> questions? need more pics? just ask, and ill get em as fast
>> as i can...
>>
>> thanks for any help anyone can provide!
>>
>> i love a bike mystery... :)
>>
>> -joel
>>
>>
>> --
>> joel metz : magpie@blackbirdsf.org :
>> http://www.blackbirdsf.org/
>> bike messengers worldwide : ifbma :
>> http://www.messengers.org/
>> portland, oregon
>> ==
>> i know what innocence looks like - and it wasn't
>> there,
>> after she got that
>> bicycle...
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
> http://mail.yahoo.com
> _______________________________________________
>
>
Gene Powell
Rad Finishes
Portland, OR