I believe the rear triangle would have been half-chromed for most of the 70's, and maybe into the 80's. There was a sort of "code" used by most French manufacturers in the 70's in that top French-equipped models with 531 DB throughout almost always had half-chromed forks and stays This applied to the Peugeot PX-10, the Gitane Tour de France, the Lejeune F-70 and the Motobecane LeChampion, and probably to the equivalent models from Mercier, Follis and Bertin.
Second-tier models with 531 DB main tubes only would typically have half-chromed forks, but painted stays, but this didn't guarantee 531 maintubes, as some low priced models like the Peugeot UO-8 also had half-chromed forks. One odd model was the Motobecane Grand Record, which had half-chromed forks, but painted stays. The GR carried the 531 "3 Tubes Renforce" (Butted Maintubes) decal BUT ALSO 531 fork decals. As I've said before, I've always found this odd as they were giving up the prestige of an "all 531" frame just to save a bit on non-531 rear stays.
BTW, the half-chromed forks and stays usually were NOT used on the Campy-equipped "Team" models produced by most of the French manufacturers except Peugeot. These typically had painted forks and stays. I suppose maybe these bikes, because of the Campy components, were considered to be "Italian style" and that the French associated the lack of chrome with Italian bikes.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Big Spring, Texas
John Redman <johnredman@bikerider.com> wrote: More year/color questions.
What years were the rear triangles chromed?
John Redman Atalnta, Ga
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