I'd also like to know more about Sablière frames. I'm buiding up the 70s orange frame that was offered by a listmember recently. (The pictures were up on wooljersey.com but seem to be gone now.) It is really cool, all fille ted and funky, w/ proprietary dropouts and seat collar. And at 3.75 lbs it' s right around the weight of my 753 team Raleigh and 753r Peugeot frames -& actually lighter than the modern steel frames I've had.
I guess building light bikes is one of the things he's known for. Here's a 'Cycle Sport' piece of crap, I mean, uh, article from 5 yrs ago :
"Andre Sablière began using TIG-welding to join lightweight aluminum tube s way back in 1973... his trademark is the immaculate fillet of weld smooth -finished to a standard unimagined by any other constructor. At the same ti me, such detail was the icing on the cake of a Sablière frame, for the co nfections on which his reputations rest were lighter bar far than anything seen before. Even today, the sub-1000g aluminum frames he built in the earl y-80s, which earned him the soubriquet of Le Sorcier, or the Sorcerer, have been matched only by the best efforts of Giant's computer assisted enginee rs. ... Sablière helped Columbus develop the Altec tubeset, which was spe cifically intended for use by small-scale frame-builders. Sablière employ ed elliptical shapes to help his paper-thin light-alloy tubes resist the va rious stresses imposed by a top racing cyclist. Bernard Hinault, Francesco Moser, and Jacques Anquetil are some who rode rebadged Sablière frames, t he latter before he set up his own workshop. "
Jack Bissell Tucson, az -------
Date: Tue, 02 May 2006 19:10:12 -0700 From: Rich <band@theaesthetics.com>
Subject: [CR]Anyone know anything about vintage Andre Sabliere frames?
Greetings, members! This is my first post here, having just joined
today. I've been riding for around twenty five years, and currently have
a circa 1980 Olmo with pantographed SR group, as well as a couple of
more "off topic" bikes; a Serotta Legend Ti and a Trek OCLV. But you can
bet that when the weather's nice, I'll be out riding the Olmo. But on to
the question...
I recently found an old frame constructed by French builder Andre
Sabliere. The paint's in horrible condition, and there's really only one
legible decal remaining on the frame, which runs down the seat tube and
reads "A. Sabliere". I found a web page via Google for a company that
now sells modern bikes under this name, which are not built by Mr.
Sabliere, but are "designed" by him. Then, just yesterday, I received my
new issue of Vintage Bicycle Quarterly, and right there on the bottom of
the fourth page is an illustration of a Tandem built by Sabliere in
1960. Aside from these two bits of information, I've been unable to
unearth anything else on this builder or his work. I'm seriously
interested in restoring the frame I have here, which was dated "1966" by
a previous owner on the underside of the bottom bracket shell, but I've
been unable to find any photos, catalogs or illustrations (other than
the illustration noted above) which would give me an idea of what this
bike might have looked like when new. Even the Classic Rendezvous
section on French builders fails to mention Sabliere. Do any of you
folks have any information on this builder?
Thanks very much in advance,
Joe Giannone
Sacramento, CA