I bought the Barale Britania frame that occasioned Norris's very interesting post about the Barale mark, below.
I have posted some photos of the frame here:
http://www.wooljersey.com/
I would be very grateful for any thoughts about the probable date of the frame - and thus also about how it should be built up.
Many thanks,
Wyndham Pulman-Jones Girton, Cambs., UK.
On 24/9/07 00:06, "Norris Lockley" <norris.lockley@talktalk.net> wrote:
>
>
> The "BARALE" that Steve pointed out to the List is quite an interesting fra
> me in that it looks to be of French manufacture, has a very British name "B
> RITANNIA" but claims to have some Italian origins - "BARALE"
>
> For whatever reason, in France around about the mid century it was relat
> ively fashionable to sell French -made frames with English names..WINDSOR c
> omes to mind and BURTON..and with a coat-of-arms if possible.
>
>
>
> This frame with its Simplex ends, Vitus tubing, possibly Prugnat lugs appea
> rs to typify French road frames of that era.
>
> The BARALE connection comes from the family of that name that produced t
> hree Pro road racing cyclists. Of the three Guiseppe was slightly succ
> essful, but Germano was even more so, spending much of his career in the St
> Pelegrino and Carpano squads.
>
> A couple of years ago I bought a complete BARALE bike from a charity war
> ehouse, about two hours south of, Paris. At a guess it a mid 60s mach
> ine, with a complete Campagnolo spec. The saddle, one of those suede-covere
> d affairs is also badged "BARALE" The Ebay frame is for sale from an outer
> suburb of Paris called Chavenay. Perhaps BARALE had an agent in Paris.
>
> My BARALE is very much an Italian-made frame...the headbadge carries the
> name "CICLI BARALE"..the address is Ventimiglia. This is a small town just
> a handful of kilometres on the other side of the border from Menton at the
> eastern end of the Riviera.
>
> It would have been easy for BARALE to have found agents in France, just
> as the several builders such as Bruno Tardivo, of CBT-Italia fame, based in
> Cuneo, again just near the border, have done so successfully in recent yea
> rs.
>
> However I think that in the case of this frame the traffic was in the ot
> her direction, with Barale importing from France. In the last couple of yea
> rs I have come across quite a few frames built in workshops along that end
> of the Riviera and they were not all from the URAGO workshops. Just who mad
> e them I am not sure, but there was at least one quality producer in Marsei
> lle
>
> Perhaps another reason for the very British name is that the Riviera was
> extremely popular with British holiday makers during the immediate post-wa
> r period, even if the majority of them had chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royces.
>
> Norris Lockley..Settle-sur-Riviera, UK
>
>
>
> Norris Lockley
>
>
>
> ---- Msg sent via TalkTalk WebMail - http://www.mytalktalk