The questionable Koblet bike brings back memories...
Once, we travelled in France to photograph bikes for various projects. We went to a museum that exhibited, among many other machines, a bike each ridden by Anquetil and Hinault.
The bikes were in rough shape, with many components that were incorrect. That alone was disappointing, but we figured by switching components between a few bikes, we could make them presentable.
The Anquetil bike was easy, because it matched a Rebour drawing. The frame had the characteristic "J - A" engraved in the seatstay caps, leaving no doubt to its authenticity. As I was removing the cranks, I looked at the seat lug, and noticed how the top and down tube were bulging. This joint had been severely overheated. Checking the other joints revealed no bulging. Looking carefully at the seatstay caps, I noticed that the caps with the "J - A" engraving were brazed on top of the original seatstay caps! In the process, the DIY specialist had overheated that joint until every tube was bulging out of the seat lug.
The Hinault bike looked fine, but comparing historic photos brought some doubts, too. During the season in question, Hinault's bikes were fillet-brazed, yet this one had lugs.
The owner of the bikes had paid a lot of money to a well-known collector for these bikes. When I later told the story to a dealer in antique motorbikes, he laughed and said "If the bikes were real, the collector would have kept them."
This brings up the question of what is acceptable as proof that a famous bike is real? Obviously, the physical bike needs to match historic photos, but that does not preclude a look-alike. A letter from the original racer is nice... Serial numbers are good, but many team bikes don't have them, and in any case, nobody records the serial number of the winning bike after a race.
I think in the end, it comes down to a very good paper trail. If the bike was bought from the racer, and not for a huge amount of money, then it is likely to be real, as there is no incentive for the racer to sell a fake.
I am interested what others think about this. Establishing some guidelines may be useful before this subject gets so muddled that even real bikes will be considered fakes.
Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
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Seattle WA 98122
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