At 6:21 PM -0400 3/28/08, The Maaslands wrote:
>Peter wrote:
>A friend has bought, on the strength of a poor photograph, an old frame
>made by a French builder called Boisis. He has found on receipt of the
>frame that it is in far worse condition than he thought, and is now
>considering having it refinished. The main problem he will have with
>that is transfers as even the first name is missing from the one on the
>frame, all that is evident is the surname and what appears to be the Arc
>de Triomph in the centre of the head/seat tube badge. Can anyone please
>help with information on this builder, possibly have a good illustration
>of the transfers, or know if they have been reproduced.
>
>Cycles Boisis was one of the more well-known shops in Paris and was
>located on the Place de l'Etoile on the Avenue de la Grande Armée
>side. So the Arc de Triomphe makes perfect sense as you could see it
>from the door of the shop. Back in the 80's it was still run by two
>older sisters (the daughters of Mr. Boisis père). I ended up working
>for them for a day in 1981 as I just happened to be in the shop and a
>customer came to buy a rather expensive bike at about closing time.
>Their mechanic had already left for the day and was not going to be in
>the next day either, so they were explaining to the customer that he
>would have to retun in 4 days for his bike. I ended up building a set of
>wheels and the bike the next day. The sisters then offered me a
>wonderful dinner and some neat bicycle components. To the best of my
>knowledge the shop no longer exists under the name Boisis, and may have
>even closed down completely. At least in the 80's, they most definitely
>did not build their own frames.
>
>Steven Maasland
>Moorestown, NJ
>USA
That is a great story, Steven!
I do not think the shop exists any longer - the avenue de la Grande Armee no longer is home to any bike shops. In the old days, all the big shops were there... Oscar Egg was one of them, and there were quite a few others. I believe Peugeot, Motobecane, etc., had shops there, too. The car company Peugeot still has a large showroom there today...
The frame in question probably was built by an outside contractor. If it is made from Reynolds 531 or similar tubing, it may be worth refinishing. If it is one of the millions of frames churned out by the big factories in Saint-Etienne, and then labeled for whichever shop had ordered them, I would not spend money on it. Wax it to protect the metal, and ride it.
Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
140 Lakeside Ave #C
Seattle WA 98122
http://www.bikequarterly.com