'70s Gitane, that seems right. I knew it looked familiar. The price was probably fair for that.
Kurt Sperry Bellingham Washington USA
On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 10:00 AM, Scott L. Minneman <minneman@onomy.com> wrote:
> Norris,
>
> The components puzzle me, but the frame sure looks like a rebadged
> mid-70s
> Gitane...the geometry, the fork, the lugs, and the spiderweb dropouts
> are a
> direct hit (maybe even the color).
>
> Scott Minneman
> San Francisco, CA, USA
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Norris Lockley [mailto:norris.lockley@yahoo.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 7:46 AM
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: [CR]Helyett Randonneur on French Ebay - Item 320263783867
>
> First of all, my apologies for outing this bike to the Lisst, after
> the a
> uction has finished, and the bike is now destined to go to Japan.
>
> However I only noticed it shortly before the auction was due to close
> and,
> with the seller living quite near to where I have my house in France, I
> dec
> ided to have a bid or two. Again it was not straightforward..and it took
> se
> veral minutes before I decided to risk my money.
>
> The principal reason for my uncertainty about the bike is that it looks
> as
> though it has existed in a time warp. The Helyett company, based at
> Sull
> y-sur-Loire, not far from Orleans where the seller lives, closed down in
> 19
> 62. However this Helyett frame has the skeletal rear drop-outs found on
> fra
> mes from the mid-70s, and Prugnat long-point windowed lugs that I don't
> rec
> all seeing on the wholesalers' lists in the early 60s. Same goes for the
> fo
> rk crown.
>
> It's an odd-looking bike...the frame looks more like a racing frame that
> a
> randonneur..just look at that fork rake (for a 60s bike?). Some details
> of
> the frame's build quality can obtained by enlarging the photos..and it
> appe
> ars to be quite a decently constructed frame. So why would any serious
> comp
> any put steel 650 rims on such a bike and a TA chainset with rings for
> road
> racing..although the cranks are 165mm for touring.
>
> After playing at Sherlock Holmes for ten minutes or so, I thought that I
> ha
> d the answer..so I slammed a couple of bids until it became evident that
> th
> e Japanese opposition was keener on the bike than my meer curiosity
> could m
> anage.
>
> If anyone out there would like to interpret the origin of this
> frame..and w
> hy it is like it is...I would be pleased to hear from them..so that I
> can c
> heck my theory out.
>
> Norris Lockley, Settle
> =0A=0A=0A