OK all, On the way home from work (on the Caygill with recently installed Berthoud decaleur and Acorn front bag) went by the storage. In complete defiance of Murphy's Law, the box with the frame was right on top.
So it is actually badged Duravia. Headbadge says "DURAVIA" and "METAL AVIATION". Seattube decal says "METAL AVIATION" and "GUARANTIE 3 ANS"
Aluminum tubes and DO's. Lugs are sort of gold colored, could be brass. Can't tell if the tubes are glued, screwed or pressed into the lugs. RD shifter boss riveted to the toptube. There is a cable guide integrated into the seatlug to guide what appear to be twin RD cables and another integrated into the rear brake bridge. The seatlug guide has a third hole for the rear brake cable. Verticle rear DO's. This seems to take a Cyclo-type chainstay mounted RD, except the mounting plate isn't actually attached to the chainstay, but integrated into the right rear DO, protruding forward from it. No boss for a front shift lever, I presume this was either a 5-speed (or maybe 3-speed) or had a rod-type FD.
So anyone ever heard of this marque? Jan? I think this could be older than the 50's, maybe even pre-WWII.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
> From: Jerome & Elizabeth Moos <jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net>
> Subject: Re: [CR] Was: Caminade rarity? Now DurAvion??
> To: "Jan Heine" <heine94@earthlink.net>, "Edward Albert" <ealbert01@gmail.com>
> Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Date: Tuesday, May 12, 2009, 2:33 PM
> This talk of old French aluminum bikes reminds me that I
> bought an AL French frameset several years ago. It is still
> boxed from my move to Big Spring in October 2005. I believe
> the brand is DurAvion, or some such, and the logo seemed to
> suggest an aircraft connection as does the name. Can't
> remember if the tubes are round or some other shape. Of
> course much of the early French bike AL technology was a
> spinoff of the aviation industry. My frameset looked to be
> 50's or very early 60's.
>
> Anyone know anything about this marque? Is it worth
> digging through the boxes in storage to move this higher on
> the project list?
>
> Regards,
>
> Jerry Moos
> Big Spring, Texas, USA
>
>
>
>
> --- On Tue, 5/12/09, Edward Albert
> <ealbert01@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > From: Edward Albert <ealbert01@gmail.com>
> > Subject: Re: [CR] Was: Caminade rarity? Now: Prewar
> Stronglight 49D IDing
> > To: "Jan Heine"
> <heine94@earthlink.net>
> > Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> > Date: Tuesday, May 12, 2009, 12:02 PM
> > FYI,
> > I feel like I am being picked clean like a dog's
> > bone. But that is the
> > nature of the beast.
> > Anyway, I found a copy of a Caminargent catalog on
> Joel
> > Metz' site. A
> > British one dating to 1936. Take a close look at the
> > crankset and blow the
> > PDF file up a bit. Looks like points to me and just
> like
> > on the one I now
> > own. IMHO
> >
> http://www.blackbirdsf.org/
> >
> > Edward Albert
> > Chappaqua, New York, U.S.A.
> >
> > On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 9:50 AM, Jan Heine
> > <heine94@earthlink.net> wrote:
> >
> > > In the hopes of advancing the dialogue on dating
> the
> > Stronglight 49D
> > >> crank through it's unparalleled history
> > I've uploaded a collection of
> > >> photos that will hopefully illustrate most if
> not
> > all of the general
> > >> variants that can be seen and perhaps
> referenced
> > to provide examples
> > >> useful to this end.
> > >>
> > >>
> http://picasaweb.google.com/
> > >>
> > >>
> > > None of the cranks on your list appear to be
> pre-war,
> > from my quick glance.
> > > Compare to the LEFT crank of the bike in the
> auction.
> > (The right crank is a
> > > post-war model - I just noticed that now.)
> > >
> > > ebay 370196769044
> > >
> > > The 49D is to me the ultimate single component
> > spanning the on-topic
> > >> era of the CR list. In terms of longevity,
> > performance and utility, I
> > >> can think of nothing that comes even remotely
> > close. First built in
> > >> the 1930s and still almost fully competitive
> with
> > the most advanced
> > >> current gear. If you told the people that
> built
> > the first example that
> > >> their design wouldn't be significantly
> > bettered in the following 70
> > >> years, I wonder what they'd have thought?
> > >>
> > >
> > > That is a good question. Who were the engineers?
> How
> > did they manage to get
> > > it so right, on the first try? There is one other
> > product that compares, but
> > > never had the success of the Stronglight: the
> Nivex
> > rear derailleur. The
> > > first ads from 1938 or so talk about constant
> chain
> > gap as a key toward
> > > consistent shifting. That reads like something
> > straight out of Berto's
> > > "Dancing Chain" in the chapter
> "How to
> > design a well-shifting derailleur."
> > > Other makers took decades to figure this out, and
> > Campagnolo's early Syncro
> > > shifting would not have been doomed if they had
> > understood this in the
> > > 1980s.
> > >
> > > Jan Heine
> > > Editor
> > > Bicycle Quarterly
> > > 140 Lakeside Ave #C
> > > Seattle WA 98122
> > > http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Classicrendezvous mailing list
> > > Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> > >
> >
> http://www.bikelist.org/
> > >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
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