You may very well have a Kessels. I have two: a Main D'Or and a Kessels Merckx. The Main D'Or shares many similarities with your bike, the most important of which is the bb shell with the two quarter sized holes underneath. If you look on Flickr.com you will find several Kessels bikes from the mid 1970s, including mine. I don't have pictures of the bb shell at this time, but I've seen many of them on the web, all with the same circular windows. The long point lugs are also distinctive, as is the seatstay attachment. The serial number on mine is 7. Both the bb and headset on mine are English.
Here's a link: http://www.flickr.com/
The Kessels/Merckx, from 1977 or so, is completely different (Italian BB, beefy chain stays, different seatstay arrangment, different head lugs). More of a stage racing bicycle that can handle hard out of the saddle sprints.
Both are beautiful bikes, which are a pleasure to ride.
Robert Aguirre Windsor, ON ----------------------------------------
Hi list, I was intrigued by Chris Protopapas's description of his Kessel's frame set {as related by Brad Stockwell}. I bought a frame set a few months ago?off a Belgian EBay seller that was at the time suspected to be a Motobecane. I must say?it sounds very similar to a Kessels as described by Chris. It features long Campy dropouts, long point lugs , semi wrap seat stay ends {concave caps} and two large circular windows in the bottom of the B.B. shell. It does have a definite Italian look to it, despite a French headset and what seems to be an English B,B,? Mine may be a little newer as it has braze ons for B.B.?cable guides, top tube brake cable guides and shifter bosses. Also no chrome on frame at all. Workmanship generally looks very good with very nicely thinned lug points. Serial # 167 is on the LH. rear D.O. , # 7 only is on the fork steer tube. Does this sound like a model of Motobecane anyone is familiar with , or should I be looking more closely at Kessels products for a positive I.D.?I can Email some photos?, but I am not currently signed up with any photo hosting sites.
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