Alex your frame is very nice probably from middle of 50's why any speciale is top of the line? you must see a classic helyett too see the difference I have probably touch 5 helyett speciale from 40's to 60's. Not all are the same, some are most beautiful from other. The main difference is the stay. Jaouen Bazin wissous France
-----Message d'origine----- De : classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org]De la part de alex m Envoyé : mardi 20 octobre 2009 18:32 À : Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Objet : [CR] Helyett Speciale
Here is for comparison a Helyett Speciale frame that had a double cable RD, probably a Juy 543, so it must be late 50s
http://www.reneherse.com/
This frame belonged to an ex semi-pro, so was the top of the line Helyett model.
With the Peugeot bikes, "3 tubes Reynolds" as opposed to "tous tubes Reynolds" is the sign of a cheaper bike. But you can notice in the frame linked above, the fork also has a Reynolds transfer. So effectively, the whole frame including stays is in Reynolds (Reynolds 3 tubes renforces bases et montants = 3 Reynolds tubes + stays).
I don't see this fork sticker on the eBay frame (the auction is effectively for a lovely frame, plus a lot of pretty nice but non-original parts). Maybe there were slightly different levels of "Speciale", but as Jaouen says any Speciale is certainly top of the line.
Alexander March
Bordeaux
France