Michael d@Arcy recently outed an odd-looking time-trial bike for sale at one of the French LeBonCoin second-hand shops.
The design with its very contrived curved seat-tube and seat lug configuration first appeared at the Paris Cycle Show in 1983...it attracted a lot of attention
The frame bears the transfers of the *GANOLO brand. *The Italian sounding brand name was an attempt by a company based just to the east of Paris, at St Germain-en-Laye to cash in on the popularity of Italian brands such as Colnago, Pinarello etc at that time in France. My friend Jean-Marie Duret, based at Argent-sur-Sauldre some 100 kms to the south of Paris launched his GELIANO brand at the same time.
*GANOLO* was the house brand for a company called Europe-Cycles, who had several retail shops, and also traded as top-end wholesalers at the time. The company was owned by the family of Maurice Archambaud, the former Pro and world hour record holder in 1937. Ganolo tubulars, very top-end products, were also available
The firm has since dropped the brand and now trades from one of its Paris centre shops at 9 Boulevard Voltaire, under the name of Cycles Laurent.
This particular frame was built for the company by Edmond Polchlopek, the former 1960s Pro rider who, on retirement from racing, started a frame-building business in the eastern suburbs of Paris. He died quite recently, following a car accident.
It is thought that this model was the Mk1 version of the later and more
dramatic Polchlopek Rigideol frames. I have put some info about GANOLO and
POLCHLOPEK on my Flickr site at:
http://www.flickr.com/
Last year I won one of these Mk! frames on French Ebay for as little as 50 euros. However the seller, having been paid by Paypal, reneged on the deal for me to collect the frame within a couple of weeks, and I ended up with neither the frame nor my money. It happens quite a lot on French Ebay..so beware.
Norris Lockley
Settle-sur-Seine
UK