The absence of the Reynolds stickers is something that I noticed when I bought the bike, but an aspect that I had long since forgotten about as the bike has been in one of my stores, somewhat unloved - it's far too big for me - for about three years.
I bought the bike from the original owner, M Deflaceliere, who had negotiated its design and building with M Andre back in the late 70s. I understand that M Andre was getting on it years and worked in a tiny atelier just about big enough to swing a frame around. I have no doubt that somewhere, in a miniscule metal box, or perhaps even hidden inside an empty Gaulloise cigarette packet placed on a creaky wooden shelf, there would be a stash of Reynolds decals...but M Andre had forgotten about them.
The bike was ordered for what must have been the tour of a lifetime..to fulfill the buyer's dream; once the dream had been realised the bike was consigned to a dry store for the next thirty or so years.
I have just regained contact with M Deflaceliere and intend to try to pump him for any information that he might have on this ' constructeur' Rene Andre as it would appear that he is one of the very few people I have come across who have met him face to face in the workshop. I also hope that he still has the luggage and panniers for which Andre designed and built those low-riders
To answer another question about why a resident of St Quentin would travel to Paris to have a frame built when there would be builders in the St Quentin-Lille area is that M Deflaceliere actually lived in *St Ouen*, a suburb of Paris. Those tricky little identity tags bolted onto brake nuts are quite difficult to read particularly when the guy wielding the camera has shaking hands! Sorry...
Norris Lockley
Settle UK
Settle UK