French frame identification help needed

Thanks for the suggestions all

The paint i'm pretty certain isn't original, if it is it's very dull and so uniformly dull that it makes me think it's a bad respray. I'll take the bottom bracket and forks out at the weekend to see if I can see a different colour hiding under there and if there are any markings on the steerer.

Motobecane had something similar, but not the same, I think. This is my ca 1980 Grand Record:

My Daniel Salmon has a similar guide

It's not the guide so much as the Meral has the same one on the underside of the rear stay but the little ring on the top of the dropout for routing the outer through that I've not seen before. And having not seen it before I'm hoping it will help identify the frame maker.

Re: Re:

torqueless":1vmcgmun said:

Long Campag(?) dropouts might say about mid-'70s, although the top tube cable guides might say 'a bit later'.
French, Red, '70s... Lejeune? ...but anyone can paint a frame red, of course.

Click to expand...

Having had a bit more of a dig about I think torqueless may be onto something. I found this Lejuene on the internet that has a similar cable guide.

I've taken the forks out and it looks like this is the original paint so it's just dulled over time. I gave it a bit of a T Cut and it came back quite well but it does really need a re paint.

There's no evidence of decals anywhere so these were taken off very well but this doesn't help with identification at all. All I can say is that it is French, I'm pretty certain it's 531 and so far the most likely candidate for builder so far is Lejuene but if anyone knows better please tell me.

Is the BB & fork steerer threading Frence? If Frence & top of the range I don't think it would have MG eyes on the dropouts

Little Al":eg5em3zz said:

Is the BB & fork steerer threading Frence? If Frence & top of the range I don't think it would have MG eyes on the dropouts

Click to expand...

Yes threading is French and I don't think its top of the range or made with Reynolds tubing.

I decided to build it up yesterday so to see what it was like and found a couple of odd/French things with it that confirmed to me it wasn't British tubing.

The steerer tube i.d. is under 22.2, probably 22 dead as most stems are very tight in it
The o.d of the down tube is under 25.4, probably 25 dead as the lever and cable guide clamps had to be adapted to fit properly
The seat tube o.d. is under 28.6 as the front mech had to be tightened to it's max to fit

The seat pin is 26 dead, the lugs are very nice as is the build quality so with that and the above i'm even more confused about it's heritage or what tubing it's made with than I was before.

Some sort of vitus tubing? How much does it weigh?

AndyMart":36xgy4dt said:

Some sort of vitus tubing? How much does it weigh?

Click to expand...

It's doesn't seem particularly light, i'm going to to strip it back down at some point and weigh it.