Does anyone know anything about Jacques Anquetil bikes?

I seem to have bought one.

Photos to follow but it seems to be from the 60s or early 70s.

Can't post photos at the mo but the handlebars have been replaced by steaight ones, a long time ago to judge by the condition and the brake levers.

Everything else looks pretty original. The brakes are Weinmann 750/Vainquer 999 centre-pull ones, it's only a 5-speed and the derailleur is a Gian Robert, which is a brand I've never heard of.

The gear lever is Huret, there's a sort of band-on junction near the bottom bracket to route the gear cable round which is Suntour.

The wheels still have stickers on the rims, which are Remerx Sprint - and the hubs are Campagnolo Record. Which was an unexpected bonus.

Overall the frame is not in great cosmetic condition, quite a few bits of surface rust where scratches haven't been touched up. The frame is a nice purple colour, with decals saying 'Cycles Jacques Anquetil France' under the handlebars, 'Renolds 531' under the seat post and below that two world champion rainbow bands above and below a decal of Jacques' face superimposed on a map outline of France.

It seems nice and light. I mainly bought it to ride, because of the 531 frame. But is it worth Actual Money? Or worth restoring?

I did have a plan to get the frame resprayed and upgrade the rest with more modern components, but would that be sacrilege?

The JA brand was a marketing exercise by Ron Kitching in Harrogate, a joint venture with Andre Bertin. There were several models from gas-pipe to 531 and all had stick-on 'decals' and the Purple finish was the popular one. I think the cheaper ones were probably made 'sur le continent' and sourced by AB but I have been told that the better ones (as ridden by some of the top amateurs of the day including Beryl Burton, Pete Smith, John Watson - all from Yorkshire note!) were made by Carlton. There are certain details in the top models such as the 'fast-back' seatstay attachment that are very similar to the Carlton methods of the time.

Some sources state that MKM was established to make JA frames but I can't be certain that this was the case. Perhaps some one else may be able to confirm or comment?

If yours is a 531 version then it's probably a quite good one. I have adverts from the time somewhere listing the RonKit models available. They were advertised often on the 60's mags.

We've had a talk on a thread here recently about Gian Robert (do a site search) and there's plenty of info on the web if you Google it.

Re:

Thanks - this is all very interesting. The research I'd done so far seemed to suggest that Anquetil did various licensing deals with various manufacturers, but I didn't know about the Ron Kitching/Carlton connection. The name that came up most often was Gitane.

I'll try and resize my photos so they can be pasted on here...

Re:

I have a sneaking suspicion that the frame is not really made of 'Renolds' (sic) tubing.

Hmmm... I just weighed it on my digital luggage scales. 11.8 kilos - whereas a 1993 Raleigh ProRace with 501 tubing and hi-ten forks that I've got at the moment is just over 12.

I don't know much about pre-1980s bikes (and not that much about post-1980 bikes to be honest but it's where I'm stronger) but shouldn't it be lighter than that if it's 531?

My 1986 Raleigh Competition with 501SL tubing and forks is about 10 and a half kilos, as is the Fondriest with Colombus tubing that I've acquired recently.

And the unknown bike with a Cinelli bottom bracket that we thought may or may not be a Dave Marsh frame with 531 tubing weighed 9.8 kilos.

Just to ease my conscience a little bit, now I'm worrying about the frame, what would a pair of Campagnolo Record hubs and skewers usually go for?

I don't think that is one of the RonKit ones. The purple they used was a 'flamboyant' style of paint and the name in capitals is also wrong, RonKits were a silvery stick-on type. It is possibly a French one from Gitane?