1952 Urago "Tour De France"

I have been building up this Urago frame/fork for the last few months and with a few final parts on order through ebay France and U.K. I hope to have it roadworthy in another month or so. It has been fun to say the least. I managed to purchase the period hubs, rear Simplex Tour De France derailleur, front Simplex rod shifter ( awaiting clamping band ) and later ( though free ) tubular Mavic rims from the seller of the frame who also happens to have a nice collection of vintage road bikes including a 1948 Rene Herse that is being restored. I have some Challenge Strada 25mm tires on order to replace the basic 21mm on at the moment. The frame originally came from the U.K. a number of years ago to a collector in Edmonton, Alberta and then on to the person I bought it from and now onto me via the local Craigslist. I doubt I will see another Urago out here given how uncommon they are, and beyond that there is little information available. I would think this would have been made for an amateur racer perhaps - mid line possibly. The tubing is most likely Durifort and it has Oscar Egg lugs. I hope it rides and handles decently, guess I will find out soon enough! I plan on replacing the Nervar Star crank set with a more proper Stronglight 49d fairly soon. Because someone forced an English threaded Tange fixed cup into the bottom bracket, thicker than original, I had to locate an axle that would work. Fortunately a Campagnolo N.R. I had on hand worked well enough to use. Some of the other components are: CLB side pulls and levers, Ideale 80 seat, Lyotard 460d pedals, OFV stem. I did find one reference to a repainted Tour De France model, supposedly also from 1952 that was thought to be made from Reynolds 531 tubing, but who knows, given the lack of specific information out there. Here are some images.

That a very upright poditon. It does look good though and i am glad you are using proper tyres

Re:

A nice classic machine . Are you going to fit toe clips and straps? or ride as is . Reason I ask is that I have had a job finding shoes at a fair price to use with clips & straps .

On my other road bikes - two rando machines and a sport touring Raleigh I just use MKS Sylvans and will most likely just use the Lyotards as is, but you never know. And since I am almost as old as the bike I need a more forgiving riding position these days. I used the classic leather cycling shoes and cleats for years on one Italian bike but am much more casual in what I wear these days. I wil be glad just to be able to take it out on nice days occasionally!

Another update - had it on a couple of rides and it is almost complete, just need to replace the Nervar crank set with a Stronglight 49D and most likely some TA Cyclotourist chain rings. Rides pretty good overall, easy to keep a straight line but a bit light feeling. The geometry favors very low trail, with a fork rake of around 70mm and a head tube angle of 75 degrees ( 73.5 for the seat tube ) it works out to about 18mm of trail, with a wheel flop of 5mm. Tires are Challenge Strada 25mm. Handlebar mounted water bottle would add the finishing touch. I found out that the practice back then was to have the right lever operate the front brake so I might switch them around to reflect the norm back then.

After this I will be slowly putting together a P.Peschi fame. another builder from Nice.

Re:

In 1952 the typical chainrings were 47 x 50 or similar. The chainrings in the picture are too much for the T de F gear. Also a bit early for 49d to be used on a racer, really only on tourers then.

Keith

Re:

Thank you for mentioning that - I realize that the Stronglight crank set would not have been the norm for this type of bike but at least they are from that era, and I wanted to use some smaller chain rings as I really do not need anything larger than a 46T so for the sake of making the bike a usable rider I had to make some reasonable concessions and decided on some from TA. I was going to go with some cottered steel cranks originally but realized they would be less than useful. One could understand an individual retrofitting some Stronglights due to individual tastes and changing components is done all of the time.

Re:

The bike looks great and it must turn a few heads.

I have just finished a late 1970's build and have recently started looking at the 1950's as a possibility my next project, so it's good to know that parts are still available, if I am prepared to hunt around for them.

Re: Re:

Very nice indeed.
I agree completely about it being rideable. Obviously if it can be done period correct then that is preferable. No point having a lovely bike you can't ever ride.

NeilM":2llmssrs said:

The bike looks great and it must turn a few heads.

I have just finished a late 1970's build and have recently started looking at the 1950's as a possibility my next project, so it's good to know that parts are still available, if I am prepared to hunt around for them.

Click to expand...

I can feel the '50's are drawing you in.

Re: Re:

firedfromthecircus":2vw5bb3g said:

I can feel the '50's are drawing you in.

Click to expand...

No. no.... must be strong.... must resist..

They are a bit cool though aren't they.