Raphael Geminiani - NOW SOLD

chickendrumsticks

Senior Retro Guru
I love fairly obscure bikes that might take some research. I nearly didn't buy it on the day because it looked (and still looks) very ordinary and was pretty grubby with a right old mish-mash of bits fitted. But hey ho, what the heck I thought and handed over a not very large amount of cash. I'll share some fruits of a bit of research later - stay awake at the back there!

First, though, a bit of a revelation. The pic above is the only one from the ad. Doesn't show much, except the bike is just as scruffy as it appears. Rough sort of metallic finish, fair bit of rust here and there - mainly surface - and decals indicating "made in italy" - in English. There were a couple of bits of "dymo" tape clinging to the seat tube with remnants of a name, possibly.

I pulled those off to reveal the faded, part remains of a 531 French label!


The French equivalent to butted tubes, forks and stays Reynolds decal. I suddenly liked this old bike a bit more.
Couple more pics:



Iguess that decal rules out the thought of made in Italy?
 

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Re:

Hello

I was reading somewhere the other day about some frame or other and the writer said that the frames(sorry but cant remember what make) got whatever reynolds stickers came to hand. Sometimes the forks had an english sticker and the frame a french. Could be the same in this case or at some point in time it got a fresh sticker from someone too?

Carl
 
Re: This just flew into the coop...

Fancy finding that in the coop. Mine is now the post office as well. But the ladies on the till aren’t great with large parcels.
 
Re:

Seems these were french bikes. Raphael had an italian name but was french. Maybe Raphael was...*cough*... made in italy?
 
Re:

Raphael Geminiani was "made" in France but his parents were Italians who fled to France from fascism. Hence the moniker. I've done a bit of research since opening this thread and have established that this bike was almost certainly made in Italy. This is despite most Geminianis that we know of over here being indeed French made. The most obvious difference as far as I can tell lies in the decals: French = the signature "script" style; Italian = name in "block capitals". And,of course, the give-away - "Made in Italy" incorporated within th decals!

Some of the research is at

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=391705&start=20

a super thread called "How French is your Velo?" (In my case not very!)

For those of you who have managed to stay awake, there's a list of my bike's components there too. This really swung the balance of thought from France to Italy. Thanks to allenh for insightful comments. And THM - I've managed to persuade it to vacate the co-op. The ladies are pleased.

And on ebay.it there's one for sale similar to my steed.

https://www.ebay.it/itm/BICI-BICICLETTA ... rk:17:pf:0
 
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Re: Raphael Geminiani refurb

A very nice project regardless of origin but like everyone else that thinks of Raphael Geminiani, I would have thought French with hesitation.
A legend of a man and while a great racer in his own right, I always just associate him in my mind as directeur sportif with Jacques Anquetil in the St-Raphaël and Ford-France teams.
Very nice and will watch with interest on how this will progress.

Jamie
 
Re:

Now all in bits in the workshop - in the usual way!

Going on the theory that this is an Italian made frame I've ordered suitable decals from steve@hlloydcycles and he's making some "specials" for me too
(a head badge bearing the great man's image in his team jersey and copies of the block capital seat and down tube decals, which I've been unable to source anywhere - even on various Italian and French websites). I'm sure they'll be of superb quality - like all Steve's work.

And I'm in touch with a local painter to get a quote for a respray. I'm thinking something in sky blue with white panels - these were Team Geminiani's colours back in the day.

p.s. the sprint wheels from this bike are now for sale on this forum - BUT NO LONGER.
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=394511
 
Re:

The frame's back from the paint shop - well the powder-coaters. It is going to a local paint shop too, for a couple of white panels - seat and down tubes.

The idea being it'll be a bit of a match for a team jersey that the Geminiani squad used BITD. The frame colour is a better match than it appears in the pic, it looks a bit pale there.

And the decals have a matching red fill...
 

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Re: Raphael Geminiani more new clothes

Back from the paintshop - a different one this time - complete with white panels.
 

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Re:

Well here we are, with steve@hlloydcycles excellent decals - most of which were custom jobs, and fabulous work they are - as usual.

You'll see the head badge is a picture of the man - known during (and probably afterwards) his cycling career as "Le Grand Fusil" (The Big Gun), hence the top tube decal.

I hope there is some authenticity to the scheme - there's so little info out there as to what these Italian made frames looked like!
 

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