How French is your Velo?

allenh

rBoTM Triple Crown
rBotM Winner
Inspired by this thread of @PeachyPM's stunning Claud Butler with a very Gallic twist rebuild, I thought how French could I actually go with a bike?

I could have rebuilt my Lejeune Possibly but it was finished and I was in no hurry to go fiddling about with it again so my attention turned to what else I had frame and parts wise. When I bought the Lejuene it came with another French bike that was in a similarly poor and unloved condition pics in this thread.

So what I had as a starting point was a Meral with a smattering of Frenchness but mostly it was Campag equipped, it was a nice French hand built frame (with Italian tubing so say that quietly) that had Spidel (Mafac) brakes and levers, Spidel (Stronglight) headset and bottom bracket and Spidel (Maillard) pedals so I decided to see just how French I could make this particular bike.

First decision was the colouring which had to be tricolour obviously, so red white and blue but being a masochist I thought metallic white with red and blue lacquer which was a lot more difficult to actually do than it originally seemed in my head.

Next was to source the rest of the components to be as French as possible and I'm pretty pleased there, the only thing I really failed on was the saddle although it does say Velo underneath so I'm claiming that and what I ended up with was the bike below.

So in the spirit of some of the interesting things that these sort of threads turn up lets see your French bikes in all their Gallic glory and does anyone have anything Frencher? But if you do I've got a Vitus tubed Navarro to do next.

Pictures taken after it's first shakedown ride today so they're not great, the light was fading, it was bloody cold and windy and I wanted to come home for a cuppa.

Frame: Meral (Columbus)

Fork: Meral (Columbus)

Headset: Spidel (Stronglight)
Stem: Atax
Handlebar: Philippe
Bar Tape: Generic (But it is French blue)

Brake Levers/Brifters: Spidel (Mafac)
Brake Calipers: Spidel (Mafac)
Brake Pads: Spidel (Mafac)
Brake Cables: Generic

Shifters: Spidel (Simplex)
Front Derailleur: Spidel (Simplex)
Rear Derailleur: Spidel (Simplex) (It did have a Huret Success Titanium at build)
Derailleur Cables: Generic
Cassette: Sachs
Chain: Sachs
Cranks: Spidel (Stronglight)
Chainrings: Spidel (Stronglight)
Bottom Bracket: Spidel (Stronglight)
Pedals: Spidel (Maillard)

Rims: Mach 1
Hubs: Spidel (Maillard)
Hub Skewers: Spidel (Maillard)
Nipples: Mach1
Spokes: Mach1
Tyres: Michelin
Tubes: Michelin

Saddle: Velo
Seatpost: Simplex

Bottle Cage: Elite
Extras: Toe clips and Straps Christophe
 

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This was outrageously French - its mechs are now yours and it has been de-Frenched a bit since this picture was taken

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=367580

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legrandefromage":1f96vdxn said:
This was outrageously French - its mechs are now yours and it has been de-Frenched a bit since this picture was taken
De Frenched, see that's where you're going wrong here
 
legrandefromage":2ag29ept said:
I did want to actually ride it! Its Shimano 10spd now and rather fast.
I bet it was pretty quick in original trim, both this Meral and my Lejeune are quick and yet surprisingly comfortable to ride.
 
fossala":3f8mjeyn said:
This thread needs some Vitus tubing.
Oh definitely, My Navarro is a Vitus frame so that will get the full French treatment when I do it, I just need to talk to Lloyds about reproducing the decals and I'll be able to start on that one.
 
legrandefromage":3k01t1ir said:
This was outrageously French - its mechs are now yours and it has been de-Frenched a bit since this picture was taken

Ah ha! Inspiration full circle.... the very bike that made me want to ‘French’ my Claud! :oops:

As for this build Allen.... very nice, love the paint job, but you seem to be taking more of a LGF slam bam approach to a build thread..no sooner started then finished! :roll:

Ps. In your rush, you missed a couple of colouring in opportunities, namely the brakes callipers and the gear levers.... oh and I see what you were trying to achieve with the crank ring nuts... just not sure it doesn’t look like you’ve just missed one! :D
 
Re: Re:

Mike Muz 67":2nsajv1v said:
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=319342&hilit=gitane&start=80

Someone mention Vitus tubing? Vitus GTI triple butted tubing for my one.

Vitus tubed, Mavic groupset, Mavic rims, Michelin tyres, Look pedals.

Vive le France!

Mike

Apologies for the link, can't just put a photo on for some reason!
Ooh I like that, always been a Mavic Components and Gitane fan but I think the colouring on mine just out Frenches yours.
 
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