CanAmSteve
Dirt Disciple
Having just returned from my annual Cape Town Christmas visit (I won't mention the weather) I wanted to share this year's "find" and also see if anyone can educate me a bit on its unusual "Gilco-style" tubing.
It's a LeJeune steel bike, made in Cape Town by Francois du Toit around 1990 (ish?) He's still in business but hasn't responded to any requests for more info, so perhaps others can fill me in. Here's a bit about duToit from a Joburg newspaper article
Years later, Du Toit was a successful competitive cyclist and working as a regional manager for Peugeot bicycles in the Cape. It was then that he began to realise his dream.
"I said, ‘You know what I want to do in life, I want to actually build my own bikes.' I took my savings and went to France. We made contact with the Le Jeune brothers [acclaimed frame builders in France]."
Du Toit trained under the artisans for four months, before returning to South Africa and starting his own business producing Le Jeune bikes locally, using steel tubing imported from Reynolds, the British supplier.
There was also mention that - at the time - du Toit was one of only ten Reynolds-certified "master frame builders" in the world.
The main tubes on my find are "fluted" in the Gilco/Colnago style, but labeled "Super Prestige", which (AFAIK) seems to refer to some models of Italian frames (referencing a race) and usually built with Cloumbus SL/X tubes. It seems to have some similarity (including the hidden top cable) with this frame (forks much simpler)
viewtopic.php?t=152438
I've attached some pictures for reference. Any info/comments appreciated. (I stripped the Shimano 105 gear off the frame as it was a bit tatty and built it back up with 2X10 Tiagra).
It's a LeJeune steel bike, made in Cape Town by Francois du Toit around 1990 (ish?) He's still in business but hasn't responded to any requests for more info, so perhaps others can fill me in. Here's a bit about duToit from a Joburg newspaper article
Years later, Du Toit was a successful competitive cyclist and working as a regional manager for Peugeot bicycles in the Cape. It was then that he began to realise his dream.
"I said, ‘You know what I want to do in life, I want to actually build my own bikes.' I took my savings and went to France. We made contact with the Le Jeune brothers [acclaimed frame builders in France]."
Du Toit trained under the artisans for four months, before returning to South Africa and starting his own business producing Le Jeune bikes locally, using steel tubing imported from Reynolds, the British supplier.
There was also mention that - at the time - du Toit was one of only ten Reynolds-certified "master frame builders" in the world.
The main tubes on my find are "fluted" in the Gilco/Colnago style, but labeled "Super Prestige", which (AFAIK) seems to refer to some models of Italian frames (referencing a race) and usually built with Cloumbus SL/X tubes. It seems to have some similarity (including the hidden top cable) with this frame (forks much simpler)
viewtopic.php?t=152438
I've attached some pictures for reference. Any info/comments appreciated. (I stripped the Shimano 105 gear off the frame as it was a bit tatty and built it back up with 2X10 Tiagra).
