Another weight conscious french stud - Alain Michel 80's

You may remenber my "weightweenie builde a Bernard Carré , full french.
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=308106&hilit=bernard+carre

I confess I was not enamoured much with the frame, so here is anothe bike which will be built along "weight consciousness" but with international parts!

It is a "Alain Michel".

He was a small framemaker in the vicinity of Paris, mostly for keen cyclist , good amateurs or pros.

I really love the seatstays ( which are very similar to this later 90's bike of mine )

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=290542&hilit=alain+michel

This one is out of Reynolds 531 SL for the frame and 531 for the fork.

Presently with very mixed parts - will change parts in a weighweeniish manner , so change the mechs the saddle, the seatpost , but leave the very nice OMAS headset. Not decided on the calipers yet or crankset. May probably leave the Tevano triple which is rather light ( altered like some campa cranksets and my old bones don't mind at all )
so possible Jubile long cage at the rear and jubile at the front :idea:

Very nice your Bernard carre is one of my favourites so look forward to this one.

What a nicely crafted frame. I love to hear of these small, unknown to me builders.
Watching with interest

Nice . Does it have a chainstay bridge?

Shaun

Midlife":2nhv6fvb said:

Nice . Does it have a chainstay bridge?

Shaun

Click to expand...

indeed
nice "diabolo"

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here are the two wheelsets for the bike

a clincher - Mavic Module E on Pelissier 2000 Professional with annular bearings
First time I bought some Veloflex Master 25 tyres
A pain to mount but apparently very nice as comfort seems close to tubulars and they are pretty light

and a tubular one - to clean
a Roval wheelset - 24 spokes each wheel - quite original hubs with profiled spokes
one spoke is probably broken but hopefully, I have got one for repair

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The Roval wheelset is really quite special, I like your project and I'm following with great interest.

: Mike

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Yes these Roavl hub are the most striking french hubs from the 70's
were fancied by the TT guys - a sort of first try at a more aerodynamic shape !
but the wheel is actually not very light

here is another pair of hubs unmounted
the spokes are very special, as well as the nipples and washers - the nipple is actually "drowned inside the rim with a specific plastic deep washer )

Re: Re:

bduc61":3s8a6g1b said:

Yes these Roavl hub are the most striking french hubs from the 70's
were fancied by the TT guys - a sort of first try at a more aerodynamic shape !
but the wheel is actually not very light

here is another pair of hubs unmounted
the spokes are very special, as well as the nipples and washers - the nipple is actually "drowned inside the rim with a specific plastic deep washer.

Click to expand...

Hi Bruno,
My favorite thing about your builds is how exotic your parts selection is, how do you find this stuff?
I am sure that if you really wanted to find the lost city of Atlantis, you could find it in about a week .

Great Build: Mike

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Sorry , can't find atlantis for you
Don't worry , I have a few search that I still can't "satisfy" !
But the key is to be patient and with a bit of luck, fate smiles to you :mrgreen: ( there can be a few years betwen the idea and the fullfilment !)


Bird droppings are a pain in the neck , and they were a few spokes to fix - luckily none broken - but a bladed spoke is tricky to straighten :roll:

And I found a pair of tubulars in my stock ( very shallow the stock the tubulars) - a bit early but alas - from 1975