Another french classic : 1938 Narcisse

[quiet mike]

Just found this thread and read with fascination from beginning to now! A beautiful machine, and lovely to see it's sympathetic and preservation and restoration.

 

[bduc61]

Re:

.
The big issue with this restoration is the front derailleur.
The brazed support seems really original.

Unfortunately, it does not look at all similar to other Narcisse around the war "designs"




And not one for existing derailleurs like the Simplex 38



so to work with the brazed support



a first imagined design was this one

[/quote]


with refinements like this with a lever with a down and up movement for easier use






But this sort of design is very seldom seen ( Ducheron did something in that line but after the war) and quite complicated to realize so its probably going to be a mix of these - le chat lever - on the right of the first pic / cage after Narcisse design to take a 46 chainring as its most probable that it cannot take more due to its position on the seattube / and lever articulated on "bottom pivot" with an adition to displace the pivot position as it is very close to the cage horizontal support so would displace the top of the lever laterally lever too much to the right or left of the seattube if it were to trigger enough movement of the cage.





but alas we are far from completion yet as the cage is not even cut and brazed yet :facepalm:

 

[Mickeyspinn]

Wow! This is something else
my appreciation of vintage French has only just started in the last few years,i cut my teeth on old french by figuring out on my tod how to set up a simplex tdf 4 speed which had me baffled for a while!
What an absolute gem you have...that bottom bracket !!! It doesn't get any better makes a mockery of today's supposed engineering. Health to enjoy and keep posting !