Bonjour Tous
Just thought i would say hello, and introduce myself
I am an Expat Brit living in central France at the moment, i have been out here for a couple of years, and have been converted from a non cyclist into putting in around 100km on a good week both on road (VTC out here) and off road (VTT out here).
After spending many hours, looking and drooling over the new offerings of many of the big names, i also found my self looking and admiring the restored retro classics, and getting more and more time to some of these frankly amazing pieces of work. So i started to keep an eye out for a project of my own.
Then i stumbled accross not one but two this weekend, i'm not sure how well known out of France the 'Troc' prinicple is, its basically a secondhand shop where you can take your old goods, and they will sell on for you, taking a slice of what ever its sold for. Now twice a year the big sports shop out here in France (Decathalon) runs its own version of this 'Trocathon' and everyone takes there old sporting wears along and you can pick up some bargins, and also look at some seriously over priced, over used tat.
So this weekend was the end of the Trocathon, and whilst looking around i spied a retro bike, it has had a pretty bad paint job all over it, which has done well to cover up any previous markings or decals that may give clues to its brand and age, but the tag attached to the bike state 'Velo Homme, Riva Sport 1955' looking at the bike, it certainly had enough crusty parts on it to be a potential 50's throw back, so checking out the price tag, and agreeing with her who must be obeyed, it was a deal, i'd take it. She then started to look around, and as most women, didn't like the idea i was leaving with a new toy, and her not, discovered another very old looking bike, again covered in layers of dirt and dust, but generally in working order, and decided she too would like a restored 'vintage velo' so we left with another. This one in a light blue colour had full Mercier decals all over (I had not previously heard of the brand) upon a little internet reasearch it would seem that this is infact a Mercier Mixte, but we do not yet know the era.
So this is where it begins i suppose, Thrusday is a public holiday over here, and the plan is to spend a little time getting some photos and giving everything a bit of a once over, to start to asses the levels of work needed for each and create a plan for the restorations.
I will no doubt then be here asking for some experianced help, and checking out what all of you guys have been upto in the past.
So thats a long ramble to say a basic Hello
Ritchie
Just thought i would say hello, and introduce myself
I am an Expat Brit living in central France at the moment, i have been out here for a couple of years, and have been converted from a non cyclist into putting in around 100km on a good week both on road (VTC out here) and off road (VTT out here).
After spending many hours, looking and drooling over the new offerings of many of the big names, i also found my self looking and admiring the restored retro classics, and getting more and more time to some of these frankly amazing pieces of work. So i started to keep an eye out for a project of my own.
Then i stumbled accross not one but two this weekend, i'm not sure how well known out of France the 'Troc' prinicple is, its basically a secondhand shop where you can take your old goods, and they will sell on for you, taking a slice of what ever its sold for. Now twice a year the big sports shop out here in France (Decathalon) runs its own version of this 'Trocathon' and everyone takes there old sporting wears along and you can pick up some bargins, and also look at some seriously over priced, over used tat.
So this weekend was the end of the Trocathon, and whilst looking around i spied a retro bike, it has had a pretty bad paint job all over it, which has done well to cover up any previous markings or decals that may give clues to its brand and age, but the tag attached to the bike state 'Velo Homme, Riva Sport 1955' looking at the bike, it certainly had enough crusty parts on it to be a potential 50's throw back, so checking out the price tag, and agreeing with her who must be obeyed, it was a deal, i'd take it. She then started to look around, and as most women, didn't like the idea i was leaving with a new toy, and her not, discovered another very old looking bike, again covered in layers of dirt and dust, but generally in working order, and decided she too would like a restored 'vintage velo' so we left with another. This one in a light blue colour had full Mercier decals all over (I had not previously heard of the brand) upon a little internet reasearch it would seem that this is infact a Mercier Mixte, but we do not yet know the era.
So this is where it begins i suppose, Thrusday is a public holiday over here, and the plan is to spend a little time getting some photos and giving everything a bit of a once over, to start to asses the levels of work needed for each and create a plan for the restorations.
I will no doubt then be here asking for some experianced help, and checking out what all of you guys have been upto in the past.
So thats a long ramble to say a basic Hello
Ritchie