His bikes

One of my favourite bikes, and one I have been touring on quite a bit over the years, is my Roy Thame.

I bought it as a frame and fork some ten years ago:



Built it up for a vacation trip to France in '17:



After a few more trips and some minor alterations I got distracted by other bikes, but it was such a nice ride that in early '20 I decided to rebuild the Roy Thame. I had discovered the joy of "brifting" and chose to Shimergo it:



Vacation trips to France and Italy followed. This is the closed railway station of Ospedaletti on the Ligurian coast in September '20:



Parked in front of the Faggin shop in Padova in September '21:



After that other bikes got in the way again, until a couple of weeks ago. Ready for a new look I replaced the black accessories with aluminium and chrome. A previous owner had blacked out the down tube decals, which I undid with a bit of polish.

Well, it does look different. The Pletscher front rack is something I picked up recently and wanted to give a try. Although it is surprisingly sturdy, I may replace it with something a little more elegant.

Yesterday morning on a ferry across a local waterway:

Great seeing a touring bike used extensively!

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wunnerful textillium, greatly enjoyed here!



...and then there is a certain Teval...

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others much loved are the Garage Indesteege et les trois jeune filles mixte de MCML's

as they be not royduhz they doona wreally belong here...so perchance they may fit elsewhere upon a day...

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juvela said:

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wunnerful textillium, greatly enjoyed here!



...and then there is a certain Teval...

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others much loved are the Garage Indesteege et les trois jeune filles mixte de MCML's

as they be not royduhz they doona wreally belong here...so perchance they may fit elsewhere upon a day...

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Click to expand...

Thank you!

Ah yes, the Téval. Bought that frame set as an impulse buy along with a Jabo I'd been lusting after. The Jabo seller said "I have another frame you might like ...". (Will get back to the Jabo later.)

Eduard Téval was a mechanic at Plume Sport who started his own business. His frames were made by Plume's frame builder and carry Plume Sport serial numbers.



I haven't built it up yet as there are a couple of challenges. I'll get back on those later as well, as I do want to build and ride it.

The Indesteege, with a frame probably built by Royal Nord:



Lots of issues with this one, so destined to be a wall hanger for the foreseeable future.

The three French ladies were extracted from a gigantic collection of dilapidated French bikes I stumbled across locally:



I picked the three most interesting and made an offer, not really knowing what to do with them (other than to look at them lovingly ).

#1:



#2:



#3:



This is the one I like best. A Peugeot-made frame, possibly originally sold as a Griffon. It is currently sitting in my study, waiting for mrs non-fixie to want a classic French city bike. That may never happen. But if it does, I'll be taking the nicest bits of all three and build her something nice.

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thanks so much @non-fixie !



see that you have posted one of your oytoy film star leading men

IIRC thar be a second as well

be he currently built or unbuilt?

please pardon this old man's roosty "memory"


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While I'm at it, here's another acquisition that's made it to regular rider status.

And it's also a bycatch, found in a cellar where the bike was stored I had bought online and came to pick up. For an extra €5 I became the owner of what turned out to be a Miki-built Union Sapporo frame.

It is the lavender frame in the back:



After a while I decided to build it up:



It rode (very) well, but otherwise didn't add much to what I already had. But, since the fit was spot on and there was room for mudguards, I decided to rebuild it as a randonneuse légère. I had just bought a book with lots of pictures of Alex Singer bikes, and I'm afraid I got a little carried away.

This is during a trip to Tuscany in 2017, where it performed admirably:



I liked it and it triggered a few other builds in the same vein, but it ended up on the back burner after a while.

A few years later I found it again and I remembered how well this frame rode, so I decided to rebuild it once more, this time as a vélo sportif. The "Shimergo" transmission works beautifully, the Honjo H30's and the T.A. Professionnel give it a more elegant look and the narrow Vittoria tyres (~24mm) are excellent, as long as I stay out of the really rough stuff.

My current favorite day trip bike:

juvela said:

see that you have posted one of your oytoy film star leading men

IIRC thar be a second as well

Click to expand...

Don't tell anyone, but I actually have a few more. I don't have pictures of all of them, I'm afraid. Sorry about that.

This is an early eighties "Strada" which I've ridden quite a bit a few years ago. Built by Frank Groot, I believe. Pictured here on a rather famous historical site in Normandy:



Then there's this 1953 Super Vittorio, built by Jacobus de Jong, a.k.a. Witte Ko. (He was actually the cinema fan who suggested the name to Jan Groot, the shop owner).

As bought:



You will have seen this one before, a "Populair' tandem. The Populair models were Vittorio's off-the-peg bikes and the frames were built in Belgium, probably by Vaneenooghe. They could be ordered in odd sizes, if you were willing to wait a few weeks extra. This one was, with its 64/52 sizing, by the previous owners, who happen to have the same inseam measurements as we have.



This is an interesting one. Also a Strada, by Frank Groot, but with little tubes brazed into the seat tube, down tube and chain stays. Supposedly for extra rigidity.

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for readers, so they needn't have to fumble about in the dark -

here is the inspiration for the marque name under discussion



https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002094/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vittorio_Gassman

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one o' me fave marques (it's a list longue )



constructed with the Agrati lug pattern "ROMA" ART. 000.8020/E/U

upper head lug N. 000.8024

lower head lug N. 000.8023

seat lug N. 023.8059

shell appears NERVEX Ref. 158

do not know maker for this crown, have wondered if a stock pattern or perhaps a modification of one...

if anyone knows it please let me know...


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whenever contemplate the vast @non-fixie collection first thought is ever "Where the heck does he keep it all?!?!"

imagine the non-fixie residence to be much like Dr. Who's Tardis - vastly larger on the inside than t'is on the outside...



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juvela said:

do not know maker for this crown, have wondered if a stock pattern or perhaps a modification of one...

if anyone knows it please let me know...

Click to expand...

I believe the fork crown is indeed modified. This shape is fairly common on Plume Sport forks. Vagner and Ekla come to mind as possible originators:



The bottom:

juvela said:

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whenever contemplate the vast @non-fixie collection first thought is ever "Where the heck does he keep it all?!?!"

imagine the non-fixie residence to be much like Dr. Who's Tardis - vastly larger on the inside than t'is on the outside...
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Click to expand...

Most are kept in the attic.

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Expansive! Verily, one could easily sequester the Queen Mary up there!*

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royal chapeau -

thank you!

yes both Vagner & Ekla had designs with that horizontal groove fore & aft...



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* - just so long as she were a model in a bottle...


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