Falcon Carmargue

[winjohn]

Spent yesterday cleaning this up...most of the time polishing the stem that was a rough hewn dark grey metal of dubious origin but an hour or so, starting with the industrial sander on 60 grit and going through the 5000 wet and dry and a final autosol polish, revealed it itself as a quite beautiful lttle ITM stem that paired perfectly with the Sakae Custom Road Champion risers.


I was very pleased how a quick scrub up brought the bike back to life and I couldn't help thinking it reminded me of something else I'd seen recently.


The Temple Cycles Lightweight!

And here is the 40 year old ancestor my Camargue.

 

[juvela]

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lovely, beautiful job!

if mine, would wish to verify that stem and bar compatible at clamp

the default size for Italmanubri is 26.0mm and for Sakae Ringyo 25.4mm

both makers may offer other sizes so match may be compatible

mismatches at this location can lead to failures


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[winjohn]

My belief is that the bars and stem have been together on this bike for a long time. When I took them apart for cleaning there seemed no evidence of a size mismatch and they are a snug fit. I would imagine that the incompatibility you state would be apparent as a very loose fit.

Thanks for the compliment, I was quite surpised how nice it looked after a little bit of spit and polish and it rides really nicely too. I will take it on some longer rides with a few hills before deciding if I should keep the current gearing and brakes, but for getting around town it should be quite fine as is. It is currently 1x6 but I have fitted a double shifter and I have a couple of double chainsets that I could fit. Also the old single pivot Weinmanns work surprising well but I have some beefier dual pivots I could try too.

 

[winjohn]

Looking at various Falcon Camargue images that I can find on the internet, they all seem to have this stem and bar pairing so this confirms my original thinking that they were on the bike as original equipment. I measured the bar at the clamping area and it is 25.4mm but the photo of the stem clamp shows it does not appear over-tightened in order to fit.

 

[juvela]

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thanks very much for the reply

spot of unusual for a cycle producer to employ stem & bar from differing makers


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[winjohn]

I pointed out the similarities between my 40 year old Falcon and the new Temple, both simple 1x drive, 700c, rim brake city bikes with Reynolds steel frames.

There are also some differences:

The Temple: Reynolds 520 frame tig-welded in Taiwan assembled in the UK, around £1000 to buy new, available second-hand from £500.
The Falcon: Reynolds 501 lugged frame hand-built in the UK, bought second-hand £25.

 

[juvela]

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appears the original Sachs Huret gear mech on your example was replaced at some point

pattern of Sachs Huret shift lever is one which came in about nineteen seventy-five

pedals appear they may be some variation of the Lyotard model 36R


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[winjohn]

Very well spotted. The pedals are indeed Lyotard 36Rs I believe they are original, and the Sach Huret was added by me last week to replace the plastic Shimano handlebar-mounted thumb shifter. I thought they fitted quite well with the aesthetic I was going for.