Help requested - Menet (Belgian) road bike

[L.F]

I should be very grateful for any information about a road bike I have recently bought which was originally supplied by Cycles Menet, located in Plogsteert in Belgium near the French border. I have contacted them but they have been unable to provide any information about it – “it's too old and we don't keep all the specification”.

It has a very large 25 inch frame made with Columbus tubing. The lugs are quite plain, although the ones on the fork tube have triangles cut out of the tops. The front forks are chromed with an integrated fork crown. I can’t find any identifying marks on the frame apart from M89 which is stamped on the underside of the bottom bracket.

It is fitted with Shimano (Exage 300EX) equipment – gears, chain set, hubs, brakes pedals – and has black Alesa rims with Ultech Flyer 700 x 23c tyres. It has 14 close ratio gears – 52/40 chain rings and 13,14,15,16,17,19,21 sprockets.

The bike is in excellent condition and has been little used. I estimate it to be from around 1990, judging by the Shimano 300EX equipment (perhaps the frame was made in 1989 given the M89 stamp?).

I suspect that Menet don’t make the frames themselves, in which case, who did? I’d be very interested if anyone could shed any more light.

 

[Diamant_Don]

Can you post some close-ups - of the lugs etc? That might help!

 

[Johnsqual]

Bit of a stab in the dark, but if it's made of Columbus and in Belgium, it might
have been made by Martelly - www.martelly.be

The colour scheme looks a bit like one of theirs.

Martelly made (still do make) top quality steel bikes. They used to build frames for a lot
of pros whose sponsors made bikes that weren't good enough for professional use.

Another possibility might be U.Scanini, mainly because of the paint job, but I think Martelly is more likely.

 

[L.F]

Some more photos as requested. Note, too, how the rear brake cable is routed through the bottom of the top tube, emerging on the top of it.

 

[Johnsqual]

The type of cable stops and the positioning (with the rear one on top of the frame)
are similar to the ones on my U.Scanini.

U.Scanini used to have a tiny factory in my village (Beauvechain) but it seems to be closed now. The company still seems to exist in some form though. I think they are based in Antwerp.

 

[L.F]

Interesting, thanks.

 

[L.F]

This Menet frame, on sale on eBay France, has very similar lugs to mine -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cadre-MENET-5 ... 3a904da8b0

 

[Industrial_Kid]

Re:

Hi,
Did you have any success on requesting info on Menet bike? I'm in the same situation and there are just a few result on searching online. Your topic is one of them.
I have also contacted Cycles Menet and no reply at all. Also sent message to Martelly workshop to ask information.
What about your research?
Thanks,

 

[L.F]

No I haven't had any luck. Menet said that they didn't keep records that far back I seem to remember. I think mine is dated around 1989, going by the Shimano equipment on it.

Do you have any photos of yours?

 

[Industrial_Kid]

Re:

Bought with this thick, maybe plastic based paint on it with the name of the (probably amateur) team. It's being sandblated and repainted now.
The cable routing and the saddle post fixing bolt seems the same as on yours, as well as the lugs. The pantigraphed 'm' might be the older version of the branding. And the shoulder of the fork too.