Classic & Vintage - DOES ANYONE REMEMBER AN "ELVISH" ??

Hi everyone I'm new here. And i'm trying to get as much info on a bike I got new in 1972, French Elvish. It was considered pretty good back then, light, cost a couple hundred bucks in '72. It has only about 100mi. on it. But I can't find a thing about it or the company...any ideas??? Thanks,Gary

I have a friend...well, I can't ever seem to find the guy at home, but he has an Elvish as well, and a '72, as well as a Super Course of the same vintage. I think that he wants to part with 'em, but there's this supernatural force that is keeping me from ever seeing them. Can you post a picture or two so I'll know what I'm missing?

btw, I have a smallish collection of NOS Elvish decals, and periodically there is a guy on eBay selling similar decals, if you have a restoration planned.

italtecno - he has a set on eBay coming due right now, and it doesn't look like they'll sell...$6 Buy It Now.

Hi everyone I'm new here. And i'm trying to get as much info on a bike I got new in 1972, French Elvish. It was considered pretty good back then, light, cost a couple hundred bucks in '72. It has only about 100mi. on it. But I can't find a thing about it or the company...any ideas??? Thanks,Gary

Elvish bikes were built in the South of France in the Pau area. They were also sold under the Fontane name. They are comparatively light and do ride quite well. Because they made a wide variety of models, it is hard to tell you anything in particular about your bike without photos. I bought both my parents Elvish bikes in about 1984 and they still have them.

I believe the last ones to be imported to North America was a lot of a few hundred in 1983 by Ian Brown in Canada.

Elvish?

Sounds like The King after a few Manhattans.

Elvish bikes were built in the South of France in the Pau area. They were also sold under the Fontane name. They are comparatively light and do ride quite well. Because they made a wide variety of models, it is hard to tell you anything in particular about your bike without photos. I bought both my parents Elvish bikes in about 1984 and they still have them.

I believe the last ones to be imported to North America was a lot of a few hundred in 1983 by Ian Brown in Canada.


Hello, You sparked my memory...they did sell Fontane also !! Thank-you and any other info is greatly appreciated. I have some pictures of it but I don't know how to post them here? Gary

Elvish?

Sounds like The King after a few Manhattans.


Good One !!!

I found a few pics I took a couple years ago for ebay...

hi
i had never heard of an 'elvish' but had glanced at the thread a couple of days ago.
today i was walking downtown and parked outside one of the coffee shops was, you guessed it, an elvish. i couldn't believe it. this one however was a ladies step through, copper in colour, and nicely set up with a gel seat and a basket. i eventually saw the person who owned it and it turned out to be an old colleague of mine. how weird. she had picked it up at a garage sell some time ago because she wanted something lighter. i picked it up and it seemed very heavy to me, but she did have lots of stuff on it, basket, stand, panniers, lights. anyway funny coincedence. :)

hi
i had never heard of an 'elvish' but had glanced at the thread a couple of days ago.
today i was walking downtown and parked outside one of the coffee shops was, you guessed it, an elvish. i couldn't believe it. this one however was a ladies step through, copper in colour, and nicely set up with a gel seat and a basket. i eventually saw the person who owned it and it turned out to be an old colleague of mine. how weird. she had picked it up at a garage sell some time ago because she wanted something lighter. i picked it up and it seemed very heavy to me, but she did have lots of stuff on it, basket, stand, panniers, lights. anyway funny coincedence. :)


Thats Weird how things happen !!

I, too, had an Elvish. It must have been around 71 or 72, that would have been high school. All steel, cottered cranks, simplex shifters. I had no point of comparison; at that point in my life, it was 'my wheels'.

Although locked in place with a chain, it was stolen from the courtyard of my school. And it formed the center of my first experience with just how unimportant non-motorists are to the cops. It was not worth enough for them to care - although back then, there were probably plenty of used cars around worth no more.

It basically fell through the deductible on my parents homeowner's insurance, so I recovered (literally) a few dollars for a less than a year-old bike.

If it had been a beat-to-crap 10 year old car, everyone - especially the cops - would have cared a lot more.

Nonetheless, to this day, the Montgomery County MD police do a far better job of making motorists stick to posted laws than the keystone cops where I currently live in Massachusetts.

The bike wound up being replaced by a 'Heinz 57' built up by a classmate who worked in a bike store. He used whatever he could find in the parts box
Claud Butler Frame
Campy STEEL Derailleurs
Mity Comp cranks (I think)
Campy hi-flange hubs

Hi everyone I'm new here. And i'm trying to get as much info on a bike I got new in 1972, French Elvish. It was considered pretty good back then, light, cost a couple hundred bucks in '72. It has only about 100mi. on it. But I can't find a thing about it or the company...any ideas??? Thanks,Gary

Here's my Canadian-made Elvish... I suspect it to be an early 80s bike, probably a re-branded popular cheap frame. All of the Elvish bikes I've seen on the Net all come from France or Quebec, Canada... I believe they distributed bikes with the Elvish brand name solely in Quebec in the 80s.

http://homepage.mac.com/fostergst/.Public/Elvish01.jpg

http://homepage.mac.com/fostergst/.Public/Elvish02.jpg

That's going to be my answer when people ask: "unusual name, what nationality is it?"

Here's my Canadian-made Elvish... I suspect it to be an early 80s bike, probably a re-branded popular cheap frame. All of the Elvish bikes I've seen on the Net all come from France or Quebec, Canada... I believe they distributed bikes with the Elvish brand name solely in Quebec in the 80s.


What makes you think that this bike is made in Canada? It looks just like the Pau-built bikes to me.

What makes you think that this bike is made in Canada? It looks just like the Pau-built bikes to me.

There's an original sticker on the frame that says: "Made in Canada".

Could be that it was assembled in Canada.

i've seen a bunch of elvish bikes. the "made in canada" ones are english-threaded. the others (including mine) are french-threaded. the made in canada ones look like the early '80s procycle bikes: made-in-canada peugeots, CCMs, velo sports...

I came across an Elvish on sunday, Im going to clean it up soon and see how it runs.
bike photo (http://www.prettyshady.com/1/media/08/mar/elvish2/DSC_0080.JPG)

Hello, I bought an Elvish Bike in I believe it was 1974 in Georgetown Washington, DC. I still have the bike and it came with a small pennant which I also still have that says "Cycles Fontane" and I was told by the Bike shop owner that the Elvish was made by Fontane. I enjoyed the bike in my younger years and rode it a lot. The frame is of Durafort tubing with mostly french components such as Normandy hubs, Stronglight cranks, Mafac brakes, Simplex derailleurs. etc.

Elvish?

Sounds like The King after a few Manhattans.

+1 Elvish Preshley, at least that how I imagine Sean Connery would pronounce it.

Not mine, but a lovely picture of an 1900's Elvish

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3039/3336096032_c72edfd7c5_z.jpg