Classic & Vintage - Belgian track bike - Unknown origins

Hi all,
Wasn't sure if I was going to post this in the track section, the vintage section or here, but I thought I'd try it here.

I recently bought this Belgian trackbike from Holland and neither I or the seller knew much about it's history more than that it was repainted sometime in the early 90's to this Lievens Velo's-livery. I have mailed the shop but I haven't got an answer just yet.
I thought I'd post it here in case someone knows a thing or two about belgians :)
The tubing is unknown, but the seller thought it probably was Columbus.
ST ct 58cm
TT cc 57cm

Also equipped with:
Campagnolo dropouts
Campagnolo Pista Record BB 36x24f
Campagnolo Pista Record headset
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5203/5338202743_8492a36496.jpg
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5204/5338821126_1f929d5597.jpg
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5249/5338205493_afa0a8c4ba.jpg

More pics here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/41284201@N05/sets/72157625782095282/

I'm happy for any information available regarding belgian track bikes also :)

Cheers,

Vintage section ;)

Great looking bike none the less, love the vivid colors! :thumb:

Vintage section ;)

Great looking bike none the less, love the vivid colors! :thumb:

Yep, moving it to C&V for better play.

It looks Great. Is it in a used condition?

I've never seen anything like that btw..

Yeah, it's used, but only on the track, so it's near mint condition :)

Lievens has been in businesss since the mid-1970s and located in downtown Geel (near Antwerp) according to their website (written in Dutch).
Perhaps they sponsored a local track rider and did the repaint with their shop name on it.

unique-looking lugs: no brand I'm familiar with, stay caps look a bit like Gios, but not an exact match. The BB shell (Italian thread, BTW) might be a Cinelli shell, but hard to read details cause that paint is so thick. If you can feel or shine a light and look up the base of the fork's steering column: are there 5 shallow ridges in the base?
Seems like a quality frame: nice bike!

I'll look into that and come back to you!
So you can tell by the lugs who made the frame? (well, not in this case, but otherwise)

I'll look into that and come back to you!
So you can tell by the lugs who made the frame? (well, not in this case, but otherwise)

Sometimes the lug treatment (or forkcrown or stay caps, etc.) is so unique it is identifiable as the work of one builder or marque. Also, the brand of frame bits often helps locate the country of origin. Your frame's head and seat lugs are so unusual that I've never seen the likes of them before...so no help. Chances are very high that the frame was built in Benelux, but that's the easy guess.

I just checked out the steering column, the 5 ridges are there. What does that tell you?

it's Columbus tubing, at least for the fork, but usually when the OEM fork's Columbus so is the frame.

Would it be worth the hassle to convert the rear wheel back to a road wheel? The hub isn't a track hub, so it's of no use to me.
How would I go ahead and do it?
What would it be worth if I sold it?
Mavic Mach 2 CD2-rims with 32H lowflange campagnolo hubs (athena?) with barely used Vredestein Fortezza Pro, the spokes has SAP writing on them, which I guess stands for Sapim?

It was not uncommon for European bike shops to put together bikes like this and put their name on them. As I understand from my friends who collect such things, usually the frames were made by one of the Italian builders, according to specs provided by the shop. It is a good find, and a beautiful bike for sure.

Hmm, which italian builders could it be made by?
Does anyone have any input about the rear wheel?

Anyone?

do you have apic of the rearwheel? why isn't it a track hub?

as for who made the bike... unless you contact the store you may never know. about two years ago I picked up a fabulous 'house brand' bike from the netherlands. it is a Cornelo and was named after the son of the shop owner. I was told the bikes were sourced from various suppliers in Italy. it is possible the bikes were even purchased through a sales rep and the store has no idea who actually built the bike.


http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=188534&d=1296682800

Actually, I've got no idea why it's not a proper track hub, the previous owner only raced it on the track where I've read that it's not that uncommon to use road hubs.
Here are some photos of the rear wheel

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5289/5338234791_21f3f6a7e0_z.jpg
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5203/5338209789_6426f656f7_z.jpg
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5170/5338813412_324d9a5400.jpg

OH it is likely a road hub respaced with a solid axle. those washers on the inside of the dropout are a bad idea. I don't think Campy made track hubs of that style. the easiest way tell for sure if it is a track hub is if the the cog and lock ring thread on in oppsite direction.

for a single Mach2 tubular wheel it might cost you more to rebuild it into a road wheel than you would get selling it. I would find a Campy or Miche track hub and rebuild the rim onto it.

great looking bike though

Would it be that much to replace the axle and remove the washers? Maybe I'd need to redish the wheel as well.
I was planning on using this bike on the street and therefore I thought that tubulars would be a bad idea, maybe I'll keep them for when I'm taking the Sunday ride :)

OH you're sell the pair? then it might not be a bad idea to change it back. just where are these wheels?

do you have apic of the rearwheel? why isn't it a track hub?

as for who made the bike... unless you contact the store you may never know. about two years ago I picked up a fabulous 'house brand' bike from the netherlands. it is a Cornelo and was named after the son of the shop owner. I was told the bikes were sourced from various suppliers in Italy. it is possible the bikes were even purchased through a sales rep and the store has no idea who actually built the bike.


http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=188534&d=1296682800

Another Cornelo, even more gorgeous ... : http://link.marktplaats.nl/415929696

But to get to the original question of the origin of the trackbike, at first I would say: Eddy Martens (now Martelly bikes, his site is easy to find). His father and himself were prolific framebuilders in Belgium (West Flanders) and build frames for many brands, bikeshops and pro-teams. The I saw the trackbike has Italian bb, so thats pretty definite: build in Italy. Maybe custom build to the wishes of the owner, hence the special treatment of the lugs.
I have a couple of U. Scanini bikes and frames (a Belgian fancy named bike brand), the more expensive ones were build in Italy and have Italian bb's, the cheaper ones were build by Martens, and have English bb's.

Yeah, if I decide on selling, it's definitely the pair :)
The wheels are in Sweden so they're quite far away :p
sr70guy, so that means I have a pretty solid bike then? Always a gamble when you buy repainted frames

Yeah, if I decide on selling, it's definitely the pair :)
The wheels are in Sweden so they're quite far away :p
sr70guy, so that means I have a pretty solid bike then? Always a gamble when you buy repainted frames

Definitely, made in Belgium or made in Italy .. either way this looks like a very solid bike.

I researched a bit into Gios Torino, as unworthy1 noticed, the seat stay caps look very similiar. Also the forks used on some Gios models look very alike with that straight look.
However the lugs do not match. Could it be a custom build by Gios? What other italian frame builders use stay caps that look like Gios ones?

I researched a bit into Gios Torino, as unworthy1 noticed, the seat stay caps look very similiar. Also the forks used on some Gios models look very alike with that straight look.
However the lugs do not match. Could it be a custom build by Gios? What other italian frame builders use stay caps that look like Gios ones?

The stay caps are pretty much a Gios signature, so no other big-name builders that I know of used them (or would have infringed on that proprietary detail, or would have wanted to confuse the buyer about whose was whose). But that doesn't mean they couldn't be copied or that they weren't and it certainly doesn't make your frame a Gios masquerading as a "Lievens" (even though it might be a nice thing, I highly doubt Gios did any contract-building for a Dutch shop). Since the shop is still in business, I'd rely on what they say.