Classic & Vintage - Aluminium ALAN with gold groupset

I just picked up this bike this morning.
I need to date it but i think it is a 70's one.
It has Gold Simplex super LJ derailleurs and levers.
Gold Mafac 2000 brakes and levers.
Stronglight competition headset and Stronglight TS cranks.
Maillard 700 team issue hubs with Alu Super champion rims.
The rear tubular has a bulge and i'm just about to replace it.

Then it's time for a ride!

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5149/5860045648_c6e01d0060_b.jpg

Looks like a 70's model to me too. It's interesting with the gold components. Did you manage to get a history with the bike?

I know the next generation of ALAN frame had a date stamp at the top of the seat tube on the right hand side. I think a model name accompanied the date stamp as well. I wonder if your ALAN has a date stamped in a similar position?

With the component mix it probably originated in France.

Best of luck on your first ride.

Dave, you are one bike away from going on my "IGNORE" list. Too much, man!

You can keep the others.... this one tugs on my heart strings.

Great bike, I hope you'll enjoy this alan as much as I enjoy mine. And if you ever find another set of these SLJ's, I've been looking all over for a set of them.

The colored anodizing does stand out from the base aluminum color..

...
I need to date it but i think it is a 70's one....


The absence of top tube cable guides is a dating indicator. Later ones have them.

date code will be on the seat tube of the frame,

Since we are both in france dave, can we do a bike swap some time?

date code will be on the seat tube of the frame,

Since we are both in france dave, can we do a bike swap some time?

There is no date code on this one and i have been told that the gold simplex came out in 1975!?
So i'm thinking mid to late 70's.

A bike swap sometime sounds cool!

Looks like a 70's model to me too. It's interesting with the gold components. Did you manage to get a history with the bike?

I know the next generation of ALAN frame had a date stamp at the top of the seat tube on the right hand side. I think a model name accompanied the date stamp as well. I wonder if your ALAN has a date stamped in a similar position?

With the component mix it probably originated in France.

Best of luck on your first ride.

The only history i know is that the bike came from avignon originally.

Great bike, I hope you'll enjoy this alan as much as I enjoy mine. And if you ever find another set of these SLJ's, I've been looking all over for a set of them.

I'll keep you posted!

This bike was bought on Ebay and it was mislabeled as a "Heta" titanium bike.
The Heta really confused me and after lots of investigating i didn't come up with anything.
The photo wasn't great but i saw it was aluminium and thought it was a Vitus frame.
I saw that the bike was without bidders the first time around because the seller didn't say that he would be willing to ship the bike.
So i decided to take a gamble and made him an offer to end the auction. The offer was below his asking price but it was a fair offer considering it was the second time listed on Ebay. When i arrived to collect the bike i saw it had a frame pump and the pump's make was HETA , hence he thought the bike was called an HETA.
I saw the alan engraving on the headtube and had a little smile to myself.

I took it to the bike shop today to be weighed and it is 9.4 kilos.

Also i took it on an alleycat race around Paris tonight and the bike rode amazingly.
When you stand and pump the pedals hard it has an amazing flex that is very fluid with with you and feels superb.
It feels very natural how the bike moves with your pedaling.
I'm really impressed with this bike!

The only history i know is that the bike came from avignon originally.

There are so many bike in and around Avignon.

There's a jumble sale every saturday morning there, and every time I have been I have brought an ok bike.

Also i took it on an alleycat race around Paris tonight and the bike rode amazingly.
When you stand and pump the pedals hard it has an amazing flex that is very fluid with with you and feels superb.
It feels very natural how the bike moves with your pedaling.
I'm really impressed with this bike!

I totally agree, the ALAN's do ride superbly. Your description is spot on.

All you need is one of these to match the components.
http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx15/svt4cam/DSCN2003.jpg

Lovely ALAN as well svt4cam! I ran mine for a while with the MAFAC's as the super record brakes I had were for recessed mounts. The blue anodizing looked awesome with the gold. Sadly no pics of those. And while we're at it, here's mine again (I jump at every chance to post a pic of it :) )

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5141/5684187474_b96358bef2_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctjr/5684187474/)
Alan Super Record (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctjr/5684187474/) by ctjr (http://www.flickr.com/people/ctjr/), on Flickr

I think the blue is my favourite colour.

I'd love to have a green one as well... Unfortunately they are quite rare. I'm still aiming to complete my collection with a Green cyclocross one and a red track bike. The black build randyjawa did is also great, such clean lines!

Wow some beautiful Alans!

Mesmerizing bikes, I have to agree. I just bought one myself at about the same time as you Daveyates. But you struck the gold! Like the ride as well, as you described, but the fork seems just on the limit of being stiff enough.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5153/5863406912_1ab7364cf8_z.jpg

It used to be the same blue as yours, Italuminium, but apparently these anodizing dyes fade over time! Didn't know that was possible. Now it's a palish steel blue with an almost lavender undertone. Same colour allover though (inside of the stays, underside of the downtube) as if it was intended that way. That's a nice thing about these Alan's, you can make them shine like they are brand new, anytime, easily.


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3242/5862855943_a2188ffdfe_z.jpg

Yup, the dyes degrade over time under the influence of UV. I did some research, and apparently it varies with the colour. Blue and black seem to fade the worst. The anodizing on mine is darker, must have spend more time inside. Mine is more scratched then yours though, and re-anodizing seems costly and hard to do with these screw and glue bikes. Congratulations on your find. It looks very similar to my bike, although yours is older judging by the top tube cable guides. I agree with you on the fork issue, but I don't find it much of a problem (I'm skinny :)). Is the bike as shown finished or as found? Because it could do with some campy brakes and uni coloured bar tape... But that's my taste.

Strictly as found, I just stuck in a rear wheel of my PX10 to test-ride it. I guess it's from a 77 to 79 time frame, because of the rainbow decals: they mention the 74/75/76 wins and later ones mention 79 as well. No engraving on the seat tube. The 105 brakes with aero levers will certainly go and that tape is terrible!

Just get some gold chains and a gold grill and ur good to go...

I seen one of these alan's at uncle Jacobs downtown in Toronto, the blue version, I asked how much it was to amuse myself, he wanted 1200.

he wanted 1200.

Not very amusing, really.

I paid 90 E frame only. and 40 e for the SR gruppo, but that's a whole story in itself. However, I ran into a small issue. My frame stickers mention the 1979 win, yet the frame is without SN and cable guides. The rest of the decals are the block letter style, not the rainbow style. is this a frame later restrickered? or just the WC bands?

I love the gold on silver - stunning bike! Looking at yours has made me determined to build up mine, which sadly has a broken fork. The good news is if you're starting out with a franken-bike frame, you can pretty much do what you want without having to keep it "correct".

The rest of the decals are the block letter style, not the rainbow style. is this a frame later restrickered? or just the WC bands?

No idea, however, a British forum lists an ALAN email adress. Word is they (he, Alberto!) answers all info requests regarding vintage frames.

Sorry, OT-ing myself to 50.

With the grey hair and all. Calves all gone.

Meh, feels the same.

Thanks for the adress! I'll send them an email.

Thanks for the compiment Ital, yours is spectacular too like the blue. I believe Alan used the '79 world chapion stickers pretty much for the entire production run. I thinks might be early eighties because the seat stays are not held to the seat cluster with allen screws like Daveyates and mine and your frame has shifter bosses where Daveyates and mine don't. I've had mine since the '70's, I bought the frame for $50.00 from a racer bikeshop co worker who took his hands off the bars to eat a banana and the Alan unceremoniously dumped him on the road for his innattention.

Thanks as well! Nice story too. It's probably a transition model between the top tupe guide, rainbow decal model and the totally bare and ****er boss-les model. This 1979 has the toptube bits though? http://lincolnsmithy.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/alancompleteinstand.jpg Anyway, I mailed the folks at ALAN, see what they have to say.

ps.I also had a competition model frame, that has the stays attached via allen screws. Too bad the lineup and the names varied so much over the years, it makes it hard to keep track. I also found this brochure online, I HAVE to find one of these mixtes for my girl!
http://james.architectureburger.com/cycle/alan2.html