Sonnet, the beauty of the unknown, prewar French?
05-27-15, 08:25 PM
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Sonnet, the beauty of the unknown, prewar French?
Check it out folks. I picked up this Sonnet from a real tough negotiator who was thinking 1950's. Looking at the slack geometry, I think it much earlier maybe 20's or 30's (hopefully). It did not come with wheels, but I believe a 26 will fit fine. The cottered Crank arms are Meija or Meita and the Sprocket is 1/8th with 52 teeth and it has an Ideale saddle, Lyotard pedals and Cibie reflectors. The headbadge has a cool Lion embossed above the name. Also it has a lucky 7 style seatpost that is spun around backwards (which I'll correct, of course). It has straight track-style dropouts and a very utilitarian feel to it. Fenders have a great double rib as well. Comment away.
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05-27-15, 08:39 PM
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So smegging uber cool ! That must be some sort of delivery or working bike.
Thanks for sharing...more ?
Thanks for sharing...more ?
05-27-15, 11:07 PM
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Very nice! Single speed, I take it, maybe get some cool no cable lever brakes?
05-28-15, 09:31 AM
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I'm hoping that someone may recognize the crankset which could lead to some clues as to the actual vintage of it. I'd like to get some wheels that will be fairly close in age. Anyone an old school French expert?
05-28-15, 10:44 AM
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Well, I'm no expert on French anything, but I agree it looks pre-war. The stem, the seat post, the fender attachment, the straight cut lugs, all these things resemble bikes from the 30's that I've seen.
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05-28-15, 11:15 AM
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I am no expert either...so...won't even hazard a guess...but...I will say...VERY COOL!!! Great score!!! Look forward to seeing it road worthy again!
05-28-15, 08:41 PM
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Oh yeah, this baby will definitely be going back on the road. The rear is spaced at 105 mm and the front is at 95 mm (hub search should be fun). I stuck a 26 x 1.95 front in there to use as a mock up. It was pretty snug, so I'm thinking that a 26 x 1.75 will be about right. The seatpost measures about 25.8 to 26.0 and the stem comes in at 22.0. Here's a couple more pics.
05-29-15, 03:42 PM
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trying to make out the fourth letter of the marking on the crankarms. is it a letter T or a letter J?
thanks
thanks
05-30-15, 09:49 AM
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It appears to be a "T". I believe Meita is a German word for daughter, I've found nothing about the crank arms. The spacing has got me scratching my head too.
08-20-15, 09:50 PM
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Hey folks, a quick update about this bike. Over the last couple of months, I've run across a couple of bikes like this on various webpages the Philippines. Here is a link to an article that Francophile found:
LCHS Spectrum
If you look closely at the bike in the article. It appears to have the same crankset. So it looks like my bike is Philippino. I really love this stuff.
LCHS Spectrum
If you look closely at the bike in the article. It appears to have the same crankset. So it looks like my bike is Philippino. I really love this stuff.
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08-21-15, 04:05 PM
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...and to think I thought we were going to be discussing a Svenska Aeroplan Aktigborg product!
...oh that's right: this is a BICYCLE forum!
...oh that's right: this is a BICYCLE forum!
