non-fixie 

I just picked up this Jacques Anquetil. They don't come along in my (XL) size often (if ever) and Anquetil is definitely one of my heroes. The Campagnolo dropouts and fork ends clinched the deal. The seller (a local fellow C&V bike enthusiast) thought it was a mid-sixties frame, because of the decals.

I've been reading up on the brand a bit, trying to find out who might have been the frame manufacturer (Jacques certainly didn't build them himself - he had better things to do ) and apparently there were quite a few licensees of the JA brand name. Suggestions I've found so far:

• Gitane (JA rode for them)
• Cycles France-Loire (spotted a few)
• Bertin (mentioned on this forum)
• Carlton (as part of a Ron Kitching venture)
• Helyett (this forum, again)

Based on what I'm seeing (the chain stay cable guide, no serial number, rather sloppy finish) I'd say it's a late sixties or early seventies French or Belgian frame, but I haven't been able to match it with anything so far, so I'm asking for your help. Any ideas?

It's a 63.5 cm frame (C-T) and with the all-steel headset and BB it weighs 4.1 kg. BB shell is 68 mm wide and the seat post diameter is 26.4 or 26.6 mm (the seat lug is slightly deformed, so I'm not sure).

crank_addict

My guess is Jeunet. Even the foil graphics follow their other models.

Filochard

It also might be Cizeron which had commercial agreements with Jeunet since 1966.

non-fixie 

Thank you for that lead!

One pic I forgot to post is this rather unique (or so it seems) Reynolds 531 decal. The seller thought he'd seen it before on French 'trois tubes' bikes, but I haven't been able to find any examples. The style reminds me of the 'Bonderized R.C. Tubing' decals I've seen on some Belgian bikes.

unterhausen

not crazy about the brazing on that fork blade in the upside-down shot

non-fixie 

Good call. Cizeron did make Géminiani-branded bikes, so why not?

Filochard

It's confirmed that Cizeron has built Anquetil and Geminiani bikes along with Jeunet.

uncle uncle

Man, I always love the bikes that have the little pics of pro riders in the logo... even the super low end ones. So cool-kitsch. And yours, with the pea green; sublime. I passed up a Louison Bobet branded bike that had seen some time on the mean streets, missing at least half of it's original jewelry, and a size too small, and it was still pretty hard to walk away.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/37014028164277505/ (uhm... it don't get no cooler in these two.)

T-Mar

Yes, Cizeron built Jacques Anquetil bicycles until at least 1973 but are you sure about Jeunet? All the evidence suggests that Jeunet was located in the city of Dole. The Jeunet head badge is Dole's coat of arms while the Franche Compte decal refers to the province in which Dole is located. All the boom era model names are associated with Dole;

Jeunet model 611, Dole Stadium: Named after the stadium in the city of Dole.

Jenunet model 610, Jura Landscape: Named after the region in which the city of Dole is located.

Jeunet model 620, River Doubs: Named after the river on which banks the city of Dole is located.

Jeunet 630, Dole Flower Fountain: Named after Rosset's fountain, L'Enfant, which resides in Dole's city square, La Place aux Fleurs.

Jeunet 640, Louis Pasteur Memorial: Named after Dole's most famous resident.

Of course, the bicycles could have been contract manufactured, with Jeunet only being a marketing company, but they always seemed to be one of the larger brands and I have always assumed they were a manufacturer.

non-fixie 

Thanks for that clipping, @Filochard! Interesting to see that they didn't bother with the first names of the foreigners in the teams, like Van de Kerckhove (Bernard, a Belgian) and Den Hartog (Arie, a Dutchman). Not sure who Genest was.

non-fixie 

Thank you for all the replies. Much appreciated!

What about a date? As far as I can tell it could have been made anywhere between the mid-sixties and the mid-eighties. Can we narrow that down a bit?

Filochard

Four brands, one builder (1968 ad):




And here is a letter sent from Cizeron to Jeunet in november 1967 where, to sum up, both companies agreed to increase fares on their Anquetil and Geminiani bikes at the same time:



Here is another Anquetil bike with the same logos Forum Tonton Vélo ? Afficher le sujet - Jacques Anquetil demi course

It was gifted by the parents of his owner in 1966.

non-fixie 

Thanks again, @Filochard! 1966 coincides nicely with the seller's suggestion of 1965. The Tontonvelo link also provides some nice suggestions as to the build. Looks like I may have found a place for my Duprat Universel cranks.

T-Mar

Thank-you for posting this. It confirms that Jeunet was located in Dole. However, the correspondence does not clearly indicate that Cizeron was the sole manufacturer for these brands during this era. It could be interpreted that Jeunet had offloaded some of the manufacturing to Cizeron and that both companies were building bicycles. However, maybe I've misinterpreted it, based on my relatively poor French.

Filochard

I guess the production was shared out between Jeunet and Cizeron and both companies had their own distribution network.
Cizeron was known for selling through chain stores.

T-Mar

Thank-you. This is what I have been trying to determine. I just wanted to ensure that I wasn't making a translation error.

non-fixie 

Thanks, guys! It is always a pleasure to watch when an apparently simple question leads to an explosion of knowledge. This forum is pretty good at it.

Carry on.