tuz

My friend got this bike some time ago and started a thread. I saw the bike and though I'd show a few pictures.

It's a 70's bike from a shop north of Toronto ("Cycle Sports", owner Tony Polsinelli), with quite interesting features. The BB is French threaded, it's got tapered seatstays (they get bigger toward the seat cluster, never seen this before), unusual round seatstay caps wrap around style, and a curved seatstay bridge. No braze-ons save for a stop on the down tube and eyelets/hanger on the campy drops. The seat post is 26.4. Anybody has ever seen this before?









(drop has been straitened)



Edited to correct pics

nlerner

I'm only seeing a pic of the headtube so far. More, please!

Neal

tuz

That's weird, they show fine for me. If anybody else has trouble, the pics are here.

Edited links... perhaps it'll work

John E

That frame exhibits a fascinating blend of French and English features. What is the outer diameter of the seat tube? In conjunction with your 26.4mm seatpost, a French 28.0mm OD would indicate a butted moly steel main triangle, whereas 28.6mm would indicate a straight gauge moly steel main triangle.

Cyclist0383

I also only getting the head tube.

Blue Order

Same here.

karmat

Same here, but the link he posted to the other photos works fine.

Karl

nlerner

They're all showing up in the OP now for me.

Wish I could help with ID, but I haven't a clue. That bulky seat-stay treatment is something I've never seen before. Based on color and head lugs, I was seeing a match to my early 70s St. Etienne, but that's not likely.

Neal

unworthy1

I agree with John E: it seems to mix British features (the curved brake bridge, the large single-taper seat stays and semi-wrap style) with what seems to be French gauge (metric) tubing and BB shell. Very Canadian, eh? Looks like Prugnat lugs and Campy DOs....do you think the fork is a (Tange maybe?) replacement or the original with a Wagner-ish crown? What threading is the HS?
Edit: you will want to close up (carefully) that drive-side DO slot.

tuz

There is definitely a French connection... I need to measure the tube OD to check. I've been in contact with some local folks as well and apparently Polsinelli had a builder in his shop, but also put his name on some French frames...

tuz

Haha very Canadian indeed I'm not familiar with tapered seatstay: when were they in use?

The fork is Tange and most certainly a replacement. Therefore the HS threading is likely standard. The bike also came with nice campy parts (see above link) but also crappy wheels.
Edit: The upper cup/lock nuts are from a Tange headset though, while the frame cups are campy, so the original fork might have been French.

unworthy1

I'm not going to shed too much light on the history of seatstays, maybe somebody from the framebuilder's forum can nail this down (I'd like to know, too). But, in a nutshell there were very thin diameter "pencil stays" popular in early years which gave way to more fashionable thin but double tapered (top and bottom) stays that were either 12mm diameter if Columbus or 1/2" if Reynolds. At some point beefier (16mm or 5/8", respectively) stays came and went in the fashion parade and in the case of Reynolds they were single taper (maybe Columbus, too, but I dunno).
Since my knowledge of all this is pretty sketchy I look forward to being corrected

tuz

All right so I checked the tubing and it seems to be metric. Thus certainly a French bike.

Anybody has seen those bulky seatstay caps before?

unworthy1

I haven't seen any *exactly* like that, but there were a lot of options available from various suppliers back in the day this was built. Many builders customized the caps to create unique and distinctive shapes. There's also a chance that if you strip all the paint off the seatcluster you may find that the stays have been slotted, formed and brazed up to create this finial, then ground to the finished shape...but they sure do look perfectly identical to my eye, so that's a longer shot. It's a unique bike, enjoy it.

cudak888 

Where have I seen that stay-to-dropout treatment before...?

-Kurt

cyclotoine

Those handlebars are a real catch two as well as the brake calipers. I'd strip the anodizing off the collar and polish.

unworthy1

the "scalloped" stay treatment was typical of several French builders (certainly seen on Gitane among others), and this has the scallops just on the outboard sides of the stays where some would scallop the inner sides, too. It not clue enough for *me* to determine who built this frame...

tuz

Thanks guys. So French it is for sure, and indeed quite unique. It's quite light as well, my friend enjoys it

USAZorro

Scan the Classic Rendezvous archives for the past 3 months. I'm pretty sure I recall a thread about this type of bicycle.

p.s. - Your driveside dropout needs to be pressed back into proper position.