On the afternoon of June 28, 2013, as I was puttering around the house doing chores, I stopped for a few minutes to check my email. My inbox contained a message from rhm with the subject line "A thread you'll want to check out". I clicked on the thread and, lo and behold, there was another Norman Rapide that forum member Ottorange had recently come across. (That story is here.) Of course, when I read the thread and realized that the bicycle might end up being sandblasted and powder-coated, my heart nearly sank just to think that the second documented Norman Rapide might be lost.

I immediately got in touch with Ottorange and over the course of the next couple weeks we exchanged emails as I had expressed interest in obtaining, or at a minimum getting pictures of, the bicycle. Well, one thing lead to another and Ottorange essentially was given the bike by his boss to do with as he saw fit. As it turns out rhm was headed down my way around the same time and I was able to get a frameset for Ottorange that more suited to his size and proceeded to use it as trade fodder for the Rapide.

What I can say about this Norman Rapide is that the paint and graphics are in rough condition and it appears there is nothing original on the frame other than the saddle, seatpost, headset and bottom bracket. Unfortunately, the bicycle was "upgraded" at some point in its life to include front and rear derailleurs, a double crankset, and new wheels. Despite these issues, the frame appears to be structurally sound and in good condition with no apparent rust anywhere, save for a little speckling on the fork which should easily clean up with phosphoric or oxalic acid.

What are my plans for this bicycle? rhm has asked me more than once what I plan to do with it, but I've not had much time to focus on it. I know that it needs a deep cleaning and reassembly, but whether I will try to put it back into its original and period correct state is unknown at this point. One suggestion has been to put all the original parts back onto the 1950 Norman Rapide and keep that in reserve for bicycle shows and vintage bicycle rides and then perhaps put a Sturmey S5 hub on this frameset and not be too horribly concerned with obtaining period correct parts for this one and have this one as a "rider". Again, I need more time to think about it and have to dig through my parts bins/boxes before I can really decide what direction this project will take.

Without further ado, below are pictures which some on this forum have been eagerly awaiting.


1950's Norman Rapide Project - 1 by Sallad Rialb, on Flickr


1950's Norman Rapide Project - 2 by Sallad Rialb, on Flickr


1950's Norman Rapide Project - 3 by Sallad Rialb, on Flickr


1950's Norman Rapide Project - 5 by Sallad Rialb, on Flickr


1950's Norman Rapide Project - 7 by Sallad Rialb, on Flickr


1950's Norman Rapide Project - 8 by Sallad Rialb, on Flickr


1950's Norman Rapide Project - 10 by Sallad Rialb, on Flickr


1950's Norman Rapide Project - 11 by Sallad Rialb, on Flickr


1950's Norman Rapide Project - 12 by Sallad Rialb, on Flickr


1950's Norman Rapide Project - 13 by Sallad Rialb, on Flickr