This nice old Lejeune came to me as a bare frame and I built it up in a more or less period-correct fashion as a pandemic project. The black seatpost still bugs me, but it was all I could get at the time. Not sure when the frame was built, but I'd guess 1971 or thereabouts. (Sorry about the non-drive side image, but it's a cropped snapshot from a recent tour.)

I had not ridden the finished bike much until this spring, though, and now that I've put some significant miles on it I've come to realize that I'm not happy with the way it handles. Simply put, it has a tendency to wander from a straight line. Even when I concentrate on holding a straight course, it often feels like it's "slaloming" a little--as if it's describing a series of long, very shallow s-curves. I doubt that it would be evident to an onlooker, but I can feel it clearly.

What gives? Frame geometry is not something I know much about, but the frame angles don't strike me as steep. They seem very similar to other French frames I've had, and though I haven't compared them side by side, I'd say it's perhaps a little more relaxed than my Gitane TdF. Although I didn't do a string check of the frame alignment before building it up, I did look it over closely and saw no signs of crash damage or other obvious issues. The headset is perhaps a tiny bit tight, because that's what it took to eliminate any play. Could that have anything to do with it?

I really like the way this bike looks, and would like to love the way it handles. Help me out, somebody!

EDIT: A quick check with a string from one dropout and around the head tube to the other dropout seems to show that the rear triangle, at least is pretty true. Seat tube to string is 32mm on one side and 34 on the other. I can't imagine that moving the triangle 1mm to the left could make a difference. Dropout spacing is spot on at 120m. The fork is obviously harder to check, but there's no misalignment visible to the naked eye--at least not mine.