[Edit: This thread was originally called "le trou Normand," until a moderator very kindly changed it to something more sensible. Sorry about any confusion!]

le trou Normand is a French term for a palate cleanser, served between meals to prepare you for the next. My brother in law (who is French) introduced the term at a large Thanksgiving dinner some 20 years ago. At the time, we were using a nice Cognac for this purpose; you reach a point where you can't possibly eat another bite, so you have a little glass of Cognac... and before long there's room for dessert. You may even feel hungry again.

So, in my family, le trou Normand translates as "the Norman Spacemaker."

Well, there was no room for more bikes in my bike shed. But I have found the elusive Norman Spacemaker. My apologies, friends, if I seem longwinded. I just want this story to come out right.

I'll have to start out by explaining that I saved a Norman tourist model three speed from the trash a few years ago. After a little research I realized it dates to ca 1950-3, and it's a higher quality bike than, say, a Raleigh Sports. Here's that bike on a tour last summer (it lives on Long Island, NY):


Intrigued, I searched on ebay and found a Norman Cycles product brochure, which I bought. It's not dated, but on the inside front cover it says "The 'Normans' invaded England in A. D. 1066. The Norman 'Invader' will be welcomed in the U.S.A. in A.D. 1950," so I figure this is the product brochure for the 1950 model year. I especially liked pages 6-7:


Ever since I've had this catalog I've thought it would be cool to find a Norman Invader or, better yet, a Rapide.

Then Cycleheimer posted this yesterday.

After some hasty emailing, I persuaded Junkyardbike to make the drive, 100 miles round trip, to check it out.

Junkyardbike, would you like to tell the next part of the story?