grahamss210

Hello. I was recently lucky enough to score an amazing Frejus track bike. I originally thought that it was made in 1958. I thought this because it has the original Campy pista cranks with the dust caps on the inside of the pedal threads. The cranks also have the black Campagnolo chainring bolts which identify them as being made in 1958 (as far as I understand)

The front hub is Campagnolo with a track axle, but it has the black oil port cover which is generally reserved for road application. I have seen several older (1960s) track bikes with this front hub.

The paint and decals are in very good condition. No rust or dents. The Reynolds sticker looks to be accurate to the 1958 production year. Everything has a great patina. Original pista headset, BB, Inch pitch drive train, Campy 2 bolt seatpost, and Italia saddle.

Serial number : 101170 stamped below the seat cluster on the seat tube.

I know everybody interested will want to see pictures, so I will gladly post them soon

Thanks in advance for any information you may have!
Graham

norskagent

check the locknut date codes of the campy hub(s).

repechage

Campagnolo all alloy hubs from this era would not have RECORD under the logo mark. If they do, then they are from the 60's or later.

grahamss210

Will do.

I am also trying to figure out if the parts and frame were originally paired with each other.

here is the first picture:

grahamss210

grahamss210

Awesome advice. The front lock nut is marked 62. That is the year I was expecting from the frame. I am beginning to think that the cranks were added after, but made before.

grahamss210

The rear is a "no record" hub. The front is still somewhat confussing because of the oil port cover. I am assuming it is a track hub made before Campy started making strada and pista intentionally different (i'm only talking front hubs)?

grahamss210

repechage

Not necessarily so. Back then there were no "model years" in bikes like there are today. Parts would be purchased and used up, and I think European bookkeeping and taxes must be different than in the USA, at least back then. There is far too much NOS stuff that comes out of Europe, in the USA, inventory can be a real tax problem for a business, this does not seem to be the same in many European countries. Too many shops had big inventory, or they could buy direct if they made a big purchase and it was worth the carrying costs.

Od course, a company can goof, Masi Carlsbad bought so much Campagnolo initially that even bikes produced in 1976 used 1973 date coded parts. They could depreciate it, but "just in time" would have been better. Unless they got a killer deal on the big initial order.

repechage

Love the looks of those early cranks. I think these arms came w/o an anodizing finish.

repechage

"pre Record" applies to both Strada and Pista. Frejus could have easily ordered it that way, there were hubs w/o Record and with the oil port and clip, but all that I have seen came with quick release axles.
Legnano had Campagnolo make them hubs with their name on them only, so did Bianchi. This was before Campagnolo was a mature brand, the bike manufacturers were in control.

grahamss210

Correct. That makes them especially easy to polish. The same goes for all of the Campy hubs I have come across (excluding century finish)

bibliobob

SEXY!

Your serial number would seem to place it roughly in the '61-'63 range (according to the CR list registry), which seems to match your other data points. There's no silver bullet for dating, but I think you'd be pretty safe in calling yours a '62.

Congrats!

I just picked up a '61-62ish model, which I hope to out soon. I'm out of the country til next week, and it should arrive about the same time that I do. Very excited!

jmagruder10

I have a 1962 or 63 Frejus Track bike , I bought it a few months ago from the original owner. Serial number is 101229 It was originally Peachs and cream color but was repainted when it was two years old. ( The owner wanted it to look like the Paramount the National team was riding)This bike was rode in two US National events by REX Gooch from St. Louis MO . Originally had One inch pitch campy but was changed to 1/2 pitch campy, I still have the original 1 inch pitch I need to put it back on. At some point the seat post and brooks saddle were replaced. The front hub is marked FB and the rear is a schwinn script hub. with wood filled rims , cinnelli bars and stem.. There is a site with Frejus serial numbers , I will post a link to it later. It was sold by A-1 Bike shop in St Louis MO . They sold alot of Frejus Track bikes at that shop around that time because St Louis just built it`s outdoor velodrome in 1961 if I remember right and track bikes were flying out the doors. Whaen I purcased the bike the original owner had a few scrapbooks filled with many picture of him racing this bike in big races , even on on the front page of the St. Louis newspaper, his pro liscense and lots of way cool track bike stuff including race posters , jerseys and lots more. I was able to get two leather hairnets and a pair of leather track shoes and that was all he was letting go of. By the way I paid $600 for the bike also gat a set of rollers in the dealI sold for $75 so I got $525 in the bike and accessories. I am pretty sure that the OP bike is the same one on ebay a couple of weeks ago and the seller ended the auction early, I was going to put a bid in since it was my frame size. (Thanks alot for screwing the people who play by ebays rules)

Here are some links to picture I need to give it a full restoration.
https://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...0/PB260476.jpg
https://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...0/PB260478.jpg
https://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...0/PB260480.jpg
https://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...0/PB260479.jpg
https://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...0/PB260483.jpg

jmagruder10

Here is a picture of the bike at the National Championships in Kenosha Wisconsin before the repaint. Second from the right. https://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...pg01CCA6EC.jpg