Another Torrot
 

I was browsing the local Craigslist equivalent this afternoon and saw a bike for sale, no description or make included in the ad, just a blurry photo, the only thing that was recognizable was a Stronglight 49d crankset. Those things are as rare as hens teeth in this part of the world so I went to take a look.
It turns out that the bike was a Spanish Torrot. There seems to be very little information about them on the internet and even here at BF. T-Mar as usual seems to know the most about them.
As you can see in the photo's the bike is a bit of a mishmash. The wheels are mis-matched 27x11/4 , the original stem has been replaced, as have the brake levers, the calipers are Super Olympic 66. I thought at first that the drive train was none original but the only picture I could find of a similar bike online shows the same components. The crank is indeed a Stronglight 49d, the shifters and front and rear mechs are all Suntour, the rear is a Suntour V-luxe shortcage, so pretty decent components.
There are no frame tube decals, front and rear dropouts are nicely forged but not stamped. The paint looks very durable and reminds me of the lustrous red paint that Sekine used on their 70's era bikes.
I'll remove the rack, basket and mudguards, put more suitable brake levers, stem and saddle back on, find a matching set of wheels and see how it feels on the road.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=527411http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=527412http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=527413http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=527414http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=527415

hello peter_d,

congrats on this interesting find. thanks for sharing it.

the rear wheel rim looks to be a rigida supercromix so i would suspect the wheel to be a replacement. one would expect a bike of this quality level to receive alloy rims. is the front wheel something like and alfa hub with and akront rim? or perhaps they built with olimpic/super olimpic hubs since super olimpic brakes were used.

when you service the bb it will give you an opportunity to examine the interiors of four of the frame tubes to see if any are seamless. have you as yet checked the diameter of the saddle pillar, that would yield a clue as to tubing quality.

the compe-v front mech will likely have a clear plastic spacer affixed with adhesive to the interior of the mounting clamp to give a better fit on the 28.0mm tubing. a separate clamp size for metric dimension seat tubes was not offered.

am thinking a date of 1973-74. could not be much earlier than '73 due to the allen key chainwheel bolts on the chainset. after about '74 it would have begun to look a bit different.

aesthetic suggestion - that handsome deep red flambouyant colour would look good with trim in yellow to brown spectrum.

those low quality undisassemblable pedals belong in the donation bin or scrap bin. be they something like notario or are they unmarked?

please post again when you have had the opportunity to work with the cycle a bit. ;)

Torrot do not surface very often, especially in Canada! The bicycle may actually be from the late 1970s. I have seen another like this and, IIRC, it had mid-range, Simplex from the late 1970s. Also, some 1973 literature that I have states that there were only two Torrot models imported that year and this matches neither.

Normally, I would expect a bicycle of this apparent era that was equipped with brake clips and forged dropouts to be constructed of a higher grade tubeset. However, I do not recall seeing any tubing decals on the other, similar Torrot. Regardless, as previously suggested, the seat post diameter should give us a good indication of the tubing grade.

Hi Juvela, the rear wheel is indeed a steel superchromix and is in storage already. The front wheel was alloy, I forget the rim make but the hub is Super Olympic so it was probably original. Yes the brakes are also Super Olympic and not very good quality so I changed them out already. According to Disraeli Gears 1973 was the first year for the V-luxe RD and the Comp-V 6 hole FD ran from 1974 to 1979 so yes somewhere mid to late '70's.

I'll check out the seat post diameter later Tom but shorn of it's steel pedals, seatpost, rack etc the weight has dropped dramatically. It's currently sitting at just over 22lbs minus seatpost and saddle. I'll post pictures when it's all done.

The inside diameter of the seatpost is 26.0mm but the outside diameter is only 27.5mm which is a touch smaller than the seatpost on my French built Peugeot PR10. The outside diameter of the downtube and toptube is 29.0 and 25.0mm respectively so a combination of English or French sized tubing? I guess the Spanish had their own sized tubes and lugs going on, or at least Torrot did. An enigma wrapped in a palindrome :)
The steerer tube takes a regular 22.2mm stem

Weird, there's one on my local CL. I ignored it because it didn't seem to be anything special. Still not interested, rarity notwithstanding.

https://lawrence.craigslist.org/bik/5567869571.html

This is one odd combination of tubing dimensions! :eek:

If you have not done so already you could try measuring the diameters of the tubes at various points along their length in case there are variations due to irregularities.

Will look forward to reading the braine troost's observations on this one.

The puzzle may grow curiouser and curiouser...

Is Verot spindle a 118 or a 120? Each 49D I have disassembled had a 120 yet forum posters have stated that factory specification for the 49D is the 118. 118 is factory specification for the 93.

Yes there are slight variations in outside diameter, both seat tube and down tube are slightly thicker close to the BB. This may be normal I've never thought to check on any of my other bikes.

I don't have a Stronglight extractor and haven't touched the BB yet so can't give an exact spindle length but 118-120 is in the ballpark The "Q" factor is quite narrow.

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Tube diameter variations near joints could be due to heat of brazing.

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Peter, you can borrow my Stronglight extractor, if you wish.

Cool bike. Nice crankset! Those normal-high Suntour front derailleurs are controversial, but I never had a problem with mine.