Dylansbob 

Thanks to WGB for the spot on CL, I brought this home today. Here's a bunch of pics after giving it a quick clean so as to bring it into the basement. The PO had purchased it from an American attache while stationed in Norway during the 80s. The extra wheelset turns out to be a lf Record hubs on /GP4 tubs.

I threw a set of clinchers under it and took it for a quick spin. Very, very lively feeling to me. Much more so than the '71 Raleigh Pro or '74 Super Tourer. It feels like it will be a good performer for me once I get some lower gears figured out.



CL listing photo

De-cluttered (and apparently pulling a wheelie)

non-fixie 

That is a beautiful machine.

juvela

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me too!

+1

this is such a fine marque and so scarce on the ground in N. America

what a treat to see


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rustystrings61 

That is a stunningly lovely bike - what a score!

bertinjim 

Dylansbob-

Thanks for the close ups. It looks like a definite Bernard Carre build from the frame details which may help explain the exhilarating handling and ride.

Mr. 66

He shoots... He scores! Nice pickup

3speedslow

Wow, those seat stay caps! It looks like it wasn’t ridden much.

repechage

Maybe not. I have a few of these, and the velo club president imported a number for himself and associates in the 70's. A club member went to France to train and race, got a pair. At that time, the top end bikes were made in house in Paris.
That style of seat stay caps were not exclusive to Carre. If you compare to bikes his shop built under his own name and or for LeJeune, Bertin and others, they are different enough.
Probably the most consistent C.N.C. detail of the upmarket bikes is the termination of the chainstays at the dropouts.

I am very lucky to have mine.

Force 

Beautiful bike. Would love one like it. Wonder how wide of a tire will fit. You might want to put some really nice 28mm tubular tires on it.

Dylansbob 

Funny you say that. I'm planning on putting on a set of those cheap Maxxis 28mm tubulars I bought in spring. I just haven't decided whether to glue to the original wheels or the Record/GP4 wheels. Leaning toward the Campy wheels, so as to leave the original front tire attached.

When I test rode it with clinchers, I had 28 UltraSports and looked to be room for 32s fine.

bertinjim 

repechage-
The fish mouth stay and fork ends as well as the leaf style stay caps were characteristic of the high end CNC frames. That may, originally, have been a company style point but it may also have been due to the fact that Bernard Carre, Rene Andre and others worked at CNC as frame builders before going out on their own as independent frame constructors. Nonetheless, a lovely bike with excellent workmanship and style.

CV-6 

There is a lot of gray area concerning Carré and when he started to build. It is generally acknowledged that he built for Anquetil in the 50s. This is the first time I have seen it stated that Carré learned his trade at CNC. It is generally accepted that BC did provide some frames for CNC in the later years of CNC.

I have said this before. I think sometimes we are too quick to say Bernard Carré. He did not have a patent on the style points attributed to him.

Dylansbob It is without a doubt a very nice bike. Do be careful tightening the brake cables at the calipers. The design is very poor in that the cable flat sided "bolt" on the cable side is softer than the caliper. It will distort and eventually destroy the "bolt". The cable being on that side does not help the situation. They were later redesigned such that cable ran to the back side of the caliper.

billytwosheds 

Did a triple-take on the seat stay caps. Those smooth lines

SurferRosa

What a steal. I contacted the seller too.

Lazyass

Very nice, I like that color. Is your rear skewer cap thingy cracked? It might be the lighting.

bertinjim 

Dylansbob It is without a doubt a very nice bike. Do be careful tightening the brake cables at the calipers. The design is very poor in that the cable flat sided "bolt" on the cable side is softer than the caliper. It will distort and eventually destroy the "bolt". The cable being on that side does not help the situation. They were later redesigned such that cable ran to the back side of the caliper.[/QUOTE]

CV-6 Good advice. Also,Dylansbob try putting a thin, flat bladed screwdriver between the fixing bolt face and the soft alloy ridge on the front of the caliper. It will stop the harder chromed steel bolt from rotating and gouging away the alloy of the caliper arm and ruining it.

WGB

Dylansbob Congratulations on the bike. If you listen carefully, I bet that even in Washington State you'll hear the faint sound of Bertinjim crying. I understand there are some "hills' in your state so I agree that rear cluster might have to go.


Had I realized it had GP4s as part of the deal (couple with the Brooks) I would have bought it myself. I'd have replaced the seat and kept the GP4 wheel set and flipped the bike so that I got those wheels for free (well maybe not as shipping and duty would have been painful to say the least). MY US mailbox is full and I somehow need to get the contents of that.


Assuming seller would have shipped, shipping within the continental US is way, way cheaper than Canada. It seems like there have been a lot of really really good deals recently in the US and ignoring the usual outliers perhaps the end of Covid pricing has started to arrive. I expect many people who took up not just biking, but also other sports like golf, canoeing, camping etc because they were bored, will now be either selling off what they won't use. Alternatively, they'll stuff them into storage areas and in 20 more years our children will (hopefully) get deals on these forgotten gems.


Moderators - this is not a political rant, just a expressing my frustration that 72.5% of eligible Canadians have a single vaccination and 62.7% have double vaccinations while in the US (can't find an exact number) roughly 60% have a single vaccination and 50.8% have double vaccinations and yet the Biden Whitehouse refuses Canadians from entry to "help prevent spread of the Delta variant" while Canada allows US tourists entry. Yesterday I saw two riders with touring bikes and cardboard signs on the back of their bikes. One sign said "Vermont". I was on the way to an appointment or I'd have stopped o talk. Sorry, just very frustrated.

WGB

Realized as soon as I posted the above that it had no place in this thread. FWIW I did send an email appology to Dylansbob . I shouldn't have said anything other than to congratulate him on a very wise call.

Force 

Interesting. I don't have any experience with Maxxis tubulars, but I think your CNC would look nice with some tan sidewall tubulars. I had a similar colored bike and put some 28 mm tubulars on it (see below). I wanted something understated, without a lot of graphics on the tire. They are actually Bontrager R4s, which I see are available for $50 each on ebay now. Coincidentally, the rims are GP4s. Of course, if you wanted to go all out, I've got some Dugast silks I may consider selling! Good luck. No matter what you decide, you've got a nice bike there.

CV-6 

It is not the caliper that gets ruined. It is the bolt. Using a flat blade screwdriver can provide the same result. The bolt gets f'ed up. I know this from experience.

Dylansbob 

Just a little update from this mornings short ride. I leveled out the cockpit, threw a single wrap of twilltape on, and swapped a gs corse 30t freewheel on. Feels good, although the narrow 6spd chain was a bit finicky with the wider 5spd block.
The sunlight really brings the orange out of the paint.

repechage

My comment on the chainstay ends is limited to ONLY to the chainstay terminations- the top point behind the lower, a pretty common C.N.C. feature with the better frames.
But not exclusive to them either, Motobecane Team bikes of the orange era also have that detail.
The "Carre" seat stay caps are of the same genus as this frame, but I think different enough to not assign an attribution.