Hey! I've had this bike for years and finally want to solve the mystery of what frame it is. It looks so close to many mid-late 80s frames but nothing quite fit the bill. It's been repainted and doesn't have any real identifying marks, possibly sanded off or never had them to begin with.

It's a French Threaded Bottom Bracket

Groupset Part List
The crank is triomphe
Brakes are likely Chorus from the dashes on the lever itself
Shifters are probably record but i find it weird that most else is chorus
Rear derailleur looks like Chorus
Front Derailleur looks a lot like Chorus to me as well. As with chorus and record from that era, there are lots of similarities
Hubs I believe are chorus as well

Cinelli stem (likely not original)
unknown seatpost
Minimal Lug ornamentation
braze-on Front Derailleur
Possibly non-original fork but hard to tell with the repaint but follows some similar styling
about a 55cm size
Small Manufacturer stamp markings on the headset lugs
No dropout markings or serial on the bottom of BB or on the inside, nothing inside the seatpost either.

Part of me might think newer with some of it's styling but with the bottom bracket it throws a wrench making it closer to early-mid 80s depending since many french manufacturers moved to other threading around then.

Thanks for all your help, knowledge and wisdom and please let me know if there are any other pictures that would be helpful!

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looks like the 1983-84 time, would think 1985 latest possible date
it was right at this era that the larger producers of France were beginning their transition to ISO

markings on head lugs refer to the angle in degrees between the respective sockets

keep in mind that just because frame built with metric dimension tubes/threading it is not necessarily of frankish origin

could also be from ES or CH

there are even a few Belgian makers who employed metric standard

since it has received a respray it is possible that there may have been changes made post-manufacture and pre-respray

the mitred-in seat stays are a helpful feature in narrowing down the possibilities...

the view provided of the underside of the shell may assist the forum's detectives such as the redoubtable MauriceMoss


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Rear derailleur is actually a 1st gen Chorus.....

If you think the frame is French... try asking on this forum
https://www.velovintageagogo.com/forum
If you don't speak French then Google Translate or Coursera will be your friend here.... https://duckduckgo.com/?q=translate+...tb=v1-1&ia=web

The bottom bracket is quite nice and might be Nervex? Nervex lugs
Nicely sloping Cinelli Fork Crown

Nice rear derailleur. You’re missing the cap nut on the rear brake. Brake levers are later Chorus era.

welcome to the “it looks like a nice quality frame but I have no idea” club


I acquired this at the Trexlertown swap meet in 2012. I’m still not certain if I lost out on the deal trading a cool suicide front shifter for it. It is a good looking frame and rides nice.

The lack of a serial number and remnants of badging could indicate that it was a custom made frame .

It’s a nicely made frame. Particularly nice is how the chain stays are flattened/ ovalized for chainring clearance instead of being heavily crimped/ indented. The seat cluster is very nice as well…..

that’a totally true. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a French bike per-say, ive just felt like it followed a lot of French styling from that period and from what I’ve read, many of the other countries adopted other BB threadings earlier so I relit it was likely, of course there are so many manufacturers and it could be anything. Thanks so much for your info because honestly anything helps because I’m so lost at this point.

Oh you’re totally right! Thanks so much for pointing that out!

oh I haven’t heard of that website before but I’ll check that out and see what info they may have as well! I can’t be totally sure it’s French honestly.

oh I haven’t looked at nervex lugs much! Is it common to mix lug companies in one bike? I haven’t seen nervex much but I think the other lugs being simpler are more likely Columbus and maybe the fork is upgraded. Some mid 80s French bikes has similar forks but I can’t be positive.

that’s totally true and I have thought about that possibility but it’s hard to come up with any path to possibly tracking that or finding some lists of smaller makers.

oh that’s also a good point! I haven’t realized many of these parts are chorus rather than victory which is great and more mixed than I realized. And the back brake nut went missing a year back and I was broken up about it. Just need to find another.

of that’s a great looking bike and looks like you’ve updated it really well! Seems like it rides really well. We’re the decals you or the previous owner?

thanks! There’s so many aspects of this frame that feel so well made and just infuriate me that I can’t mail something down because I feel it’s something pretty special, aside from me just loving it and already feeling it’s special.

Decals were my idea. She looks much different these days. I got the frame/fork and built it up. Since I can’t determine a maker I am reluctant to spend a lot of money having it painted

Yes, custom builders mix lugs all the time, but I'm only guessing at Nervex. You have a very nice BB lug on your frame. It takes 7 days before VeloVintage GoGo will let you post a picture, and you need to introduce yourself first... But they will know if it's french
BYTW is the right hand side of the BB right hand threads.... or is ii BSC?

They're great and yeah it's a solid reason to keep working on it but not going full into a major overhaul. Thanks for sharing!

Oh that makes sense. I'll check them out and see! Thanks for mentioning them! It follows the right hand side threading on both sides, The last time I took the BB off to clean, lube and make sure it actually was french it came on and of pretty smoothly confirming they didn't force a french BB into ITA.

that would not happen: the FR cups are 35mm (x 1) and the Italian are a full mm larger 36mm (x 24tpi) so the FR cups would not even make "thread contact" in an ITA shell.
But as for ID I have nothing except I do believe most likely FR.
Are the DOs and forkends marked with any branding? those DOs look like they might be "Columbus" but also possibly Vitus or another FR make

Oh yeah true I forgot the size difference of ITA and FR. Neither the DO or fork end have any branding. The only artifacting that's "left" on the bike are the angle stamps on the stem lugs. It's possible they were sanded off when it was repainted but hard to be certain.

I was originally leaning toward columbus as well but some of the early Vitus Is making more sense especially with the bottom bracket braze and the general styling. it's some progress!

The crank is Triomphe not Victory. The quick releases aren't Victory.
The front derailleur looks like Chorus.
The shifters don't look like Victory.

I might have missed this but what's the diameter of the stem? Also, have you pulled the fork to check for any stamps on the steer tube? Lovely bike just the same.

You're absolutely right, That's been some things i've discovered recently but forgot to update the post.

The crank is definitely triomphe
Brakes are likely Chorus from the dashes on the lever itself
Shifters are probably record but i find it weird that most else is chorus
Rear derailleur looks like Chorus
Front Derailleur looks a lot like Chorus to me as well. As with chorus and record from that era, there are lots of similarities
Hubs I believe are chorus as well

Oh you didn't miss that being mentioned. I did this recently for a thread on a different website. The stem is a Cinelli A1 remake 26mm and I have pictures of the fork and headset to show no markings the headset Diameter is 30mm. Thanks! It's been an amazing bike and I'm just curious if I can narrow something down while I've been taking it apart to clean and lube everything that's way overdue

Do the stem and seatpost have markings on them? If so, what do they say?