Heres a bike I have had and ridden for over 10 years.
Its a light bike, it had really steep gears on it when I bought it.
I chagned the pedals over to powerstrap, the pedals were a weird thread, Tapped out to 9/16, I got a new rear wheel, with some lower gears and a small front sprocket. It had very narrow rims, when I bought the rear wheel I think it was just slightly larger the bike shop couldnt order the same width.
Same with the tires, I think they a mil wider.
Any insight and comments on this bike are welcome. What year approx?

Thanks FXjohn

another shot

last one

index or friction shifting?

how many speeds on the rear freehweel? this might help in dating the bike.

Friction shifting, and there were 5 gears on the original rear wheel. Just did 20 miles on it!

FXjohn

I have a very similar bike. It was given to me in 1990 by someone who had not ridden it since the late '70s.

It is yellow, with silver decals that say "Sam Benoto Cazenave" and "Made in France."

It's a great bike for cruising and city riding. I think it was 100% original until this morning, when I finally decided I needed new pedals, and the shop had to tap out the cranks so they could fit.

I may take some pictures and post them so you can see the similarities.

Here are the photos. I particularly like the fake lugs on the (solid?) aluminum stem.

Here is some more information about the bike:

• Spidel quick release, front and back
• Shimano Tourney brakeset
• Shimano Dura-Ace brake levers
• Aduprat Universel crank arms
• Simplex friction shifters on the down tube
• Steel rims with some kind of venting holes in them that buzz when braking. These rims have been bent up several times, but they have always been repairable.

After my past post I realized that it's not 100% original -- I've destroyed several derailleurs, and the cassette is, I think, a replacement.

I have some questions, if anyone knows -- is Cazenave the model, or is the whole brand name "Sam Benoto Cazenave? Is there any connection to Benotto bikes, made in Italy and later Mexico?

Here's one more, of the chainring & bottom bracket... you can see the funny perforations in the rim, too. Any ideas what those are about?

They're steel rims, it might be to improve wet weather braking performance.

Is Sam Benoto related to bob Benoto. I hear he is a good fellow.Oh sorry my apologies I thought you really meant San Benoto he is however entirely unrelated to either Sam or Bob.

Possibly it looks lighter to apeal to the scorcher crowd.

Steelframe: I had the exaxt same seatpost clamp/rear brake stop on my 1978 Motobecane Grand Jubile but it has the early Shimano 600 group. It was about the only rusty part on the whole bike and when I went into my local bike shop. the owner was able to provide an identical N.O.S. replacement from his personal stock at home.
Don

Thanks for posting, it does look very similar to my bike.
I am still riding it, I am finding it to meet my needs.
Like I said earlier, when i first got it, it had very steep gears on it, they have all been changed except for the small front sprocket

FXjohn