Duchey

Anyone have a link to info on these bikes? I've looked all over and can't find much about them at all.
I've found one on CL that needs work and I want to know what I'm getting into first.

dbakl

They're your basic French bike, they made low to high-end. I have one that was probably mid-line; TA crank, Simplex deraillers, Mafac brakes, Normandy hubs on Rigida alloy clinchers. Nervex lugs, some chrome, no tubing sticker but actually quite light. I could shoot some pics if you like. The CR site is always a good place to start for info:

https://www.classicrendezvous.com/Fra...ni_Raphael.htm

BTW, I think Gemniani was Anquetil's lieutenant.

bbattle

Didn't that company also make bikes for other companies? I seem to remember a serial number on one bike indicated it was built by Gemiani.

stronglight

The commercially available bikes I've seen were all good quality although they did span a considerable range from affordable middle tier to top end pro-racing quality bikes. Most popular during the 1960s, I don't believe they were produced beyond the mid-1970s. And they are one of the less commonly seen French bikes in the US.

There seems to be a lot more information about Geminiani himself than the bikes.

Despite his Italian name, he was born and raised and always lived in France.
His nickname as a racer was "Le Grand Fusil" ("The Big Gun").

Rode in 12 Tours de France 1947-59 ... 7 stage wins ... 4 days in the Yellow Jersey as race leader.
But never came out with the first place win in the overall General Clasification.

Here is a bit more about The Man from a couple web pages:

Duchey

Wow, thanks for all the info. Heres a few pics of the bike, if that tells you anything. I've never seen bars like that and the shifters seem to be real low on the tube.

dbakl

Looks low end, with the steel cranks, bars and Huret deraillers, though the details of the frame look similar to mine, from what I can see. Seat looks like its from a Schwinn. I wouldn't invest a lot...

Shift levers are unusually low!

T-Mar

A little further info. Geminiani (the man) was also reporetedly the person responsible for introducing non-cycling industry sponsorship in France when he persuaded the St-Raphael Quinquina drink company to sponsor his team. Geminiani (the bicycle brand) won the 1956 Tour de France with Rogerer Walkowiak taking the honors for the Geminiani - St. Raphael Quinquina team.

Based on the photos, the bicycle itself does appear to be an lower end model and no older than 1961. It also looks like the stem is ready to pop out, unless it is super long.

joe v

Indeed, until well into the 1950's, no sponsorship was allowed apart from the bicycle manufacturers’. Raphael Geminiani (then still a racer himself), had already asked a local builder to rebadge his frames as 'Geminiani' when, as T-Mar pointed out, he managed to convince St-Raphael to sponsor him as well. His jerseys now bearing his own full name (who could object to that?), with his christian name ‘just happening’ to use the same lettering as the famous aperitif! A true story which illustrates the man’s reputation as a sly fox – as does the famous ‘derailleur incident’ during the 1963 TdF : towards the end of a particularly tough alpine stage Anquetil, riding his super-light bike, had managed to keep up with Bahamontes on the last climb of the day, but did not like the idea of descending the gruelling Forclaz with that featherweight machine. Only problem being the rules at the time which did not allow a bike-swap during the race UNLESS a mechanical failure forced the rider to it. So, in an obviously planned move, Geminiani (now Anquetil’s directeur sportif) had Jacques fake a problem at the summit and shout out ‘S**t! My derailleur!’ Gem, pulling a grave face, turned to the nearby officials cursing ‘Would you believe it! A busted derailleur at a moment like this! Damn, damn, damn!’ Meanwhile, a mechanic swiftly jumped from the teamcar - heavier bike in hand - and (unseen by the officials) cut the cable on the suspect derailleur, thus proving the necessity of the bike change.
BTW, his nickname was ‘Le Grand Fusil’ (‘The big gun’) on account of his aggressive riding style as well as his big mouth (never afraid to air his opininions!), he was very popular with fans and journalists alike and always provided great copy for the papers. Great guy, and a great sense of humour (see 2nd photo, the man himself illustrating his nickname)

joe v

The position of those levers certainly defies belief, but Huret derailleurs are period-correct at least, according to this publicity pic :

cheaux

I recently bought a similar Geminiani, which was originally sold in 1962. 27" steel rims, 15/16/15 double butted spokes(!), English threaded Normandy hubs. The rack and fenders were installed by the dealer, and the owner's pamphlet suggests that original saddle was leather. I plan to use the hubs to build new wheels with 700c Sun CR-18 rims. The seat tube wall thickness is 1.2mm, which probably indicates low-to-mid grade tubing. With a steel crank, it's a lower end machine for sure, but I'm starting to think that pre-boom French frames were made with some attention to detail that disappeared when demand went through the roof.

Your shifters might have migrated so far because there is no nub brazed on to the down tube to stop the clamp from slipping.

eugene

I actually purchased the bike in question by the OP in hopes of a nice vintage restoration project. My main concern is the bottom bracket size. Are they standard or something that only the french will have a replacement for? Thanks.

vjp

And 50 years later "Rapha" would rip off the logo and make a fortune!

stronglight

I'm inclined to agree with you... and with ALL bikes of the era, not just French.

terrors

i belive this is a direct quote from Tim Hilton's book ' One more Kilometre and We are in The Showers'. Super book. If not it should be read anyway and direct quotes acknowledged.

joe v

Sorry, Terrors, never heard of the book in question, I'm just paraphrasing the story as told by Geminiani himself in a documentary about Anquetil shown on french Tv a few years ago.

terrors

my apologies joe if i came across like i was accusing you of plagarism. I would love to see that interview, it sounds great. The book i was talking about is by an English writer and is a memoir of sorts of his riding life. It has a lot of info regarding the Tour in the 40. 50's and 60's. It is called: ONE MORE KILOMETRE AND WE'RE IN THE SHOWERS' by Tim Hilton. One of the things i found interesting in this book is the comment "A french apertif, Saint Raphel, cleverly recruited Raphel Geminiani." Somebody was certainly clever.

joe v

Hi Terrors, I must have it on video somewhere, but can't seem to lay my hands on it at the moment (lots of unlabelled tapes, I'm afraid), it must have been any one of these certainly :

Anquetil - Champion de légende, de Jean-Marc et Roger Dries, TF1 vidéo, 1996 (VHS)
Anquetil contre Poulidor, coll. Les grands duels du sport, éd. ARTE vidéo, 2004
Jacques Anquetil, coll. Les légendes du cyclisme, éd. TF1 vidéo, 2005

I'll let you know which one if and when I find it.

BTW this is referring to the derailleur incident. The Raphael business is really something of a legendary common knowledge thing (with 2 versions, as you say - but once you've seen the man talk ... he's a real scheming b*****d!) Really one of the most colourful characters in cycling history.

Walter

I've read through the posts and if someone already posted this I apologize. Sheldon Brown has a little info on this marque at https://sheldonbrown.com/vrbn-g-n.html#geminiani. Not a whole lot useful.

Agree with others that this is probably not a high-end model but frame weight will tell in the absence of original decals. I've seen a few older bikes where the shifters have slid down the downtube like on your bike. The clamp has come loose and there is no braze-on to keep the shifters in place.. Slide them back up and tighten. You are probably looking at French threading on the BB. Hard or at least expensive to find but in my experience the races are seldom unusable. If you decide to go cotterless the right sized threaded spindle is all you need. Just reuse the other original hardware.