For your perusal and and little mental tingler....

I picked this up today. The gentleman said it was given to him a long time ago... maybe 30+ years...he knew nothing about it....



It sure is small !

He thought maybe a Schwinn but when I first saw it I knew it was no Schwinn but I am not going to even make believe I know what it is...

With braze-ons like that, and those rims, it HAS to be French. Shifter lever would suggest it as well.

-Kurt

I'm guessing french too. Looks like Huret Svelto derailleur, and possibly a Rigida wheel.

Chainwheel also seems stronglight-ish.

Chainwheel also seems stronglight-ish.

Could you elaborate for my less learned mind ?

I too was leaning toward French

It seems to be built better than you average child's bike

Whatever it was, somebody ran into something on it.

Whatever it was, somebody ran into something on it.

Yes and I believe that is the reason for the missing wheel
I removed the steerer and thankfully no cracks! I should be able to straighten the fork. I think though finding a correct replacement wheel will be tough

Good luck with the steerer tube. I know Reynolds was able to perform a miracle of steerer-tube bending on his DL-1, you might want to give him a buzz.

-Kurt

https://homepage3.nifty.com/ClassicBi...ht54crank.html

It has the same basic pattern as an old Stronglight, albeit smaller and cutely deformed.

It has the same basic pattern as an old Stronglight, albeit smaller and cutely deformed.
Yes I see what you say... very interesting

It's not a perfect match, but I see some similarities:

I have seen several kids bikes that look quite like the one pictured. The bicycle is French and my guess would be that it is a Gitane. For what it is worth, Bicycles for Humanity has a couple of near mint kids vintage road bikes sitting in storage. More often that not, these bikes will be discarded because there is absolutely no market for them in my area and they are not valuable enough to ship anywhere.

With a polo seat and some risers......

The 3 speed freewheel is a Atom.. I cleaned it a bit and found this out but the hub and rim are not marked near as I can tell



The sidepulls are Weinmans and are marked as type 730
Also on the back they are marked "Made in West Germany"

I find these pulls a little weird.... The safety levers are not removable it seems..
I can't id the brand

Would anyone like to hazard a guess at the date of build?

Can you get a picture of the top/front of the derailleur? It should say Svelto or Huret on it, and it might be easier to tell the age from that. From what I can see though it looks like it is probably a late 60s or very early 70s bike.

What is the wheel size, nominal or as measured?

I ask because my daughter is currently riding a little Schwinn bike styled like a MTB; it came with 22" wheels for which tires are no longer available. But it turned out the larger size of 20" wheels (20 x 1 3/8, ISO 459) fit just fine. That probably won't work for you, but you may get lucky with some size that's still being made.

The brand of the brake levers is CLB, a French company.

From what I can see though it looks like it is probably a late 60s or very early 70s bike.

That late ? I thought maybe earlier but I'm no pro!

I measured the wheel and came up with a 17.5 and there are no markings on the tire that I can see...I will pull the tire and hopefully find something on the inside of the rim

The child-size Peugeot above has 24"wheels, I believe. The guy that sent me the picture said that he found two of them, still in the sealed boxes, in a warehouse that he leased.

A couple of years ago I found a couple of 24" bikes. A Varsity and a Motobecane. The Varsity would work with 26" MTB rims and skinny tires. Brake reach was fine. The Motobecane was totaled but I kept the wheels. They're still in the bassement. Someone will want them someday.

Hmmm. Well that derailleur was introduced in 1963. But the early versions had toothless wheels, and lack the H logo under the adjustment screw. So this one is probably circa 1965 or later. I don't know enough about them to offer any more than that.