I bought this bike just yesterday. I am going to service it and it will be my 28 year old daughter's road bike. This is my very first find on CL and I am thrilled to have found this bike in my area, which lacks many old European bikes. This is what is on the bike: Maillard hubs, Weinmann sidepull, Lightrace headset, Milremo stem and seatpost, Huret derailleurs, Guiddins Philippe bars, Lyotard pedals, and a Durifort 888 frameset. I think it is from around 1980, can't find a model or serial number. Any help would be appreciated.

Hi, Gyro_T-
The bike is probably a Bertin C 34. Its frame and forks are Vitus 888/Durifort, a plain gauge type of tubing manufactured by Ateliers de la Rive. You can find more information at Classic Rendezvous and Bertin Classic Cycles. The bike appears to be late 70s to early 80s based on its decal scheme but Bertin could be very loose on the decals. The lack of serial number is not all that atypical either. The equipment seems to be original or at least period correct and complete. I'm sure your daughter will enjoy the bike. Bertin made very nice bikes which were always a cut above the average compared to equivalent models from Gitane and Peugeot.

Bicyclebits

Congrats on finding such a fantastic bike

As far as dating Bertin bikes goes, it's pretty tough. I would bet on yours beeing a early 80's C-35....... Here is a link that will be of great help. Yours looks to a early 80's C-35

https://bertinclassiccycles.wordpress...icycle-models/


Here is a pic of my 1972 C34 Bertin...... My favorite bike of all time.

these are before pics? great looking bike. black bikes with red accents always seem to have some special look to them, atleast to me they do. I hope she really enjoys it.



OMG! is that an anvil? did you get it from Acme Anvils?

Try having a look through How Old Is My Bike? That should help you nail the vintage within a year. Hope it is a help.

Wow, that is a beauty Capecodder. Thanks for sharing that with me. We have done a couple rides now and it performs like new. Amazed at how that old Huret derailleur shifts over those 6 cogs. Very smooth bike.

I agree on the color scheme, and the chrome with the black and red, sometin about it. Yes, it is the before pic. All I did though was some polish and re wrap the bars. It looks better now. Yes, I got that anvil from Northern tool. They were offering free shipping on an anvil, couldn't resist. Thanks to you all for your replies.

My guess is that it's an early 80s C34 or similar model. The C35 was a high end Cyclotouriste model while the C34 was Bertin's mid range amateur racing model. We imported Bertins during the 70s along with half dozen other companies around the US at one time or another.

Bertin had a catalog of sorts but most bikes were assembled to the importers/distributors specifications as far as components were concerned.

Bertin was the French importer for Shimano and they could never understand why we ordered our bikes with all French components. This bike has Stronglight TS cranks which were the French response to mid level Japanese made Sugino and SR cranks.

I grabbed a C34 for myself when we received our first shipment of Bertins in 1975. The C34s came with TA Cyclotouriste cranks, Simplex Prestige derailleurs. Normandy hubs with sewup rims, MAFAC Racer brakes, a cast aluminum Milremo stem with Milremo bars and an Ideale 39 saddle.

I changed out all of the components and built it up to use as a training bike. I installed a Stronglight 93 crankset with a Phil Wood BB, Suntour Cyclone derailleurs, Weinmann Carrera brakes, Cinelli bar and stem, a Simplex alloy seat post and a Brooks Pro saddle plus Campy low flange hubs with Super Champion sewup rims.

I kept it until 1979 and put more miles on it than any other bike I've owned.

It fell victim to a former fiancée who started carping about my modest bike collection - 8 or 10 bikes at the time. There was a suggestion to the effect that the bikes go or she would! A simple "gawd, I'm gonna miss ya" put an end to that conversation.

What she really wanted was for me to sell some of my bikes cheap to a few of her girlfriends! Say what you mean, mean what you say! Sadly I let the C34 get away (in return for bringing home a Colnago). ;-(

Chas. verktyg

Nice little piece of history. Thanks for sharing that. Old racing bikes are so rare in eastern Oregon. The Zeus and now this Bertin has kindled this burning desire to find all these bikes before they are all parted out on eBay. Do you still have the Colnago?

No, it was stolen back in 1981 from the back seat of a friends car in San Francisco in broad daylight. The thief took it and my 700c lugged frame mountain bike that I built back in 1976.

They even broke into the trunk and stole both sets of wheels.


There were several shops in the northwest that imported Bertins during the late 70s and early 80s.

The site https://bertinclassiccycles.wordpress.com/ has a lot of interesting information and history about Cycles Andre Bertin.

Much of the information and details about the various models and components is anecdotal and hearsay submitted by folks who "weren't there".

Remember what I said before, Bertin built bikes (for the most part) to the importers or French dealers specs so there were lots of variations.

We used to talk with the folks at Cycles Bertin on a regular basis.

When we first started importing Bertins in 1975 we had to write them and request that they correspond with us in French as their English translations were unintelligible!

I had a girlfriend who was a French translator and after I explained some bicycle terms it was easy. After a while we could figure out most of what they were writing about without her help.

It turned out that the previous translations had been done by one of the secretaries at Bertin using a French-English dictionary!

In the summer of 1977? we were waiting for a delayed shipment of 2 containers of Bertin bikes. It was coming up on the end of July and we hadn't heard from Bertin so we called them which was uncommon and expensive back then.

We were concerned that the bikes wouldn't get out in time because the WHOLE country of France shuts down for the month of August.

The end of August through the beginning of September was our busiest season with students returning to school and so on. We needed bikes to sell!

The first time we called, Andre Bertin's 2 sons were the only ones at the plant. They both spoke perfect Oxford English and confirmed that our shipment was en route!

Don't believe everything you think! Especially when it comes to classic bikes! ;-)

Chas. verktyg