juvela

Emperor Ming-The-Merciless used to scare the living daylights out of me when I was but a wee laddie BITD.

non-fixie 

Sorry to have missed you, @Munny. But I'm guessing I did see your bike. Very nice. Love those cranks!

juvela

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Those champions o' yesteryear were STRONG riders; just look at what they could do to a steel crank arm!

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Munny

The most interest part on my bike were actualy not the curved cranks
It was the stem.

I spent half an hour talking with the Titan specialist (F. D.) and he envied me for this unique stem

non-fixie 

I did notice the stem, with its 'Hamerlinck' engraving. Very neat! And F.D. - another educated guess - is this guy, right? Bought a couple of Vittoria lever hoods online from him, a while ago, and we got into a lengthy e-mail exchange on Cyrille Van Hauwaert. Nice guy.

Munny

Yes, this is the blog of Filip
He remind me yesterday about his track Van Hauwaert.
I must have some pictures and I'm not sure that it is the model on his blog.
My memory might be wrong

Don't know what you though of the 2016 Stalen but I was a bit deceived by the exhibit
I might become too demanding

Munny

I was wrong ...

Here his Van Hauwaert displayed in 2012

cinco

This is the bike from my avatar, my only Belgian bike, and my most confusing bike as well. The brand is "Spect JM" and the headbadge mentions Braine le Chateau, a quick search for which yielded little information other than the obvious - that it's a small town in Belgium with a population of about 10,000. The workmanship is skilled but unrefined - nice even brazing of near-perfect quality but there are no embellishments and certain areas such as the stay caps could have been sanded/filed a bit more. Overall the effect is a bit plain, which isn't enhanced by the medium/short-point Bocama lugs. The basic dimensions are 56.5cm seat tube and 57.5cm top tube, both c-c, and it appears to have been built for 700c wheels. I have no accurate way to measure geometry at the moment but I'll whip up a protractor/plumb bob combination eventually. Based on the above I'd call it a custom build by a small builder who did mainly repairs (skilled but lacking artistry) and identified either as his own brand or that of a bike shop through which the work was contracted. Either way, enough of this brand were built to justify having decals printed, but not enough that another one has made its presence known on the internet during the ten years that I've owned mine.

Where it gets confusing is in the less obvious aspects of the frame. The dropouts and fork ends are eyeletted Campagnolo and the wheelbase is long, with the rear tire gap being quite a bit larger than I usually like. Okay, that suggests touring bike. But the thing that really gets me is the tubing. It's metric (28.35mm seat tube including paint) and completely unidentified through decals or even a mark on the steer tube (other than a stamped "58") but takes a 27.2mm seatpost (measures 27.15 and rattles very slightly in the hole). Perhaps one of the more experienced tubing gurus here can explain that, but I'm at a loss. In fact, my initial measurement of the seat tube struck me as so impossible that I grabbed a better set of calipers (Etalon) and when that said the same I grabbed a known-accurate micrometer with the same result. So for now I accept it as being accurate. That would indicate a wall thickness of 0.4mm and while I seem to remember that some types of crazy hot-rod tubesets had tubes with that dimension it seems suicidal (not to mention completely pointless) to build what appears to be a touring frame out of 130lb-weight-limit time-trial tubing. And then not make it as beautiful as humanly possible.

So it confuses me, and has done so for a decade, but the ride is quite nice and more sprightly than one would expect so it sees a fair number of miles. Because of the weird nature of the frame I decided to hang all of my weird parts on it - some Shimano 600ax and Dura-Ace ax, Dyna-Drive pedals, helicomatic hubset, and the like. I enjoy the mystery to a certain degree, but since I hate a mystery which can't be solved I search for information every year or two with no results. Maybe as a result of finally typing up its story I'll finally try to contact the local government of a certain small town in Belgium and see if they know anyone who might be able to tell me more.

jimmuller 

cinco, interesting story. Some puzzles are just cool. Nice bike too.

Munny

Jean-Marc Spect was a skilled racer who quickly turned to a frame maker.
One of the last true builders
It's not by contacting the authorities that you'd learn more.

cinco

Searching for that name turns up only a passing mention of 1st place in a junior national championship in 1973, and an address and phone number in Geraardsbergen. Not much, but more than I knew yesterday. I'd love to hear what you know about him if you'd be willing to take the time.

Barrettscv 

The Extra Corsa is now road ready. I might change the saddle, tires and even the rims, but for now it's all about the ride.

Munny

The national championship happened here, in Belgium
That should tell something about his potential

I'm not sure of what you might look for.
Your post leaves me with mixed feelings
700c wheels. What else would you expect ?
No artistic ? What do you want ? Some panto or drilliumesque that are often there to hide something ?

The description and pictures let me believe that the frame was made to endure the local conditions : roads of mean cobblestone, rain and cold.
Real cycling is not done in the sun on perfect roads

The tickness of the seat tube can be the result of a posterior adaptation to fit the saddle post. Very commun to have the bike shop made it fit ...

The frame was build to work and apparently well built

non-fixie 

Yes, your bike looked a bit forlorn in what was apparently 'the exhibit'. Also, I had the impression that there were less visitors than the last couple of years. On the other hand, the old 'Kuipke' race track remains the most fantastic location for such an event, and at least it was easier to check out the sellers' wares.

This was the exhibit in 2014:

non-fixie 

Thanks for posting that Spect, @cinco. Hadn't seen one before. Apparently two have been sold recently via Belgian classifieds. The ads are gone, but some small pictures are still floating around in cyberspace:

cinco

Wow, thanks for finding those! Guess I'm going to have to figure out how to trick Google into searching foreign sites... or I could learn Dutch. I'm not sure which would be easier .

non-fixie 

Glad to be of some use. It helps to know the local word for bike. Here are a few to get you going:

velo (France, Belgium, Switzerland)
fiets (Belgium, Holland)
Fahrrad (Germany, Switzerland, Austria)
bici (Italy, Switzerland)

Munny

3speedslow

That is the kind of stem you stand around talking about !

And dig that sweet Dawes incised bar! Love the scrolled ones that England put out.

Munny

Yes, compromise ...
I only have 2 prewar Titan racing bars + 2 flats prewar but they are all ornating other bikes

It also allowed me to use this special shellac technique for getting an unusual colour

LucasHartong

So here goes, on request Belgian mystery bike: a LIBERTY. I have attached pictures and will post more. I already found out that 'Fietsen Wargee' was a bike-shop in the Peperstraat (pepper street!), Tervuren (Belgium). During the '50 and '60 Mr. Wargee made beautiful steel bikes/frames by hand, a friendly Belgian entrepreneur mailed me. The bike has some remarkable parts: Stronglight/TA crank, Zeus pedals & front dropouts, Campagnolo group (Gran Sport) and very, very light Mavic Record du Monde rims. And yes, you're correct: two different brake-handles. I wonder which one is older. I hope you can help me identify the frame and maybe some history of this Liberty/Wargee bike.

LucasHartong

Some more pics. In the frame there is a number '60'.

LucasHartong

Last pics of the Liberty.

non-fixie 

Thanks for the ample supply of pics! Much appreciated!

Pretty and interesting bike. What's going on with the headset? It seems to have been constructed of two (different) headsets, a Stronglight and a WF. Presumably to gain some extra height. Maybe the fork has been replaced at some point in time?

non-fixie 

The right brake lever looks to be a Weinmann 144, in a style that was used during the seventies and eighties. The left looks like a Universal. Those were introduced with the model 51 brakes in the fifties, AFIK, and continued with slight modifications into the seventies. They were copied by other manufacturers as well.