pullup

Great looking bike This will be a killer ride.

just dank

Thank you. I rode it about 100km with the parts that came with it, but I'm treating myself to some better.

stevenc

Mr. Eddy Martens is not very communicative, and he gets a lot of questions from all over the world. If you ask him in Dutch, he might answer. But you usually get the standard answer: a rant about carbon frames from Taiwan ruining the market and no-one appreciating craftsmanship anymore. Quite bitter.
The Martelly frames are not very common, about a thousand made. He made about 10000 for other brands (Coppi, Scanini, Jan Jansen, Concorde, ...) Also for the pro teams of Splendor; Sigma Histor, Safir, Boston.

non-fixie 

Thanks, just dank. Beautiful bike. Great colors!

just dank

Yeah, I google translated an e-mail, no response, I just want to know the model name and what it's made out of.

stevenc

The frames build under the Martelly brand are almost all made to measure. e didn't have model names, nor serial numbers (sometimes there's a number on the BB shell but that was done by the painter to be able to keep track). So he won't know what it's made of either. I have one in crimped SLX tubing (there's a decal and you can feel the spiral on the inside). Other tubing will be difficult to identify.
Cute dog btw!

just dank

Thanks for the info, thats Wendel Bark. great little dog

kvnmuadib

I bought the frame on e-bay from Belgium.... no tubing sticker,but most likely columbus sl... a mix of super record and c-record.... cinelli old logo stem and ambrosio campione du monde bars ....works for me

non-fixie 

Judging by the starting number mounting thingy, I'd say this is a competition oriented frame. Nice! Thanks for posting it.

Munny

Another of my bikes, somewhat related to my Van Hauwaert (I'll explain)

Does somebody know who was José Samyn ?

José was a talented racer from the area where Belgium meets France.
Was he French or Belgian ?
It doesn't matter to us but was apparently important during the races.

Of course he decided to race in Belgium and he joined a successfull team from the place I'm leaving : the Royal Courier Sport Baulet.
About at that time, due to regulations, the team was split in two and with the help of a new sponsor, the Pelforth Sauvage Lejeune french team was created.
With most racers coming from the Courrier Sport.
Because of this, he was then still considered as "Belgian" racer and had some issues during his tour de France.
The next year, as he was coming back, during a race, he felt and died, at the age of 23 only.

But José has a brother, Gilbert, who sold very well made racing bikes.
Again, altough French, his bikes were Belgian.

I've got this as a frame from a friend :


And after restoring it...



As it was originally, I used mostly Japanese parts



Of course the handlebar is my personal fantasy


The period lamp is gone (got trouble removing my feet from the pedal)


You'll get the other pictures over here https://picasaweb.google.com/1178328...4867578/Samyn#

I've built the wheels with Ambrosio Montreal rims (no trouble so far) on Pelissier 2000 hubs (32 holes)
The brakes are CLB compact with Mafac levers
The crankset is a SR Royal with 1 Sugino Mighty chainring and another SR (different at the picture time)
MKS pedals with adaptor to turn them
Campa derailleurs
SR Saddle tube, stem, handlebars.
Arius saddle.

But what does this has to do with Van Hauwaert ?

Samyn was using Belgian made frames coming only from the best frame makers.
So... you had
- Terryn frames (built by Marcel Vandeneste)
- Plume Sport frames (built by Jacques Van Genk)
and ... this one that was built by Erwin Devisscher (who had taken over the Van Hauwaert company)
I don't know if other frame makers where used but for these 3, It is established.
They were amongst the top belgian frame makers and in the future I'll show other example of their products

just dank

stevenc

Never waste the opportunity to post an MX Leader

stevenc

Another Martelly frame. Crimped Columbus SLX.

Roni Solomon

I picked this up as a frame over a year ago from a dealer in Poland. I believe it is one of the frames built by Eddy Martens (Martelly) for U. Scanini. I just finished building it up today and took it for a ride, so very nice. It has internal routing, Silva dropouts and the signature crimped SLX tubing seen on other U. Scanini and Martelli frames. I think the paint is a bit garish, but it is growing on me.

non-fixie 

Interesting paint job indeed. Thanks for posting it here!

big chainring 

Kahan Sport. About 1970. I think Kahan was a bike shop in Antwerp.

big chainring 

Looked through this thread and perhaps my Kahan is a Dura?
Same painted "chrome" ends and a "D" in the headlug.

s70rguy

Some 2 years ago I posted about my own Scanini:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...hlight=scanini

Since then I have some more info, and had two more Scanini frames pass through my hands. I'll post more info later, but can start with noting that the more expensive frames (like my Master) were made in italy (I try to remember by who, think it was Torpado), the cheaper ones were made in Belgium, at least some by Martens. Check the thread of the bb shell, and its easy to find out.

s70rguy

The brand U. Scanini was created in 1987, by a Belgian businessman, who wanted to have some association in the name with the popular Italian brands, and on the other hand with (in the early 90s) ever more popular USA brands. As said frames were made in Italy (Zullo) and in Belgium, and also in France (Gabriel Hauptmann). In Belgium they crimped the tubes themselves ... with a simple machine fabricated by the frame builder I believe.
Tubing could be Oria, Columbus Thron and others. The info I got from the owner of the Scanini is not always fully compatible with the frames i see and have had, so there's still guesswork involved.

Two more Scanini frames I have had, the first one made in Italy, the second in Belgium.

The tubing of the second one is crimped too, but a bit different and more sloppy. Of the first one its probably Oria Stella tubing, which looks a bit like Gilco.
My own Scanini Master is very much a copy of a Colnago Master Olympic, down to the airbrushed paintjob. Gruppo is Sachs New Success, it seems to have belonged to an amateur team. Its a very fine bike.

non-fixie 

D-shaped cutouts? I've been wondering about these:



Could very well be Belgian ...

Roni Solomon

Thanks for the info! I actually came across your thread when I first received the frame and started researching the brand. Mine has an English BB, between that and the crimped SLX tubing, I am lead to believe that it is Belgian made frame by Martens/Martelly.

non-fixie 

We are happy to have been of service!

Fourthgrace

Surprised nobody has posted a Bio Racer Frame/Bike. I believe these were produced by the Belgian company which introduced the means to identify optimal riding position and latterly high-tech clothes. If other Forum users have some further info that would be much appreciated.

I bought this frame NOS from a dealer in France via eBay.It's top-end Columbus EL OS, and with EL Forks. Although painted with Stephen Roche's initials, signature and "Cork" model name (legendary Irish rider, father of TDF Nicolas Roche) , the charcteristic colour scheme is identical to Bio Racer badged frames made from other exoctic steel sets including Columbus Genius from the same era. The BB is Italian threaded so it is possible that these frames were made by Italian artisans and then painted to order. I would date the frame between 1993-1996, which is post Stephen's pro career and therefore perhaps this frame was either built for him/ as a bike for his bike camp business/ or when he was looking to launch his own brand of bikes (which he did- but they are quite different in regards badging design). The clue to its Bio Racer origins initially came from the branded chain protector.

I came across this ad for bike painters placed in 2000 for Bio Racer:

"Brit bike painters are wanted by Bio-racer of Belgium. High-end painters only: gas pipe sprayers need not apply.

Bio-racer of Tessenderlo near Brussels believe British high-end bike painters are pretty special, and want some to do contract painting of branded frames.

Relocation expenses will be paid. Everybody at Bio-racer speaks English so theres no language barrier.

The painter search is being handled in the UK by Steve Fenton, who, since parting with Concept, has created the grandly titled European Cycle Development Agency."

Anyway, regardless of its history (brownie points for anyone who can enlighten on connection between "Cork" and Roche), it makes for a great ride, built up with Ultegra SL groupset and Dura Ace STis. I have subsequently changed the stem to a Cinell Art Grammo stem to match the frame colour fades and it looks the business.

non-fixie 

Somehow the Bio-racer brand never appealed to me. Probably because of the name, and their ads from the 90's weren't very attractive either. But I have to admit this machine looks impressive. Thanks for posting it!

Munny

At the time (end of eighties - begining of nineties), I limited myself to some of the Bio-Racer clothes.
I vaguely remember strange colours and equipment that were quite expensive.
I might still have some period catalogs.

Am I wrong or at the time, Stephen was also living in Belgium like Lemond ?