Crescent Ambassadeur mixte?
 

Hi there, this is my first post here but I've lurked a bit.

I recently bought a vintage (60's or 70's, haven't had the chance to look up the serial # yet) Crescent "Ambassadeur" mixte. The internet is apparently stumped by this, because I cannot seem to find any information at all about this bike. It's in excellent condition.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46643762@N03/7568588534/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/46643762@N03/7568432720/

According to the guy I bought it from, this was bought in Sweden by his grandfather in the 60's or 70's, for his wife. His grandfather was the Swedish ambassador in DC. I am intrigued and would like to know more about this, anyone familiar?

What brand of brakes and crank? Might be some date stamps on them. Also possibly on the inside of the rims. Looks like a typical city bike from that part of the world.

Aaron :)

I see quite a lot of these in Norway - not called "Ambassadeur", though.

It's not from the 60's, probably late 70's - early 80's. Tubing was always generic high-tensile steel and drop-outs plain, stamped steel. The rear hub is a Sachs "Torpedo Dreigang" - three speed internal gears with coaster brake. Impossible to destroy.

Sometimes they have SR stems and cranks. Not a very fancy bike by any stretch of the imagination, just a durable, practical commuter. I see Crescent tried to french it up with the name and the handlebars. Crescent was the largest Swedish brand after they merged with Monark. They also merged with the Norwegian brand Diamant (now those were nice bikes) in the 50's. I think Crescent was originally American, but moved to Sweden around the turn of the century.

Very easy to wrench on. The front brake always needs some work before you can actually depend on it. Most Crescent's I've seen with this frame had steel rims - I can't quite make out whether yours are steel or alloy.

great information, thank you! I'm a bit of a newbie so this is all very interesting for me.

The front wheel does show "made in France" (can't make out the brand). I can definitely see this being late 70's-early 80's, rather than 60's-70's as the seller stated. The rims appear to be steel, good to know about the front brakes. It's going in for a tune up on Monday, after which it'll be a commuter. Nice to know it's not a heap of junk, I think it will definitely be more than suitable for me! Thanks again for the great info (if anyone else has anything else to add, feel free).

A bit besserwisser, but Crescent is still the biggest swedish brand in Sweden. Crescent didnt move to Sweden; the brand were originally started in the US by a german immigrant. Then the swedish importeuer bought the rights for the name in the early 1900´s. Here´s some specs from from the 1985 catalouge:

Crescent 92353 Fashion Line (Ambassadeur)
Unreduced tubing, rear frame Tange Hi-Tensile.
Rear hub F & S Triplex (male version Torpedo Triplex)
Front hub Maillard
Crossbow brakes by Shimano
Bar & stem by SR
Pedals/pedalarms by SR
chain by Izumi or Union
Colours Lemon or White

Aha - so that's how the US-Sweden connection was! I learn something every day. Of course, nowadays Crescent is part of Cycleeurope AB, one of the big players internationally which among other brands owns Legano and Bianchi.

The catalogue entry javal describes sounds pretty much like your bike, OP!

Once upon a time the merger between Monark and Crescent were looked upon as the death for other small brands in Sweden... On the OP´s pics the mix of decals can be seen on the fork = a Monark crown.

Looks to be late 70's. Here is an earlier post about my Crescents;

I have had a couple of older Crescents & they had a hard to find tire size. I contacted Schwalbe & they sent some to me. NO, NO bike shop will have that odd size. They are not even listed on Sheldons site.
Here is an old thread I made about a Crescent .
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...crescent+tires