Daveyates

They are very hard to find in large sizes and many people are looking for them but i'll keep you posted.

Pistard

Tres Impressionent mon vieux!!

PedalTraveler

What a lovely bicycle, the most interesting one I have seen in a long time, very nice. I look forward to seeing how it turns out.

RosyRambler

Very nice Campeur find, Dave! It's interesting the way the rear rack is welded as part of the frame at the dropouts and seatstays. And the lugs are gorgeous!

I was wondering how you get the rust off the frame? Do you use any of the "soaking" methods, like an OA bath, or other de-rusting solution, that some of the forum members use?

The stem is looking good. Will you use the same technique on the fenders?

Do you respoke the wheels with new spokes if you intend to use the bike?

Forgive my many questions, but I have a "Rene Andre" 650B Porteur bike, and a "A.Conord-Realty" 650B mixte, both from about 1950 that are in similar condition to your Campeur.

Daveyates

Thanks,

It is interesting because the brazed-on rear rack was usually seen on older bikes and it's quite strange to see one on a 50s bike.
As for restoring the bike i tend to just like them cleaner but still looking old.
Firstly i spray everything with WD40 to help to loosen any stuck nuts and bolts. Then on the frame i use a metal polish, anything from a supermarket for brass,alloy, metal polishing.
Here in france i use a product called Miror. I use the metal polish with fine wirewool to get rid of most of the rust. Afterwards i'll use WD40 and a cloth to wipe the frame down.
If the frame is black like this one i might use black shoe polish to try to blend in where the rust was, afterwards this can be buffed to a shine.
I then change the ball bearings in the headset and bottom bracket and use lots of grease.

For the wheels i just use them as they are. If a spoke is broke i'll replace but but i tend to not respoke any wheels unless they really need it.
Maybe i'll use wirewool to clean the spokes a bit. With the wheels on this bike the rims are very rusty and so i'll use sandpaper and then wirewool afterwards.

The fenders will be sanded down as well and i'll use polish just to clean them up afterwards.

So hopefully the bike will look just cleaner and be ready to ride and that's good enough for me.
I don't have the patience to polish everything to a shine and bring a bike to a showroom state.

Daveyates

I weighed the front rack today and it is 120 grams!

Daveyates

I looked through my parts this morning and found the exact same rear light NOS.
That was lucky!

Daveyates

Here is how the bike is looking at the moment.
I still have to do more work on the fenders.

I have decided to keep the Cyclo derailleurs on the bike as they are really nice.
The frame has braze-ons for a different type of gear lever and cable but that's not too important.
Maybe the original buyer commisioned the frame and then changed their mind about which derailleurs to use?
It seems very strange to add an expensive Alloy derailleur to a frame years later.

I've added a different front rack due to the original being broken.
Also a different cottered crankset with more appropriate gearing for a Campeur bike.

For the moment i have changed the wheels because i couldn't be bothered to switch tyres over.
I still need to de-rust the original wheels.

Here she is and i've added the original photo so you can see the changes better.

Paramount1973 

Isn't that actually 0.12 KG or 120 grams?

dveneman

You Campeur bicycle is looking more and more ridable in the latest photo, nice work. But I still love the ghostly "as found" pics as well for some reason.
What a beauty. Thank you for sharing the wonderful photos!

Daveyates

Apparently i'm an idiot and yes it should be 120 grams and not 12 grams!

Thanks for pointing that out.

Daveyates

Thanks and i can see what you mean!

Paramount1973 

That is still quite light for a rack. I have the same scale. For a while, I was weighing everything in JIN units. Doh.

rootboy 

SO cool Dave. You've done it again. And I like the fact that you are not "over cleaning" them.

juvela

love seeing how she is coming along. looking forward to the next update...

was thinking a set of guidonnets would be a nice complement to the new randonneur bend.

thanks so much for sharing this machine.

RosyRambler

Dave, all I can say about the before and after photos is WOW!! The before pic looks like a lost cause. Beautiful job as usual. Thanks for sharing the photos.

Also thank you for detailing your restoration process. I would have thought that a metal polish, especially used with "steel" wool (U.S. speak, but wire wool is more appropriate since it also comes in brass) would remove any shine on the frame paint. But it's obvious in the after photo that it doesn't. I won't be so afraid to give it a try then.

Boy, I'd love to have a look in your parts bin!

old's'cool

Sweet bike. The patina, as found, is "formidable", so to speak!

gomango

Normally I don't pay that close of attention to French bicycles.

Mainly out of my own ignorance.

But I love what you are up to in this thread and your keen eye for style and practicality.

I'll keep reading as this is quite interesting.

My brother in law's neighbor has a copper colored Routens that I will certainly look at much more closely when I visit next time.