Unique frame, NEED HELP TO IDENTIFY!
 

Hi, I recently acquired a vintage frame, but before I bought it I did some research on it and found SQUAT! So I took a risk and
most likely paid WAAAAAYYYYY too much for it ($140), but it looks cool as all hell. It has simplex drop-outs and is made of Reynolds 531.
I Equipped it with a Ofmega Mistral crank-set (only using the 52 chain ring), some no name tires and rims but they've lasted me a few years now.
Added some Tektro brakes and it's good to ride.
If you know anything about the company that made the frame, quality and what not any replies would be helpful. THANKS!
-Adrian112

The beauty shots you have provided look nice. But they don't show us much for IDing a bike. I think I spy most of a Made In France decal. With a French language 531 decal it would somewhat narrow the options.

Shoot some pics of the seat lug, the rear drop outs, the bottom bracket, and the head tube. Also, post up the serial number.

Anyway, I think you did fine for $140.

Could be a Gitane, a pretty decent one if the tubing decals are real. What is the diameter of the seat post? Is the bottom bracket French?

A good deal for $140 at any rate. Those aren't cheap tires.

Fishmouthed stay ends at dropouts do point towards a higher quality than usual bike. The older style Simplex rear DO's seem to suggest a 70's vintage bike that does not seem to naturally match up to what looks to be newer style graphics..,.....

The lack of braze on's paint color with eurpean 531 decals if orginal would,(the only reason they are in doubt is it is very rare to see French or European foil decals and metalic paint in this nice of condition.) combined with fairly nice lug work and somewhat aggressive racing geometry would indicate a fairly nice 70's bike from likely from Northern Europe some more detailed pics of the lugs and dropout's would help with narrowing things down. Definetly worth way mor than the $140 you paid. I'm not a big fan of agressive road to semi track type conversions but this one looks well done I like it.

Frame and crankset are worth the $140, so ride it and like it. I sure would.
The identity search is fun, but you could go nuts looking, and then you'd end up here.

with us.

so welcome to the forum.

Let me get this out of the way first, the metal hose clamps look kind of ridiculous to me and likely damaged the paint upon installation.

It's a beautiful frame in a nice color. The foil decal panel might be original as a quick-and-dirty re-branding of a contract-built frame from a large builder, but I don't recognize any brand-specific details, though Gitane comes to mind for the fishmouthed stay ends and possibly the seatstay caps.

A friend has a French, store-rebranded Urago from the very early 1960's with the very same metallic gold color, so who knows, coulda been built by Urago some years later, after they changed away from their seatstay "loop" feature.

I did find this:

Scroll down a little

Wonder if it's the same bike?

Looking a bit closer based on how tight the tire wheel fit and brake fit is on this bike are for a vintage bike with 700's. I'm thinking it may have had 650 wheels originally not a big deal but make these one even more interesting.

yeah, i just hand those on hand, i just put them on top of where the "original ones" were so no further damage was caused.

THAT'S IT! legnano, wow, great find! would have taken me ages.

you would be correct with that made in France sticker.

Thanks Robbie

well... too be honest, the seat post is new and so is the bottom bracket, BUT the bottom bracket was made France.

Thanks, I appreciate it. i would actually think this originally was a track bike, i cant find anywhere where shifters would be placed, i.e downtube or stem. possibly they could have been bar ends but from what i understand (which is limited) those were unpopular.

Well most bikes made before the mid 70's had few if any brazon's cable stay's, bottle, pump and shifters where clamp on. If It was a track bike from this era it would likely have strait rear mounting dropouts and no rear brake mount's.

like i said... limited knowledge. Thanks, I now know what to look for. So do you know whats more likely? racing or recreational?

This bike was likely a very nice Club type lesser pro racer originaly likely with a tight 52/48 double or maybe 49 single front and a early 5speed corncob rear likely 14-23. Which is why it seems at home with the current gearing rear setup.

that's NOT a Legnano, but it IS a pretty nice FRENCH frame maybe something like an Astra or another Gitane-ish *** St. Etienne-ish frame...not bad for the money you spent!

Good to know, really appreciate your help! Just trying to get the first bike RIGHT. Sounds like i did okay.

Yeah, i realized my mistake, i was looking at the webpage posted above and mistaked the name. Thanks for the brand opinions. i'll look for some more markings when i get the chance. I believe it says "RGF" on the BB casing if that means anything

it means Gargette Brothers and is a very common BB shell used by French as well as British and Belgian frame makers. Still doesn't provide the final clue as to who made your frame, but it's a GOOD BB shell, in any case.

Heh, sorry for the confusion, the heading it's under lists two different bikes.

I'm pretty new to the bike world myself, so I can't help you with any facts. But I am very good at research and googling (I'm a library assistant). That site had the only image I could find of your frame, which is why I was wondering if it's the same bike -- especially given the age and remarkable condition. But I will say the term "Europ" is hard to google -- my goodness, so many people misspell "Europe"!

I even tried google.fr using both French and English terms, and that site is still the only thing I could find. I'll give another look tomorrow to see if I can turn up anything else. I love a good mystery!

Ah, now I see the pictures show one like you have (Europ) and a blue Legnano but blogger is not saying the Europ is made by Legnano (which it's NOT, IMHO). That one shows a sticker on the down tube top that says something like "L.Grand..." is possibly the builder or shop that sold Europs...I'd make that name your search clue, maybe ask the blogger if he knows something more about his.
Chas Vertyg was just looking at another mystery bike thread, if he sees this one I bet he'll have some thoughts.

Italians would use something other than a Simplex dropout.


if Italian BB would be 36mm Italian thread, not 35mm French ..& 22.0mm quill stem

as long as you like it why sweat Provenance , importers rebadge things all the time

the stickers may have been applied in Canada or for a CDN importer.