Greetings from North Dakota
05-17-23, 08:19 AM
#1
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Greetings from North Dakota
I just acquired a very original appearing Manufrance touring bike from the original owner (for $25) and am looking forward to posting some pictures once I have enough posts. I'm uncertain of the year, even though the Simplex rear derailleur has a date stamp on it, but unfortunately it is difficult to tell what the numbers are (not from excessive wear, but from what looks like a sloppy stamping from the factory), so am hoping some of the experts will help me once I post pictures. I believe one of the few non-original parts is the front Suntour derailleur, so that's no help.
Anyways, I found this website as I was looking for info. on the Manufrance, and since it has what looks like a very good vintage section I registered and here I am. I now have a fairly severe case of unexpected vintage bike madness and have really enjoyed looking at other people's sweet vintage bikes on the site and look forward to immersing myself further into the vintage world.
Anyways, I found this website as I was looking for info. on the Manufrance, and since it has what looks like a very good vintage section I registered and here I am. I now have a fairly severe case of unexpected vintage bike madness and have really enjoyed looking at other people's sweet vintage bikes on the site and look forward to immersing myself further into the vintage world.
Last edited by Maxey; 05-17-23 at 08:24 AM.
05-17-23, 09:31 AM
#3
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05-19-23, 08:19 PM
#4
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Join Date: Feb 2006
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From Nodak? You have one advantage over most of us. No hills. I remember a group of riders from North Dakota who came to Wisconsin to participate in a race. They said they used highway overpasses to get even a hint of a hill to train. They were no match for the steep hill at the end of the race. As I recall visiting Grand Forks that the change in elevation might be as little as a foot per mile. That proved devastating when the Red River flooded the "new" Grand Forks high school in 1997 even though it was really far away from the river bank.
You can read a little about the Simplex name here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucien_Juy. I haven't seen a bike with Simplex derailleurs since the 70s. They were made in France like your bike. The company has been gone for a third of a century. Be aware that French bikes have French threaded parts and are not the same as English threads. The Japanese were wiser to adopted the English thread system making their parts compatible with many European and American bikes. I'm surprised to see you can still get French threaded parts for the BB and headset online.
You can read a little about the Simplex name here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucien_Juy. I haven't seen a bike with Simplex derailleurs since the 70s. They were made in France like your bike. The company has been gone for a third of a century. Be aware that French bikes have French threaded parts and are not the same as English threads. The Japanese were wiser to adopted the English thread system making their parts compatible with many European and American bikes. I'm surprised to see you can still get French threaded parts for the BB and headset online.
05-20-23, 04:50 AM
#5
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Brunswick, Maine
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Bikes: 1948 P. Barnard & Son, 1962 Rudge Sports, 1963 Freddie Grubb Routier, 1980 Manufrance Hirondelle, 1983 F. Moser Sprint, 1989 Raleigh Technium Pre, 2001 Raleigh M80
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Hello and welcome to our round-table! There are a few other Manufrance owners (including myself) in the Classic and Vintage sub-forum, and I am eager to see your bike and offer comments/questions.
