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torophil

I'd be remiss to not post my bike to the website which motivated me to put this together. Thanks to all posters who provided great information to make this possible.
It started out as frame and fork including the headset, although missing a few bearings, for $42. My intent was to use parts I had on hand from a vintage stripped Sears racing bike, mostly Huret components, and an old Zeus which evolved into a fixed gear. I wanted it to be as French as possible though, as well as period correct -ish, and remain looking well-ridden.

Al Petri & Sons in Lincoln Park, Michigan was a valuble resource for vintage parts on this project and sold to me a complete Mafac Racer brake set for $25 as well as a set of Normandy Competition - looking hubs, also for $25.

The hubs only identification is a Made in Italy stamping.
As mentioned, I had Zeus components handy, and tried to put an entire Zeus drivetrain on the bike, but I could not string the front derailer cable without it dragging on the seat-tube, so I put the Sears racing bike Huret derailer in place.

Needing a crank, I installed one of the most beautiful, at least to my eye, Spidel crankset.

Since these pictures were taken I have found dust caps for the crankset, and obtained a Huret Jubilee rear derailer to make the bike more French. Also, I swapped to Simplex quick release skewers from the Purple Hosteller I have shown in the vintage bikes forum.

I did get the adapter kit for the rear derailer, but have not installed it as I'm sure I'll need a new gear cluster. Does anyone know what the max cog capability of a Jubilee is?

torophil

I finally had a chance to ride this TdF, and what a nice "all day comfort" type of ride. I felt it was less harsh than my SLX De Rosa with a carbon fork. Incidentally, this bike weighs in at 24 lbs, only 2.5 lbs heavier than the De Rosa, not bad considering the Brooks saddle and the steel fork.

Since my first post I restrung the brake cables to cross past the handlebars, added the crank dust caps, and added leather wraps to the toe cages to help protect my vintage Rivat shoes. I still have to mount the Jubilee derailleur, but hope to get a tighter rear cluster at that time. Here's a picture at it's current state.

scozim

Great color and bike!

I haven't really used the Huret derailleurs - how do they shift? I normally source Simplex for my bikes of that era.

By Gitane Olympic rides fantastic and the little bit of extra weight is not a liability to me. They are comfortable over the long haul.

Frenchbuilt

This is what I have to mount the Jubilee on to standard drop out:
http://sexyracebicycles.blogspot.fr/2015/02/huret-jubilee-derailleur-adapater-set.html

But will not work on Simplex drop out.....

torophil

Thanks for the tip on the adapter kit, I have acquired it. I also just acquired a Jubilee Drillium rear derailleur, and Mafac Competition brake levers to continue that look. I haven't mounted either as I'm a bit superstitious with bike set-up (if it works, don't change it). The Zeus derailleur does shift great though. My intent is to update the parts this winter to perhaps participate in next years L'eroica California. Incidentally the Drillium derailleur does weigh 10 grams more than the prior level.

torophil

Here’s a picture of the bike in its final iteration. It now has the Huret Jubilee drillium rear derailleur, Jubilee front derailleur and Jubilee cable guide to make sure everything lines up. I have also installed Mavic Course brake levers to complete the drillium look. One area of this update that I more than likely overthought was the orientation/angle of the jockey and tension pulleys, as well as the position of the rear axle in the dropout. Looking on the internet I saw the Jubilee in a variety of orientations from vertical to nearly, and awkwardly horizontal. The adaptor mentioned above allows you to make that adjustment. The Jubilee is a derailleur design in which the cage pivots at the jockey pulley, so the adjustment of the derailleur directly affects chain wrap on the sprockets, and perhaps shifting speed. The position of the axle in the horizontal dropout also has a direct effect of the derailleur/chain engagement to the sprockets. I went with the advice of positioning the axle in line with the seatstay. Both of these adjustments would have an effect on chain length. Ultimately I adjusted the derailleur to be about 45 degrees as I saw a lot of pictorial evidence on the internet of this orientation, and it does look nice. Finally I changed the handlebar tape to blue to hopefully pull the blue out of the decals. Now I just have to wait for the weather to break and see how it rides.