Terzot

Hey, i managed to buy this bike, but i dont really know much about it. From my experience with bikes - handlebar + saddle are new. Other stuff seems to be originall. I've got some questions to you:
1. What model is it, and what is the year of the production?
2. Simplex derailleurs levers - haven't really seen such ones, these are so thin - can you tell more about them?
3. Rims - i have no idea what company is it.
4. What kind of handlebar and saddle do i need to make it all originall?
5. How much is it worth after cleaning / reapairing?
Serial number 71913.
Thanks in advice!

juvela

-----

Bicycle at/near to 1970.

Shift levers are an odd model from Simplex which was only in production for a short time. They came on a new Peugeot PX-10 I purchased in 1970. Lever body formed of a piece of folded over steel sheet. Bad design allows ball end of cable to wedge itself between the two halves of the lever.

Shown here -

VeloBase.com - Component: Simplex (large plastic finger pads with cross-hatching)

Wheel rims are FIAMME yellow label model, made in Italy.

Forum members bertinjim & verktyg shall be along momentarily with far more and better information for you.

-----

repechage

Bertin models are a precise target challenge, as they were very willing to custom spec even modest sized orders.
56 cm as Bertin measured center to top at the time. top tube is probably the same length.
'70-'71 is a decent guess.
C-32 maybe as the basis, exceptional features would be the Fiamme rims, more typical would have been Milremo labeled Super Champion.
Stem appears correct, bars, an alloy drop bar that fits the stem- best to check the clamp size, 25.4 or 26.0...
Saddle would have most probably been an Ideale, 39, 70, maybe an 80.
Wing nuts are interesting... I would check the freewheel and hub, if it has French threading, original, if not, the wheels have been exchanged. Bike may have had tubulars to begin- Normandy hubs, Milremo route by Super Champion.
The Weinmann brakes are atypical, Mafac was most common.

Bike could ride quite well.
I would spiff for a TA or Stronglight crank. new tires,

Terzot

1. Could you tell me which handlebar do i need to find? I guess it would be atax philippe / franco italia one?
2. What do you mean with spiffing for a stronglight crank? Bike has one i mean it is Milremo / Stronglight as u can see on the sixth picture.
3. The freewhel has french threading - its marked Milremo , hubs are marked as Atom Made in France, as u can see in the picture below.

bikemig 

It's a neat bike. If you're looking to flip, there's not much value for you to do much work on it. This is not a high end bike. The tubulars don't help the value either. That's a nice steel cottered crank but that likely doesn't help the value much either.

If you happen to have the right kind of parts lying around, then you could add some value. You could hunt around in a bike co op for the parts you need.

There is a Bertin C132 (also durifort tubing) that just sold on eBay for $350 but that bike was exceptionally clean, had clinchers, everything was period correct, and it has a really nice TA crank with 46/30 rings. That bike had been fixed up very nicely. There were not a lot of watchers on that bike which suggests that it did not get a lot of eyeballs.

juvela

-----

History note -

if the 71 in serial indicates year of manufacture the cycle is one of the later ones produced near the end of activity at the original Bertin factory in northern France

the factory was destroyed in a major fire in 1972 and operations were moved over the border into Belgium where bicycles continued to be manufactured at a temporary facility

---

regarding gear block thread -

you image of the Atom hub seen from above shows that a groove is present in the hub body just inboard of the gear block and outboard of the hub flange

this groove indicates that the hub is BSC ("english") threaded
a metric thread ("french") gear block would have threads too small to fit onto this hub
just because hub manufactured in France does not mean it is metric threaded

---

Frame -

constructed with BOCAMA brand lug set and VAGNER Nr. DP+ fork crown

---

original stem and bar set would have been Philippe brand but private labelled as MILREMO brand for Bertin

---

Chainset is Verot (Stronglight) Competition model & Competition model bottom bracket assembly with precision ground bearing surfaces and a hollow spindle (this is quality stuff!)

-----

zukahn1 

I would agree that is one of the last Bertin's made in France based on the serial and date indicators and 4 strips on the decals it was made during the last couple of months in 71 or the first month of 72.

repechage

The wheels are still curious to me, english threaded as noted by the groove. Those French are crafty. On the back of the freewheel will be a code denoting the thread pitch of the freewheel.
I would leave the wheels, clean them up, I would be tempted to rebuild them with stainless spokes but that is just me. Note there is some damage to the drive side spokes from someone overshifting.
Take the tires and rim strips off and verify the spokes are the correct length. The spoke fully engaging the nipple and not extending beyond. One or two can be filed back, 18? rebuild the wheel.
The crank is decent for a cottered crank, one could look for aluminum chainrings. That chain is desperately seeking lubrication, hopefully it moves well, no kinks.
I would just remove and sell off the steel crank and bottom bracket, install a TA or Stronglight aluminum cotterless crank. Purely a personal preference.
I have two 1972 Bertins. They are nice bikes. Bertin did some "extra" stuff like the pin striping, not a big thing, but visually moved it toward the "handmade" visual.

As to handlebar, anything that fits and you like the shape. Being perfectly period correct does nothing for value on this bike, a bar that you like the shape of means so much more.
Look on ebay.fr

verktyg 

NON! NON! NON!

zukahn1 "I would agree that is one of the last Bertin's made in France based on the serial and date indicators and 4 strips on the decals it was made during the last couple of months in 71 or the first month of 72."

HUH!

There was a very brief period in 1972-73 after the Bertin factory fire when some bikes were coming from Andre Bertin's cousin's plant across the border in Belgium. During the height of the bike boom some entry level models were outsourced to one or more of the FRENCH mass builders like ManuFrance or some producer like them. Supposedly B. Carre built a few top end C37 frames at that time too.

I have a 1986 C80-SSC Bertin, a 1986 C37 show bike frame also 1991 Bertin Reynolds 501 frame - ALL FRENCH MADE!

eBay seller bicyclists_retreat has been listing some TIG welded Bertin frames for a number of years. They were supposedly made in FRANCE in the 1990's. There were also some Bertin badged frames made in Morocco or Algeria but that was a spin off company.

Bike looks like a very late 60's Bertin C31 model, maybe 1970. By the time the bike boom started cooking in the US there were also smaller booms going on in France and the UK. Niceties like pinstripping were time consuming and soon discontinued. Also the red, white and blue "tricolore" that had been hand painted on the tops of the seat stays was changed to self adhesive stickers.

The silver Mylar panel on the seat tube was an indicator of a pre 1970 bike but... Bertin used whatever stickers they had on the shelf. See my Flickr album which is far from complete:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/282672...57624013703517

When we ordered Bertins in the 70's we could specify most of the details except for colors, lugs and decals. We sometimes received bikes in the late 70's with early 70's decals.

I don't recall seeing those skinny Simplex shift levers BITD... Always thought that maybe they were from the mid 60's???

Never saw a Bertin equipped with Weinmann brakes from the factory either. We also sold Gitanes. Occasionally we switched the brakes on new Gitanes from Mafac to Weinmann because of the squealing issues. That could be the case with the OP's bike.

Wheels were the most frequently changed or replaced components on a bike and should at the bottom of the dating list.

Fiame rims on a Bertin? Fagetaboutit... Like the French celebration of the Italian wine harvest!

In those days France and Italy had very high protective tariffs on things like bikes and components.

What size are the wheels - 27" or 700c?

Back then, 700c tires and rims were very uncommon in the US. I can remember switching rims on some 700c wheels to 27" on a few European model bikes that people brought home from France in the early 70's.

It could have had sewups too but not likely on that model.

BTW, serial numbers meant ABSOLUTELY NOTHING on Bertin bikes until the late 70's when the CPSC Rules demanded traceability. Most Bertin frames had the the size stamped into the left dropout.

1979 C132 54cm Center to Top



57cm Late 60's C37



62cm 1960's C37


Mid 70's 70cm frame. We had Bertin make us 66cm all Reynolds 531 C37 frames plus 68cm, 70cm and 72cm frames with Durifort forks and stays and straight gauge main tubes.




Bertin also made us 48cm frames that fit sewups or 20mm 700c tires and handled like a larger bike, not a wheelbarrow!




I digress again....

Getting back to the OP's C31, juvela covered a lot of points.

The Milremo stem made by Philippe has a 22.0mm quill and took a 25mm bar.

It was probably stretched open to fit the later 26mm TT bars. I DON'T RECOMMEND CLAMPING THE STEM DOWN TO FIT A 25mm OR 25.4mm BAR!

Here's a Cinelli stem that I tried to open up to fit the proper 26.4mm Cinelli bar. The front of the stem made a high pitch musical note as it flew across my work bench!



Except for the top models, during the 1970's most Bertins came with rock hard wooden Ideale 39 saddles. Nuff said.

Hope this helps.

verktyg