jamesdak 

Just throwing this out there since I've never heard of them. I recently picked up a very nice bike that was built by them in 1985. They have been quite helpful and responsive as I try and sort out the history on the bike.

He mentioned that they still have vintage steel frames available for selling so I figured I'd start a post to mention that in case anyone is interested. It seems they have a good history with the racing pros and better known in the Europe area.

Some nice looking new rides too and the prices don't seem that crazy.

Eddy Martens is the owner and has been real cool by responding to my questions.

Here's the site. Martelly Bikes

Vintage_Cyclist

Their Retro model would be right at home here.

Shrevvy 

The_Joe

Not much info. I was able to get a Google translated version of the site but it's just one sentence that says they're restored bikes. Perhaps old stock they've had lying around as they're all branded Martelly. No prices.

juvela

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Chrome browser will offer to translate for you and it is reasonably complete and accurate translation.

If you do not want a Chrome browser on your device most public libraries now offer them on their machines.

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non-fixie 

Martens is well-known in these parts as a builder of high quality frames, albeit not as well as he might have been if his father had opted for investing in his own brand instead of building frames for others.

Eddy Martens told his story to a local C&V website a few years ago. This is a - roughly translated - part of it. Eddy talks about his father:Many were distributed in Holland by Wout Verhoeven. I own at least two that came from the Martens shop via this route.

This Giovanni was supplied by Verhoeven to Piet Slikker, the owner of the Giovanni brand:



It has the clover mentioned by @Ex Pres:



This Visser Vainqueur is also a likely suspect ...




... as Visser, like Verhoeven, came from the Rotterdam area and it was originally built for Diamant:



For those who would like to meet Eddy: he is a regular at the Ghent Stalen Ros event, every fall. Took this pic of his offerings a few weeks ago:

jmead11france

I just picked one up myself, in Bruges....had to leave it over there though for now, will get it home next trip.

Kevindale

I also met him there, and came very close to buying that sky blue frame above for my wife. I would have bought it in a second if it were my size, but alas, she didn't see the need for another bike when she'd just gotten a new Specialized a couple of months before. The SL tubing with beautiful lugs and really nice craftsmanship weren't enough to mesmerize her the way they did me. He was selling frames that he had on hand for about half of what they would normally go for.

jamesdak 

Finally! This is the first pictures I've seen of another bike that matches my Martelly built "Ribble" bike. The cutout lugs, head lugs and numbers tab all match. Cool!

jmead11france

Mine was made for Georges Vandenberghe in 1980 not long before he passed away. I consider myself fortunate to have acquired it.

jamesdak 

Awesome to have a real pro's ride. And it's a beauty!

jmead11france

Not my first one....I have a Limongi that was owned by Phillipe Saude and a LeMond wheelset was included in that deal....as well as two complete sets of shorts and jerseys. Renault Elf Gitane

xiaoman1 

A beautiful bike, it should clean up very well...nice score!
Best, Ben

Redshoes

Hi- I dont suppose you have any good photos of the headbadge of this do you? - I am, desperately trying to identify a much loved bike frame I have and I suspect it may be Martens/ Martelly- from what I can see of the head badge on the yellow Diamant they look very similar. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated!- as a newbie it wont let me post photos of my bike unfortunately- but am happy to share these with you over email if that would help for point of comparison. Cheers, Alex

jamesdak 

Just thought I'd update this a bit with my impression of how the bike rides on the road. I should note that I spent 4 unusual months off my bikes for a health reason so am just getting back into shape. But I've had several good rides on the bike as the conditioning comes back. With calm conditions I have easily been able to run a 20+ mph avg pace on it for half of each ride. It's that time of year here when the winds come up each afternoon so I've yet to get complete 25 mile ride in without wind problems. But for me 20 mph over the slight rolling hills route is fast. The bike just seems to carry speed very well and I've been able to run an extra gear over the other bikes I've been riding. It seems fairly comfortable on the rough roads and yet not flexy at all when I'm getting on it. This despite still weighing over 190 lbs as I shed the illness weight. It is quick to turn it, diving eagerly into turns. Yet it's not really twitchy feeling on the straights. Anyway, I'm happy with it and highly recommend these frames to anyone interested. I'm still sorting mine out. Added some nice light Mavics that work great in the calm but suck in side winds. I'm also converting it to mostly all Dura Ace 7400 since it deserves it. The BB has a tad of play so I need to look into that. Here's how I'm riding it right now as I slowly work on it.

unworthy1

Great write-up on Martens/Martelly history that fills in some of those wide gaps in the database. There are so many of their frames that wear so many other names, it's very helpful to see a list!

jmead11france

Redshoes

Thanks so much for this!

jamesdak 

Just as an update, I've been emailing Eddy Martens about some stuff and he shot me a link to this site. Says these are his work too.

https://jaegher.be/

merziac

Very nice.