Originally Posted by
1989Pre
Non-fixie, I'm pretty familiar with the Roy Thame story, but could you tell us a bit about the Robust? Is that '70's French?
198
Robust was founded by a Mr Robert, sometime in the 1920's in Saint-Etienne, the heart of the French bicycle industry.
The name seems to have been chosen deliberately:
In the 1950's the brand was taken over by Ets Berger, also a Saint-Etienne bicycle manufacturer. They kept the name Robust alive, and even sponsored racing activities:
In the late 1980's the story get s a little fuzzy. There was a takeover by a wood merchant, and shortly after the Berger firm ceased its activities.
Based on the decals and the BSC threading I believe my frame to be from the early eighties. I bought the frame on ebay.fr because of the looks and its rare large size. A gamble that turned out well.
The original thread on my acquisition of this frame is
here.