non-fixie 

A couple of months ago mrs non-fixie mentioned in passing that she might like a new bike. Not needing much incentive I went shopping for something that would fit the bill. Something nice.

After a few weeks this appeared on a Belgian classifieds site:



I wasn't familiar with the brand, but the geometry looked sporty enough and what caught my eye was what seemed to be a Zeus 2000 fork crown. Not something you'd find on an entry level bike. Also, there looked to be a tubing manufacturer's decal on the seat tube. So I did the decent thing and offered the quite reasonable asking price. A couple of days and a road trip to the Flemish countryside later I had the bike in my possession and Fritz and I could take a closer look.



Devos, or De Vos, translates as "the fox":



Tube set turned out te be Super Vitus 971:




Zeus fork crown, and - just visible - eyelets for electrical wiring. This frame was made with mudguards and lights in mind.



There are a few scratches, but overall the frame is in good condition and cleaned up rather nicely:



For the build I followed the lead provided by a Berlin outfit called Steel Vintage Bikes, who sponsor Eroica and frequently offer " Donna" style bikes, such as this Moser.

This is what I presented to mrs non-fixie as an additional choice for the new season:



The location of the pump, dictated by the location of the pegs, is a little awkward as it shares the space with a water bottle, but as a good friend mentioned, "its gotta go zumwharz". I am looking for a slightly slimmer pump. The pegs are short, and this Silca doesn't quite fit.

The parts are a mostly mix of early eighties Japanese, selected for fit, looks and comfort. I hope mrs non-fixie likes it.

calstar 

Sweet build!

regards, Brian

Mr_Asifi 

Looks great!

northbend 

Neat bike N-F!
I like your style

non-fixie 

Thanks for the kind words, guys. Much appreciated!

While I'm at it, here's some information on the Devos brand.

There were several Devos shops in Belgium, but I coudn't find anything on this one until I had the bike in my hands and noticed "Handzame" on the headbadge. Handzame is a small town in the Flemish Westhoek region. And as it turns out, the Westhoek has a wonderful historical website, with a lot of old pics. Including many of Handzame and the Devos shop.

From this, its history can be more or less reconstructed. The pictures are linked from the above-mentioned website, where you can find bigger copies.

Sometime before the Great War pub owner Jules Devos opened a shop in 'Velos en Naaimachienen' (bicycles and sewing machines) in a corner of his pub.

Here Jules (on the right, with flat cap) posing in front of his pub in September 1913:


At some point during the interbellum Jules's son Adhemar took over the business. The pub was replaced by a new building, where the focus was on the bike business.

Adhemar Devos in front of his successful shop with wife and child in 1942:



In 1945 the pub is closed, and the building is completely dedicated to the bike business:



Devos sponsored a cycling team from 1947 to 1954. Here's a happy Adhemar with two of his prize winners:



It looks like in the early days Devos may have built their own frames, but I get the impression from the pictures that after WWII they were bought from other manufacturers (of which Belgium had quite a few).

Check out the plastic-wrapped frames behind a certain Emperor of Herentals, who visited the shop in 1969:



Another shot of the same shop, at the opening of the new showroom in 1969. Nr 5 is Gerda Devos, Adhemar's daughter who would take over the shop when he retired.




Devos also sponsored the local riding club. Adhemar is nr 2 on the left. The bike on the left in this picture from the eighties looks familiar:



Gerda ran the shop until her death in 2008. After that the building has been sold a couple of times to real estate developers. Latest plans I've found spoke of turning it into apartments.



Lastly, my favorite Devos picture. The rider is Roger Olivier, on a Devos. No date, but I estimate it was taken around 1950. Check out the details here.

Aubergine 

Lascauxcaveman 

Great thread, [MENTION=173992]non-fixie[/MENTION]! The bike is pretty interesting, too

Butthash

Great job, bud! Good on yah! Hope she enjoys it.

merziac

You can also move the position down quite a bit with a simple longer plate that mounts to the cage holder bolts then the cage bolts separately.

non-fixie 

Thanks. Hadn't thought of that, and will look into it.

natterberry 

merziac

You're welcome, not terribly elegant, but I always thought if you use a piece of stainless it could be thin and stiff enough. Also could use the lower bottle bolt for the top bolt and only one cage with the plate for stiffness.

Also love this bike, your vision and build, fabulous.

Here's my version, it was very nice to begin with, I just cleaned and added all accessories, xmas for my wife a couple of years ago = home run, she loves it.

Need to convert to upright for next season.

78 Moto Grand touring

non-fixie 

Nice bit of engineering. But since the bottle will go up as well as down () as a result I'm not sure it will help a lot.

merziac

natterberry 

non-fixie 

Very nice Moto! I can see why she likes it.

merziac

Tx, she was thrilled, especially since she didn't know she wanted it, very lucky on my part.

The problem solver mount would eat up space you are trying to preserve, simple plate would save it.

crank_addict

Neato find. Unusual Zeus 2k fork crown. Thanks for the company storyline on this thread -fun and interesting.

P.S. Inspirational to find or build the Mrs. a fancy 'donna'. Even though she doesn't ride much these days, she has a few bikes yet nothing considered high end fancy. To justify and balance my indulgence, I've been hoping to come across a chrome lugged something pretty for her.

non-fixie 

Whichever way you look at it, finding room for a water bottle on a "cadre mixte" or "cadre torpille" such as this will always be a bit of a challenge.

On the Mercier I first mounted a bottle ahead of the head tube, using a reflector mount:



I had used this myself during my first visit to Gaiole in '13, and this worked well, until mrs non-fixie went downhill on a long stretch of Belgian cobblestones, preparing for the Retroronde.

Luckily I could find a set of clamps locally, so the next next morning, just before the ride, it looked like this. Didn't have time to remove the broken mount, as you can see:

AZORCH

Really nice set up, and a process with which I can relate. My wife expressed an interest in something different than her relatively modern Cannondale "townie" - preferably something "lighter" that would handle hills in a bit tidier fashion. Well, it sure didn't take much more prompting than that for me to begin searching for a mixte frame that fit the bill. (Easier said than done. I searched for over a year before finding one that met all the criteria.)

Anyhow, this is how my build turned out - and best of all, she likes it.

cb400bill

As Vos is the Dutch word for Fox, the Head tube badge decal is very cool.

obrentharris 

Beautiful job [MENTION=173992]non-fixie[/MENTION]! Thanks for the history lesson and photos.
Probably not the same DeVos since the address on the downtube is "Bruxelles" but here are a couple photos of a DeVos tandem that I donated to our local bicycle museum.









Brent

non-fixie 

Kevindale

Lekker fiets! It really did clean up nicely. Love the bars, and the deep dive into a bit of local bike history.

pullup

What a great little bike Ans the story is very informative as usual with your posts