Mystery Swiss bike
#26
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sure looks like an Allegro to me. No clue as to why the "serial number ingot" (I like to call it a lozenge) is missing, but I know no other brand/marque that checks these boxes.
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Because the big mystery for me still is why are there so many stamped numbers on the bottom bracket? I'm curious if other Allegros (never seen one in person) have anything stamped into the bottom bracket, other than what was originally cast. If it was stamped sometime later, it seems strange to stamp it three times, in two different directions with three different size and type of stamp.
But I also can't imagine some other Swiss frame builder copying an Allegro so perfectly.
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Well, I stand corrected -- and I should have measured in more than one spot first. While there are many places where my calipers read 28.6, most places are 28.2-28.4. Top tube is 26.2 or higher, never dropping anywhere near 1" range for an Imperial measurement.
Edit to add: does this make the 26.8 seatpost a bit odd? That seems to make the tube walls rather skinny. The Campy seatpost has 26.8 on it and it doesn't look like it has been shaved down at all.
Sorry for all the hubbub about tubing diameters; this was definitely a metric tubesets, and the top tube should have been the only information needed to confirm that, as it's nowhere near 25.4.
I guess we're to the point where I sand the seat tube and see if there's any sign of a former Allegro serial badge? Not sure if that's an overkill move or not. If it's not an Allegro, someone tried awful hard to mimic one.
Edit to add: does this make the 26.8 seatpost a bit odd? That seems to make the tube walls rather skinny. The Campy seatpost has 26.8 on it and it doesn't look like it has been shaved down at all.
Sorry for all the hubbub about tubing diameters; this was definitely a metric tubesets, and the top tube should have been the only information needed to confirm that, as it's nowhere near 25.4.
I guess we're to the point where I sand the seat tube and see if there's any sign of a former Allegro serial badge? Not sure if that's an overkill move or not. If it's not an Allegro, someone tried awful hard to mimic one.
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given all the "attention" it has received by someone previously t'is not at all unreasonable to consider it may have been the recipient of a seat tube ream
two possible causes come to mind -
a) deformantion at top of seat tube due to overtightening of binder
b) had a 26.8mm size pillar to hand which wished to employ
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given all the "attention" it has received by someone previously t'is not at all unreasonable to consider it may have been the recipient of a seat tube ream
two possible causes come to mind -
a) deformantion at top of seat tube due to overtightening of binder
b) had a 26.8mm size pillar to hand which wished to employ
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Over on the framebuilder forum, Mark Bulgier wrote -
"The two systems are too far apart. Neither metric tubes in inch lugs, not the other way 'round, will result in clearances suitable to brazing.
The smaller socket can be milled or reamed to fit the bigger tube, as with putting a 1-1/8" tube into lugs or BB shell that were originally 28.0 mm*. But with a metric frame, there ain't no way to put in a 1" TT, since that's smaller than the existing 26 mm TT. No way to shim it and get a strong enough joint IMHO, the tube is just too small.
So now I wonder if the seat tube was replaced at all, or if the serial number "ingot" was just removed during renovations. When I went back and looked at the thread from when this bike surfaced here, when it was still believed to be a Peugeot, I looked closely at this image, the only one I have seen from the non-drive side of the top of the BB shell -
- and I think I am correct in saying there is NO BB shell oil port there. The number stamped onto the underside of the BB shell, 194741, would have been used by Allegro during the period when they fitted oil ports, something discontinued between no. 230908 and no. 233385. So the number may be a red herring. If it is indeed an Allegro, and I think that it is, the lugs say 1961-1974, the lack of an oil port says c.1972-74, the lack of chrome says likely left the shop with the grade C parts but was still functionally identical to the ultra fancy Special models with smoked paint and chrome. I strongly suspect now that the original serial number ingot was removed when the fender eyelets were shaved and the brake cable tunnels and bottle bosses were added and it's likely that it still has it's original seat tube, just reamed out to take the 26.8 mm post.
Were this one mine, I'd start looking for a 531 fork with a Vagner PL crown, strip it, paint it, decal it as an Allegro and ride it lots. Had my old one actually been my size, I probably would still have it. My perception of my last one was that it floated over the road and felt a lot like a long wheelbase early PX-10 with more trail.
#29
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So I went trawling stuff and learned that Reynolds 531 seat tubes had wall thicknesses around .8/.5 mm (some places say .8-something/.56 or so. So that looks well within the realm/range of being reamed out to take a 26.8 instead of the expected 26.6, and @juvela gives two good reasons why that happened.
Over on the framebuilder forum, Mark Bulgier wrote -
"The two systems are too far apart. Neither metric tubes in inch lugs, not the other way 'round, will result in clearances suitable to brazing.
The smaller socket can be milled or reamed to fit the bigger tube, as with putting a 1-1/8" tube into lugs or BB shell that were originally 28.0 mm*. But with a metric frame, there ain't no way to put in a 1" TT, since that's smaller than the existing 26 mm TT. No way to shim it and get a strong enough joint IMHO, the tube is just too small.
So now I wonder if the seat tube was replaced at all, or if the serial number "ingot" was just removed during renovations. When I went back and looked at the thread from when this bike surfaced here, when it was still believed to be a Peugeot, I looked closely at this image, the only one I have seen from the non-drive side of the top of the BB shell -
- and I think I am correct in saying there is NO BB shell oil port there. The number stamped onto the underside of the BB shell, 194741, would have been used by Allegro during the period when they fitted oil ports, something discontinued between no. 230908 and no. 233385. So the number may be a red herring. If it is indeed an Allegro, and I think that it is, the lugs say 1961-1974, the lack of an oil port says c.1972-74, the lack of chrome says likely left the shop with the grade C parts but was still functionally identical to the ultra fancy Special models with smoked paint and chrome. I strongly suspect now that the original serial number ingot was removed when the fender eyelets were shaved and the brake cable tunnels and bottle bosses were added and it's likely that it still has it's original seat tube, just reamed out to take the 26.8 mm post.
Were this one mine, I'd start looking for a 531 fork with a Vagner PL crown, strip it, paint it, decal it as an Allegro and ride it lots. Had my old one actually been my size, I probably would still have it. My perception of my last one was that it floated over the road and felt a lot like a long wheelbase early PX-10 with more trail.
Over on the framebuilder forum, Mark Bulgier wrote -
"The two systems are too far apart. Neither metric tubes in inch lugs, not the other way 'round, will result in clearances suitable to brazing.
The smaller socket can be milled or reamed to fit the bigger tube, as with putting a 1-1/8" tube into lugs or BB shell that were originally 28.0 mm*. But with a metric frame, there ain't no way to put in a 1" TT, since that's smaller than the existing 26 mm TT. No way to shim it and get a strong enough joint IMHO, the tube is just too small.
So now I wonder if the seat tube was replaced at all, or if the serial number "ingot" was just removed during renovations. When I went back and looked at the thread from when this bike surfaced here, when it was still believed to be a Peugeot, I looked closely at this image, the only one I have seen from the non-drive side of the top of the BB shell -
- and I think I am correct in saying there is NO BB shell oil port there. The number stamped onto the underside of the BB shell, 194741, would have been used by Allegro during the period when they fitted oil ports, something discontinued between no. 230908 and no. 233385. So the number may be a red herring. If it is indeed an Allegro, and I think that it is, the lugs say 1961-1974, the lack of an oil port says c.1972-74, the lack of chrome says likely left the shop with the grade C parts but was still functionally identical to the ultra fancy Special models with smoked paint and chrome. I strongly suspect now that the original serial number ingot was removed when the fender eyelets were shaved and the brake cable tunnels and bottle bosses were added and it's likely that it still has it's original seat tube, just reamed out to take the 26.8 mm post.
Were this one mine, I'd start looking for a 531 fork with a Vagner PL crown, strip it, paint it, decal it as an Allegro and ride it lots. Had my old one actually been my size, I probably would still have it. My perception of my last one was that it floated over the road and felt a lot like a long wheelbase early PX-10 with more trail.
The plan is to repaint and decal it as an Allegro, but unfortunately not to ride it. I am much too tall for this one.
#30
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Back then they were all made to wire gauge numbers which don't always match up well with tenths of a mm. So the 21/24 gauge tube is very close to .8 in the butt, but the unbutt is .56 -- actually closer to .6 than to .5 mm.
Seat tubes are almost always single-butted, on butted frames, so it's the .56 mm part that we have to fit a post to. With the normal amount of heat-distortion, we usually fit a 27.2 mm post if it's 1-1/8" (28.6 mm), or 26.6 for a 28.0 mm tube. But with careful low-temperature brazing (less distortion), plus a little reaming, it's definitely possible to mount a 27.4 or 26.8 post.
But R also made 531 plain-gauge tubes in 0.8 mm, which for 1-1/8", take a 26.8 post "natively". So just knowing the seatpost size doesn't tell us which ST is in this frame.
-Mark B
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#31
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Something else to look for, mine has stamping on both sides of the seat lug
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59 Allegro Special -- 72 Bob Jackson -- 74 Motobecane Grand Jubile -- 74 Sekine SHS 271 -- 80 Nishiki International
85 Shogun 800 -- 86 Tommasini Super Prestige -- 92 Specialized Rockhopper -- 17 Colnago Arabesque
59 Allegro Special -- 72 Bob Jackson -- 74 Motobecane Grand Jubile -- 74 Sekine SHS 271 -- 80 Nishiki International
85 Shogun 800 -- 86 Tommasini Super Prestige -- 92 Specialized Rockhopper -- 17 Colnago Arabesque
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#32
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And I'm sure you would have said, but there's no frame size stamped between your chainstays on the BB shell?
#33
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I think (at least the RH) are just Nervex (angle and socket numbers) so nothing to do with frame maker. Also the OP's uses Bocama (BCM) type 14/11 lugs so won't have any Nervex numbers. Not sure about the "A 77" (?) on the LH side, that could be stamped by Allegro I suppose
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#34
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correct, no size stamp
__________________
59 Allegro Special -- 72 Bob Jackson -- 74 Motobecane Grand Jubile -- 74 Sekine SHS 271 -- 80 Nishiki International
85 Shogun 800 -- 86 Tommasini Super Prestige -- 92 Specialized Rockhopper -- 17 Colnago Arabesque
59 Allegro Special -- 72 Bob Jackson -- 74 Motobecane Grand Jubile -- 74 Sekine SHS 271 -- 80 Nishiki International
85 Shogun 800 -- 86 Tommasini Super Prestige -- 92 Specialized Rockhopper -- 17 Colnago Arabesque
#35
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The angle marking on the right and the "A" on the left were stamped there by Nervex, not the framebuilder. The "77" is not a Nervex marking though. Maybe the year? Could your frame be a 1977?
#36
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serial number 167974 places it in 1960
__________________
59 Allegro Special -- 72 Bob Jackson -- 74 Motobecane Grand Jubile -- 74 Sekine SHS 271 -- 80 Nishiki International
85 Shogun 800 -- 86 Tommasini Super Prestige -- 92 Specialized Rockhopper -- 17 Colnago Arabesque
59 Allegro Special -- 72 Bob Jackson -- 74 Motobecane Grand Jubile -- 74 Sekine SHS 271 -- 80 Nishiki International
85 Shogun 800 -- 86 Tommasini Super Prestige -- 92 Specialized Rockhopper -- 17 Colnago Arabesque
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77 might be identification mark of builder
or of quality control inspector
[wylde speculation ]
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77 might be identification mark of builder
or of quality control inspector
[wylde speculation ]
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