bertinjim 

juvela-
Good point on the lugless BB. Manufrance offered its Hirondelle line of bikes with lugless brazed frames which may be supportive of them as the producer of the Routens under discussion. The one Hirondelle I've seen in the metal was an AO 8 level bike but the lugless brazing was beautifully done with near perfect radii.

juvela

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shell note -

some Manufrance products, certainly not all, employed CH dimension shells

the bottom bracket cups here appear to be the Peyrard chrome plated ones

if they were the BARDON/REWAX black oxide type we could tell if shell were M or CH by the number of flats on the fixed cup, in those eight flats equals CH

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many mid to lower level Manufrance built bicycles came through with vertically drilled seat stay bridges

none of the images provided show this area clearly enough to make a determination

a vertically drilled bridge in this case would tend to be confirmatory of a Manufrance origin for the cycle

while a horizontally drilled bridge would not at all rule it out


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Catnap 

I'm very impressed with the quick sleuthing by bertinjim and juvela ! I don't have much else to add; I agree that this bike was not made by Jo Routens himself, as it does not show any of the signatures of a constructeur bike, or more specifically, Routens's handiwork such as a twin-plate fork crown, integrated handmade derailleurs, custom press-fit bottom bracket, or the Hellenic stays. Given that the front derailleur and shifters are Simplex but the rear derailleur is a Suntour, it's possible the RD was replaced at some point.

As to value, I'd say north of $500 and south of $1000. The name carries weight with collectors, but most will recognize it for what it is and price it accordingly.

zukahn1 

As is I would agree on the price value being around $500 maybe a bit more to the right buyer and not in the $1000+ range so not a huge treasure.