More bikes in the shed

Looks like it will be goodbye, Paris Sport, in light of some recent acquisitions.

One, a free Trek frame and fork. Just a plain-jane straight-gauge chromo 700 MultiTrack that fits me better than the PS. Plus it has cantilever bosses and enough braze-ons for a tourer (including mid-fork rack brazeons). It was an ugly white with teal decals, so I figured I'd shoot it with black Rustoleum and make my utility bike. Maybe. Or maybe nothing would become of it and I would transform the PS into what I was after.

Then I got a free Hercules, much more my size, even on the large side. I've always had bikes that were a bit too small for me, and riding this thing makes me feel like I'm astride a horse! I would keep it as my utility bike, except it's been upgraded with a very nice Sachs Rival crank - hmmm.... that would look very nice on the Trek! So I began painting the Trek with the goal of making it a rear-derailleur-only bike with a chain guard, fenders, basket or front rack, lights, etc. Sigh... though the Herc is a great deal of fun to ride.

Of course, I continued to desire a bike suitable for long rides, hopefully with a randonneuring club. Sure, I could outfit the Trek for that, but it's still a little small. That won't bother me for rides around home, but for centuries or more, I needed better. And I wanted to have one actually good bike with decent tubing.

eBay to the rescue, with a 1987 Trek 400 Triple Elance. I hadn't even been looking at Treks for my "serious" bike, but I chanced upon it. Black, with silver headtube and silver lug details. A triple crank meant that rides though Virginia mountainsides were possible. Reynolds 531, good. A 56cm frame, good. Ok, so I sat there waiting for the clock to run out and I sniped it in the last 20 seconds. I wound up paying too much, considering I've seen similar (but different years without 531 tubing) for less. And it kills me to read posts on bikeforums.net where some guy is asking if $150 is too much for one he's seen at a garage sale. But I couldn't keep waiting on Craig's List to magically deliver the right size and right features bike to me. Sure, I could have settled for a Miyata or similar for a lot less. But then I might have later been wanting a replacement bike. I think the Elance will last me for a long time.



Side note: these pics are crummy, must take again under better lighting.

Paris Sport Approved

I recently bought a bike from a Craigs Listing, advertised as a "Paris Sport". I knew nothing about the make, so a bit of research and I was interested. I knew from the picture that it wasn't anything particularly exciting. I intended for it to be my grocery-getter, commuter, utility bike. Slap on some fenders and racks/basket, maybe convert to single-speed or fixed-gear.

It turned out not to be a true Paris Sport, but a "Paris Sport Approved" Ets Fraysse bike (whew, thank god it's at least approved by them ;). From what I can find out (and there's almost nothing on the web about it), Ets Fraysse was Mike Fraysse's brand, he of the shop that badged bikes as Paris Sports. I've seen one Ets Fraysse frame on eBay, it had Campy dropouts; alas, mine is a cheap model. It has on the chainstay a decal "Storm", it's made in Japan, and reminds me of my friend's Nishiki back in high school. There is nothing to get excited about, it's typical for recreational 10-speeds of the period, as detailed below:

Frame: lugged (simple lugs) steel with no sticker indicating what steel. Half-chromed fork, single eyelets front and rear. No bottle braze-ons, but top-tube braze-on cable guides. Stamped horizontal dropouts with no derailleur hanger. Points for turning into a single-speed/fixie.

Crankset: Sugino Maxy, swaged model with non-removeable large 52 ring (boo!! Deduct points for complicating the single-speed conversion).

The rest: Shimano Tourney derailleurs with Power ratchet stem shifters, Dia-Compe centerpull brakes, steel Araya 27x1 1/4 rims. Handlebars had been replaced with Wald North Road style bars.


So, I enjoyed riding it a few times on the Mount Vernon bike path from Alexandria to Mt Vernon - only occassionally did I wish for lower gears, although I used to do that ride all the time on a Gitane Interclub with a 52/42 (but then again, I was in high school - 24 years ago!). Soon I took off the derailleurs just to get an idea of what it would look like. I scavenged a Brooks saddle from a free '77 Raleigh Grand Prix (another project, another time).

At the moment I'm undecided as to how to proceed with this bike - go single-speed, or keep the derailleurs (but change the shifters), or throw on a Huret Jubilee rear and have 5 (or 6) gears for puttering around town and easy rides, or ??? Some of my ideas are influenced by Kogswell and others' promotion of the French utility bike (porteur) and Singer bikes. I want to keep it cheap, but I might splurge on 650B wheels, which would require getting some Mafac brakes which may or may not reach. I know the Dia-Compes won't - I tested with 700C and the rear brake hits the rubber.

The saga continues...