Cool shop bike: Le Chemineau diamond (men's) framed bike.

     Last year I profiled the Le Chemineau ladies bike we have here at the shop. Le Chemineau ladies bike
This is the men's (diamond frame) mate to it. These bikes came to us as a pair several years ago. The ladies bike is  more deluxe than this bike, but it is still very cool.
      My favorite features of this bike are the Le Nervurex fenders with the "crocodile" pattern ridges and the rear fender reflector with its hammered alloy housing and original lens. The housing is engraved with the word "agree" and a couple numbers. I do not know what they mean and it looks like it was done after production (home job).  I estimate this bike is from the early to mid 1950's. Le Chemineau ended production in the late 1950's. It has the proprietary early indexing shifter and rear derailleur mount, but uses a Cyclo rear derailleur as opposed to the one of his design. The frame also has unusual rear drop outs, perhaps Oscar Egg or Cyclo? I am not 100% sure who made them. Please let me know if any of you readers out there can educate me. It has nice GB super Hood levers and mis-matched calipers. The front is GB and the rear is a Gloria Iseran model. The chain and seat stays have "cro-mo" stamped on them, perhaps the Reynolds speedy model?,  which was below 531. There are nice early Mavic tubular rims as well. On the front fork leg is an after market light bracket solution attached to the  generator mount, pretty cool. The bike also has nice sleeved GB Maes bars and an incorrect stem. The frame uses Nervex professional lugs and an early Nervex bottom bracket shell. All the original decals and head badge (a personal favorite of mine) are there. This bike is in great shape for its age. I wish we had more information about the original owners and how they liked / used these bikes as it is obvious they were well used and well cared for, a combination that does not always go together.  Enjoy the photos!

Cool shop bike: Claud Butler that belonged to Fred De long

     I do not have a lot of info about this bike to share other than it belonged to Fred De Long and he may have used it to win a state championship. I have tried to track down the model and year of production, but it has been proving difficult. The serial number stamped on the BB shell is 752080. Which, as far as I can find puts it into the era of 1957 or 1967. It has features of earlier models like the unique fork rake and the integrated head set cups. It also has a nice twin plate fork crown with his name and location engraved into it! That feature is my personal favorite. it has the "axe head" lugs that were used on the all-rounder models and nice Chater Lea head clip style head set, also an older feature. The BB shell has two grease fittings. Older bikes also used a seat collar, but this bike has an integrated bolt. The seat stays are also not fully or semi wrapping around the seat lug, which was a common British style, also making me think the bike is older. If any Claud Butler fans can enlighten me with more details, I would love to hear it!

Update: I have been informed by Hilary Stone that this bike is the Anglo-Continental  model. He also dates it to either 1937 or 1947, but leans on the older date because of the head clip style headset and the Russ  fork. Many thanks to all who have provided info!
Update 2: here is a link provided to me by Peter Brueggeman about Russ forks. Thanks! Russ forks