# The Belgian touch



## Yannick (Jul 28, 2008)

Hello,

I'm Yannick and live in Belgium. It may be a small country but it has a great history concerning cars, motorcycles and bicycles.

I own these two original Belgian beauties:

The 1936 Record Cycles in original condition. Black with nice white and blue pinstriping.


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## Yannick (Jul 28, 2008)

The second one I own is a '47 Royal Expres, a barn find. Currenty undergoing a complete restoration.


















Belgian bicycles are not to be confused with Dutch bicycles which are higher and lack the low cruising feeling.

I hope you Americans like these things, I couldn't find a descent bicycle forum in Europe...


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## 37fleetwood (Jul 28, 2008)

very beautiful! we have a few European members here but most of us are American. I hope you have fun here. there are a great bunch of guys that hang out here.
Scott


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## AntonyR (Jul 28, 2008)

Since they both have very English sounding names, where they built in the UK? Also I love the leather fender cover. Is it like American bike girl's bikes so her dress doesn't get caught in the spokes? Also very interesting is the handlebar grips are integrated into a cover for each side of the bar.


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## Yannick (Jul 28, 2008)

Hi there,

In fact the names can also be pronounced in French. Cycles is also a French word, so is Royal and Record, but pronounced differently. Belgium is divided in a Dutch speaking part and a French speaking part. These two beauties are Belgian productions. The fun in Belgium is that there were only few really big bicycle brands but more small brands owned by bike shops who made their bicycles themselves or bought frames and built up there own bikes. In this way every bicycle is unique and it's almost impossible to find two exactly the same bicycles. A lot of these Belgian bicycles of the thirties and fourties only had a rear Torpedo brake, in that time only produced by Sachs. If the bicycle is original you can find the bike's date on the Sachs Torpedo.

The leather fender covers are also to be found a lot on Belgian bikes. They can be a protection for all kind of things, like women's scirts indeed or things you put on the rack.


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## SirMike1983 (Jul 28, 2008)

Those are nice- they look like a mix of a balloon tire cruiser, an English 3 speed, and traditional Dutch commuter.


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## Andrew Gorman (Jul 28, 2008)

The pinstriping on the Record is great!  Both are very fine looking bikes.


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## Yannick (Mar 13, 2010)

Let's kick this old thread to the top of the page.

I've been busy with the 1947 Royal Expres. Everything has been sandblasted and the frame is almost finished. I love the way this bicycle is being restored because the guy who's doing this is just one of those typical Belgian bike shop keepers like in the old days. This guy still makes his own frames and paints them. He uses some kind of oven paint he's used all his life. So the bicyle is being "baked" in the oven, like they used to be. 

The white is originally "marbled", like they call it. Produced with nothing less than the smoke and flames of a candle light, just like they used to do it. Also note that the original decal has been saved although the paint around it is brand new. I'll post some detailed pictures later on.









The arrows aren't finished yet, see pictures above of the bicycle like I found it two years ago to see how they were painted on.

And this guy also happens to know how to pinstripe, although he didn't know the technique was called pinstriping...









I've got some nickel and chrome work (both were on this bicycle) coming back next week and the rest later. I've also had all the original bolts re-nickeled.





Yannick


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