sykerocker
Look Ma, No Hands!
Beautiful bike! I love the looks of those heron chainwheels and suicide shifters! What year? Glad to hear the Benelux RD works well. I found exploded view diagrams for it and it looks like everything comes apart on which is good and bad since it’s always easier to disassemble! Mine actually has a 5sp gear block. I believe it’s a cyclo. On underside of saddle there is a marking of “60 A” which I believe dates it 1960. It’s going to be a fun project bringing this back as unlike others I’ve had it’s complete, without damage, and only has minor surface corrosion.
I'm almost certain it's a '59. Next month there's a charity ride through the part of Virginia that I lived in from 2000-2015 (west of Richmond, Rockville and Monteplier - my old home town), and I'm seriously considering taking the Lenton, just for the jaw dropping. If not, there's always my '72 Gitane Tour de France.
I'm going to assume your rear derailleur is slightly different than mine seeing that Benelux made four different versions. One warning: I'm using a regular 5-speed chain on mine, and if I don't snap the front shift off smartly, the chain will happily bury itself between the chainwheels. Hopefully, you won't have this problem with the downtube shift lever. I usually get around it by just setting which chainwheel I want to be on at the beginning of the ride and run the bike as a 4-speed. Since I've got a half-step crank with a two tooth difference, it's not a particular disadvantage.