Charrel

[LouB]

Here is a '78 Charrel I acquired recently (with the help of friends--thank you!) Its beautifully built; fillet braised internal cable routing, Paul Charrel's proprietary brakes Simplex SLJ derailleurs, Mafac brake levers and tubular wheels.
The front fork is striking with Charrels crown--but needs help. Originally chromed on the inside the chrome is long gone and not restorable. I'm considering re-chroming and re-painting the fork but preserving the original paint on the rest of the bike. Comments and suggetions appreciated. I have never owned a bike with this level of craftsmanship. Thanks
Lou

 

[bulldog1935]

is this coming out next Sunday?

 

[LouB]

no, long way from rideable. But I'm anxious to get it to that stage.

 

[bulldog1935]

keep us posted

 

[LouB]

Has anyone seen a drilled stem like the ones shown here?

 

[sam]

Has anyone seen a drilled stem like the ones shown here? The short answer is YES.
On the question of rechroming that's the harder question
The fork surly does need it but finding the correct people to do the work????? Sometimes I feel it's better to clean and paint than have chromers mess up the part.

 

[bulldog1935]

Lou, search Rene Herse on the forum and you'll see a few examples.

Talk with Tad - he chromed a whole frame and will some contacts for you.

 

[WVBicycles]

I've seen those stems before mainly on Rene Herse or Alex Singer bicycles. As for the restoration I would restore that fork because a bike that caliber doesn't pop up often so I say go for it.

 

[LouB]

Stem drilled for front brake cable must be a French thing. Worse comes to worse, I'll drill an appropriate stem . So few of these bikes to look to for details. .Re-routing the cables internally has been somewhat of a challenge. String/shop vac method has helped. Cant rush on this. After I get it up and running and dialed in I'll disassemble refurb and go for the re-chrome and paint on the fork only --keep rest of bike paint original but w a new cockpit color scheme. With the nice white pin stripping--red cabling with white bar tape is my current choice.

View attachment 471948

 

[dnc1]

I've seen vintage GB (Gerry Burgess) brand stems with a drilling for the brake cable. One was for sale on ebay UK last year.