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Lion Victorieux Cycles?

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Simple.

Look Ma, No Hands!
Hi guys/gals.. Many thanks to my post on my old Claud Butler track bike last year. It still sits in my living room and I admire it everyday. Haha

This one has me stumped.

Just got this skip tooth “track” bike that’s fixed gear. It came with a set of wooden rims, that the old owner said he had removed so he could ride it around some time in the past...and I cannot find any info on the head badge at all.

I will let the photos speak for themselves, and any info is much appreciated! Thanks!!

What I know...

BSA front chain wheel, vintage pearsons leather saddle, similar to a brooks, serial number for frame is at the top of the seat tube... headset is also serial numbered. I’m taking a long shot and guessing it’s pre ‘33.


- Jon

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So I’m thinking about selling this bike. I’m really not sure how to price it or if I should include the wood rims, or sell them separately? I like it but I have too many projects and bicycles, this one probably belongs in someone else’s hands

Jon
 
So I’m thinking about selling this bike. I’m really not sure how to price it or if I should include the wood rims, or sell them separately? I like it but I have too many projects and bicycles, this one probably belongs in someone else’s hands

Jon
Bello Jon, is this bicycle still for sale?
 
I don't read much French but there are a number of early advertisements showing what must be this brand of cycle, although under the name "Lion d'Or" (Gold Lion) not "Lion Victorieux" (Victorious Lion). Both brands clearly had connection to B.S.A. and both head badges featured a gold lion. It must have been a French subsidiary or importer of English B.S.A. Everything I've seen dates to around 1910 but this bike looks a little later (pedals, seat clamp) and certainly the cellulose fenders which would have been correct on an English bike but much later. Maybe that accounts for the variance in the name. The wood rims may have been on the bike when the PO got it, which seems reasonable if it was already in the US in the early twentieth century, but I am doubtful they were original. The ads say Dunlop or Michelin tires which were likely clincher (wired-on) tires on steel rims, not the American single-tubes that typically accompanied wood rims. Clincher profile wood rims were rare and English and European makers preferred steel.

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Do know the connection between Lion Victorieux in Thielt, Belgium and British B.S.A.? I'm sure the similarity to French Lion d'Or and this bike's B.S.A. chain wheel are more than coincidence.
 
Do know the connection between Lion Victorieux in Thielt, Belgium and British B.S.A.? I'm sure the similarity to French Lion d'Or and this bike's B.S.A. chain wheel are more than coincidence.
Around the time you are talking, many small scale, 'artisan' manufacturers all over the world would buy in BSA components and fittings to make their own bicycles.
The BSA fittings catalogues display a fantastic range of frame lugs, enabling many a framebuilder to produce copies of BSA style machines.We are talking many hundreds of manufacturers.
Many marques used BSA chainsets on their machines as a sign of a high quality bicycle.
Perhaps 'Lion d'Or' did import complete BSA bicycles, but I think it more likely that they bought in the parts.
Here are a few images from.the 1910 BSA fittings catalogue , courtesy of the V-CC library.....

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