What’s this?

[dnc1]

Hello jrodarod and thank you for sharing this curious riddle with the forum.

your initial message contained no text so am unsure if this bicycle is something you own or something you saw somewhere. since there is a handwritten price sticker on the saddle i am thinking it was seen a sale of some sort as there appear to be other machines in the background. mention this only because if it were yours we could ask for measurements. am guessing it is not so we are limited to the information contained in the images.

fine job with the size format and detail of all the photos.

much like dnc1 above i began noticing numerous French points straightaway.

beginning with the frame -

dropouts are NERVEX item nr. 1025

seat tube chainguard mount is NERVEX item nr. 879

down tube chaingurd mount is NERVEX item nr. 879bis

arched chainstay bridge is part of a NERVEX series called "curved bridges unflanged" which runs from nr. 600 to nr. 635, one would need to know the exact dimensions to identify it specifically.

vertically drilled arched brake bridge is also part of this same series.

braze-on pump peg is NERVEX item nr. 845

lugless bottom bracket shell is likely NERVEX item nr. 3300 but have no way to verify from photos.

crown - have not been able to locate maker for this. suspect it is either BOCAMA or NERVEX and was discontinued prior to the publication date of the reference materials i have at hand.

chainset -

this is a Haubtmann product. despite the German sounding name Achille Haubtmann was a French citizen who located his cycle fittings manufacturing business in Saint-Etienne in 1909. It passed from him to his son and later on to his grandson. in later years Haubtmann products were known under the name SOLIDA. the chainset is of an unusual design wherein the chainwheel threads onto the crank arm. VB has a listing for a later example of this set made under the SOLIDA name:

View attachment 719849

http://velobase.com/ViewComponent.aspx?i.d.=2A1FF3B5-B038-444F-8842-5F43B4E091C7&Enum=115&AbsPos=373

in this old Haubtmann advert one can see on the left a chainwheel identical to the one on the bicycle. note how the artist has indicated the threads on the inner edge of the hole for the crank arm:

View attachment 719846

Schwinn marked brake calipers -

note how on the front caliper the pads are all the way at the top of the adjustment slot while on the rear they are all the way at the bottom. if frame and calipers had been designed to go together one would expect to see pads near the centre of the slot in bot cases. note also in the profile image of the front caliper how the spring has been mashed up directly against the fork crown. mounted by someone who did not employ the usual curved mounting washer.

Front hub is Atom brand from Maillard of France. do front and rear rims match?

Headset -

struck by the apparent odd design of having serrations on the locknut. suspect what is going on there is that the locknut threads down inside the lock washer giving the appearance of a single piece.

Stem -

suspect this may be a CENTRIX product but have no hard information. this French firm produced both steel and alloy stems and bars. Schwinn experts will be familiar with them for supplying the stems on the first year Continental model. the firm went out of business in 1962.

View attachment 719876

so am leaning toward thinking bicycle of French origin but have no ideas as to manufacturer.

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fantastic observation and research, thanks for posting.

 

[Bikerider007]

@juvela here you are. First time I have dropped in for a bit and one of the first threads I see has this detailed description. Amazing as always.

 

[juvela]

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Addendum concerning the cycle's manner of chainset.

Peyrard (NERVAR) also produced sets of this design.

These two catalogue pages from the mid-1950's depict their version.

On the first page the last crank arm shown at the bottom of the page is for this design of chainset.

In the page's lower right corner there is a drawing which illustrates how the chainwheel mates to the crank arm. You may need to enlarge it a bit to see it clearly.

On the second page the first chainwheel shown, model "V", has the threaded crank arm hole used in this type of set.

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[99 bikes]

As Juleva expertly identified, bike looks very French and probably from the 50s'60s, but rebuilt with various parts. I would say the cranks, bb, headset are original and most everything else has been replaced, aside from the frame and fork of course. Most likely it was a single speed rim braked city bike of mid-quality given the fillet brazing and dropouts.

I would have snapped this up immediately with the idea of resto, though it would be expensive it would be quite nice when freshened up. Good find.

Cheers!