This website is about Classic Factory Lightweights – specifically racing bikes that were made by manufacturers whose main business was the production of bicycles to their own standard specification, rather than bespoke bicycles to their customers’ specification.
Some of these manufacturers did, of course, have their own specialist departments where they made bespoke bicycles and/or bicycles for their sponsored racing teams, and this site features some of their products. The following come particularly to mind:
- Raleigh Specialist Bicycle Development Unit (SBDU)
- Atelier Prestige Peugeot (Peugeot Prestige Workshop)
- Bianchi Reparto Corse(Bianchi Racing Unit)
- Mercier Services Des Courses (Mercier Racing Service)
But whether their racing machines were built in a specially designated unit or not, many manufacturers built impressive racing bicycles, available “off the peg” to anyone with the money and inclination to buy them.
The bicycle factories had huge social, economic and sporting achievements. Volume production of bicycles brought cycling freedom within the reach of almost everyone, and it also brought commercial competition which bred sporting competition, sponsorship and technical development. All of which led to the factory racing bikes – the team bikes that carried great riders to magnificent victories and the replicas or similar racing bikes that were sold to the general public. These racing bicycles are the focus of this site.
Think where the Tour de France and other Grand Tours and the Classics would be without factory bikes. This site is here to celebrate the achievement and products of the factories. It is also a somewhat personal site in reflecting my own interests and containing my own classic factory lightweights as well as others’ to give a more complete picture. My aim is that it should develop into a useful resource for anybody interested in these machines.
In particular, we are pleased to bring details of some replicas or close relatives of some very successful racing bicycles: Frejus SuperCorsa (to be added); Helyett Speciale; Motobecane; Peugeot; Gitane; TI-Raleigh; Mercier.
Navigating Around The Site:
The navigation menu is at the top of every page with the major categories being Countries. If you click on these you will see what pages exist for that menu item. If you click on one of those, is is probable that there will be links to further pages – e’g’ bicycle models and details. If you prefer, you can navigate from links in each country page to the next level and then to the next level – you are not restricted to using the menu.
Copyright:
All original material on this site is the copyright of the webmaster. That said, you are free to use it for non-commercial purposes if you give due acknowledgement of the source and, if you use it online, with a link to this website. You are not free to use any of the material for any commercial purpose without express permission.
Conversely, if I have inadvertently infringed anybody else’s copyright, please bring it to my attention so that I can remedy the situation, either by immediate removal of the offending material or by an acknowledgement of its source at the option of the copyright holder.
Looking forward to this site up and running,it will i’m sure result in great factory bikes entered by many enthusiasts,like us.
Good on you.
btw, let me know when it’s actually up and running for entries
Speak soon
Thanks Malcolm. I hope we can make something interesting and informative here. I know there are lots of classic bicycle sites already but I am hoping that this one will be a little bit different. It will cover real racing machines, but those generally of the more affordable variety which were made in larger numbers and still exist in reasonable quantities. Machines which, in their day, were ridden and raced by amateurs and professionals who got a whole lot of pleasure out of doing so. And machines which still give us a lot of fun today.
This is a very welcome addition to the internet world of lightweight bicycles! I’ll visit frequently to see how things are progressing… thanks for pulling this together!
Thanks! I like your blog. It’s nice to see so much good material covering different aspects of our hobby/ sport/ lifestyle. I’m still not quite sure how this one is going to develop, but I hope I can make it interesting and have fun at the same time.
this site is so kewl. it’s the only with info on the PY10. what I want to know is did the Simpson/Merckx frames have mudguard eyelets or did they have tight racing clearances?
Thanks! Simpson and Merckx rode for Peugeot before the Prestige Peugeot workshop opened and they rode what looked like production PX10 bikes some of the time, but they had custom made bikes too. Simpson had some frames made by De Rosa, I believe, and it was on one of those that he did his final ride on Mont Ventoux – if you look at photos, you will see that it is not a Peugeot frame. I am not sure who built frames for Merckx – but I know that De Rosa built for him later, so maybe while he was at Peugeot too. I have an excellent book on Peugeot with pictures of Simpson and Merckx, riding real and pretend Peugeots, but I do not have it with me. I will check whether their bikes had the mudguard eyes and update this post. As I say, I believe they rode stock PX10, but I never examined the pictures very closely. The PY10 was not made until late in 1964 when the Prestige Peugeot workshop opened. I believe that Thevenet rode Peugeot-built bikes, but I do not have a source to verify that.
That’s interesting. So Simpson and Merckx probably rode ‘badged’ machines. I’ve always wondered why French bikes never had the kudos Italian bikes had, yet their framebuilders were just as good. I’ve learnt that Luis Ocana also rode a badged Motobecane Team Champion, a Gemini, built by Henri Depierre. You probably know this anyway.
A Team Champion is one of those machines on my list but I’ve only seen two; one is not for sale and the other wasn’t my size. Anyhow I’m more than happy with my 91 orange Gazelle Mondial. The AB frame is built like an armoured car yet featherlight. One day I’ll glue my tubs onto my antique GP4’s and go wild.