La Francaise Diamant

[robo]

Hello to all !!!!. Can any body help on this one please ?. Bought this from a chap who said he got it in France. When I set about cleaning it I noticed on the bottom lug the name simplex and on the head stock in very small letters are 733 at the top and 58 at the bottom. Also attached to the handle bars nut is a plate witch says ray yvon lassay 53. The bike seems in good condition and is fitted with the following Mafac levers and centre pull brakes,simplex gears and derailer, nervar crank, gipiemme hubs, skewers,and weinmann rims. The nuts on the head stock has The fortz RFG. The handle bar stem is a BF. Also the frame has a lable saying durifort. The bike is also fitted with Michelin BIB Sport 25 tyres.
If some one can tell me how to post pics i will.but haven't a clue how to.

 

[raindog]

Not sure what you want help with, but the plate on the bars refers to the owner and his address, Yvon Ray, in Lassay-les-Châteaux, département 53 Mayenne. Nice that.

EDIT
Amazingly enough, the guy appears to be involved in sports in the town and appears on the website.
http://www.lassay-les-chateaux.mairie53.fr/index.php?page=commission&menu=3
how's that for detective work?
Would this thread be better in the Classic and Vintage section mods?

 

[raindog]

Here's a forum page about a youngster who restored one. Interesting stuff with plenty of photos. Trouble is, he turned it into a fixie project of doubtful taste and some of the other members are knocking him for it.
http://www.pignonfixe.com/showthread.php?tid=83916

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

There's some useful info on Société la Française here . It looks like the Diamant brand has a good early-1900s racing pedigree, and the later Diamants, such as yours, seem to have been capitalising on that earlier success of the brand long after Société la Française had disappeared as a stand alone company. S.la.F produced some great posters in their day:

As for uploading photos, first upload it to one of the free image hosting sites (I use photobucket.com), and the site helps you copy the image location. To put them on CC, use the tree picture icon in the toolbar above the posting, paste the location and click insert. The picture should then appear. (I almost always forget which of the image links to use but if no pic appears, you've got the wrong one!)

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Here's a forum page about a youngster who restored one. Interesting stuff with plenty of photos. Trouble is, he turned it into a fixie project of doubtful taste and some of the other members are knocking him for it.
http://www.pignonfixe.com/showthread.php?tid=83916

I'm not surprised! OP, whatever you do to the bike, don't do that....

 

[robo]

Not sure what you want help with, but the plate on the bars refers to the owner and his address, Yvon Ray, in Lassay-les-Châteaux, département 53 Mayenne. Nice that.

EDIT
Amazingly enough, the guy appears to be involved in sports in the town and appears on the website.
http://www.lassay-les-chateaux.mairie53.fr/index.php?page=commission&menu=3
how's that for detective work?
Would this thread be better in the Classic and Vintage section mods?

Hi raindog, or should I say Poirot (ha ha) Thanks for the information. Absolutely brilliant! Where you got that from...I don't know!
As regards posting in the vintage section, will have a bash, but not very good with the computer!
Regarding the help I wanted, was to find out the approx age of the bike, because the chap who I purchased the bike from mentioned something about the Tour de France, and the chap who he bought it from was either something to do with Tour de France or was actually in it. I thought it was a cock and bull story and didn't take much notice.
Thanks for the address website which you posted, I may even try and email him.
Many thanks

 

[robo]

There's some useful info on Société la Française here . It looks like the Diamant brand has a good early-1900s racing pedigree, and the later Diamants, such as yours, seem to have been capitalising on that earlier success of the brand long after Société la Française had disappeared as a stand alone company. S.la.F produced some great posters in their day:

As for uploading photos, first upload it to one of the free image hosting sites (I use photobucket.com), and the site helps you copy the image location. To put them on CC, use the tree picture icon in the toolbar above the posting, paste the location and click insert. The picture should then appear. (I almost always forget which of the image links to use but if no pic appears, you've got the wrong one!)

Thanks very much for the input for uploading photos and the info on the bike. I am a little confused as to which part of the site I should be posting on.
Thanks for the much appreciated response,
Robo

 

[raindog]

Regarding the help I wanted, was to find out the approx age of the bike, because the chap who I purchased the bike from mentioned something about the Tour de France, and the chap who he bought it from was either something to do with Tour de France or was actually in it. I thought it was a cock and bull story and didn't take much notice.

Post some photos in the Classic section of the forum and we'll be able to date it roughly from the gear on it, but it sounds as if it's probably 1960s. The guy could well have been a pro from that period (plenty around in France!) and rode the Tour, but not necessarily on that bike.
If you need any help contacting the guy or translating any reply you might get, let me know by PM.

 

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