During my recent short holidays in Flanders I saw two very nice bikes, both in Bruges. One is a Champion – no idea if this is a repaint decal or the original brand. It is a very nice hand made frame, though, and would certainly merit saving and not being used up as a hack bike as it seems to be at the moment.
Classic Belgian bikes have brazed on carrier racks – advantages and shortcomings of this method are obvious. So the third tube brazed on the rear dropout is a rack stay. Very neat brazing throughout. Also it´s a sports frame with a single top tube and not a Mixte, as usual.
This must be the most astonishing feature of the frame: A strut distributing the forces from the top tube to both down and seat tubes, thereby greatly reducing the rist of deforming or breaking the seat tube, as frquently seen in lady´s bikes. The clamp is by no means meant for a brake; it really seems to be off a Sturmey variable speed hub periphery.
The original, high quality crank – the Solida on the r/h side is a later addition. The Solida is not too well fitted (cotter) either…
Again, very clean lugless construction.
The other bike is an AS-Thor – strange name, but a great bike.
It shows typical Belgian features, like the brazed on rack and the slightly bent French type top tubes.
Also the chain guard is rather Belgian.
When the Belgian Forces left the Cologne area in the early nineties I happened upon one of those bikes in the bulky refuse. It was seriously beautiful with some special constructional details in the frame and a wonderful paint scheme. Would you believe it – I sold it some years later. It´s now in a renowned private collection. Ah well.
starostneradost 