Welcome to The Velo Collective
The definitive resource for vintage French bikes.
If you love vintage French bikes, there are lots of reviews and restorations, bike repair tips and information on this site dedicated to classic bikes. You can also find posts on other vintage European, Japanese and American road bikes, many with links to videos on our Youtube channel. Thanks for visiting!
Mystery Vintage bike: the Treboutte, Solved!
The Colour Purple This is one of the most striking frame sets I've ever come across. Not because of any special features, like really ornate lugs, or unusually shaped tubes, but just because of its colour. Absolutely splendid purple. Have you ever seen a...
Carlton Pro Am v Peugeot PFN 10
Carlton Pro Am: Well Matched Why make a comparison between these two bikes? Well, because I owned both of them, and I think it's an interesting look at two bikes that were quite evenly matched in the early 1980's. The Carlton Pro Am was a 12 speed,...
Campagnolo Valentino Derailleur Repair
Video Below Campagnolo Valentino Derailleur Repair What seems to work on a bike stand may not always work when on the road, and this was exactly the case on my Claud Butler. I thought I had trimmed the lo screw accurately enough so the...
How it Turned Out: Restoring the Claud Butler Electron
Kept Indoors? I Don't Think So.. I asked the original owner of this bike, a person who'd owned it from new all the way back to 1976, if it had been left outdoors. I believe she took a slight offence. She replied with a resounding "no", looking rather peeved. But...
The Claud Butler: The Wheels
The Worst of It Rusty, dirty wheels; I don't think there's a tougher task when it comes to restoring a vintage bike. In this case, there's even a question of whether these wheels are salvageable. You come to a point where you have to ask yourself "is it worth...
Claud Butler Electron Restoration Project
Buying the Bike The lady who sold me this bike seemed quite reluctant to part with it. She had advertised it for a fair price, in view of it's condition and the amount of work that would be required to restore it. Yet, at the point of sale, on a rainy Thursday...
The Mysterious Motobecane Chatard
Not a Typical Motobecane This lovely bike was sent in by Jimi Roller via the Velocollective Facebook page, which you can visit here. It's quite an unusual bike, because it has the decals of Motobecane on the frame, as well as the name "Chatard". Jimi was...
5 Details to Help Sell Your Vintage Bike
Details are Important I loved this bike pictured above. It's actually one of the favourite bikes I've ever ridden, a Miyata 912 that was in really superb condition. It wasn't dressed up in Campagnolo, didn't have a flashy paint job or fancy pants lugs,...
Centre Pull for Side Pull Brakes – Swapping Out
Centre Pull for Side Pull So many vintage road bikes still have their Weinmann or Mafac centre pull brakes intact. They were once the staple braking components on many French bikes, from the introduction of Mafac Racer brakes in 1952, to their eventual demise...
Are French and Standard Headsets Interchangeable?
Repairing Old French Threads If your older French bike has damaged threads, you have a problem. French parts are becoming hard to find, and not many bike shops will be able to retap your pre-1982 threads on your bottom bracket shell and fork steerer to the same...
Damaged Steerer Threads: the Repair
Damaged Steerer Threads: Background You can read the original post about this bike here. When I bought this attractive red Jacotey last year, naturally I was pleased with my purchase. It wasn't just because I though it was a cool looking bike with nice Vitus...
When Motobecane Became MBK: a Review of the Super Sprint
Fall of the Giants Motobecane shares a similar history to Britain's Raleigh brand, and sadly both companies no longer produce bikes in their respective countries. Both Motobecane and Raleigh became behemoths in the cycle industry throughout the 20th century,...
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