Belgium, home to some of the worlds greatest cyclists; Rik Van Looy, Philippe Gilbert, Eddy Merckx and of course...my lovely girlfriend. I'll be using this thread to detail the various bikes builds that she's got on the go.
First up, the SMG Pista:
Here's a bit more about SMG:
"... SMG was the brand name of the frames made by Jean Frelat, a constructeur, based at Pavillons-sous-Bois, just to the east of Paris. He was very well known in the late 1970s and early 80s, a time when he built quite a lot of frames for leading French amateur riders, on both road and track, who were from that general region of France. He also sponsored several French lady champions such as Isabelle Nicoloso and Valerie Simonet, both of them track riders. Valerie was the French sprint champion in 1981. Jean was quite an innovative builder, being well known for bronze-welded lugless frames and internal routing of all cables....Frelat was very loyal to French suppliers using either Vitus or Camus tubes, rarely Reynolds, and sometimes Columbus as this firm had a greater choice.
I have never seen an explanation of the abbreviation SMG but Sur Mesure Garanti seems very likely as the firm had a reputation for custom frames, particularly very small ones ie 46 and 47 cms with 700 wheels. Frelat was a very good marketing man, and for a few years in the late 70s and early 80s, his frames were seldom out of the columns of the French cycling press. He came up with quite a few ingenious designs particularly for track frames - a discipline in which he sponsored quite a few French champions."*
Its kind of cool that's she's ended up with this frame considering their history, its perfect for her.
Here are some more details of the frame and its amazing smoke paint job:
If anyone can shed any light onto what 'CV' stands for that'd be great, Im assuming its the riders name. Also what the eyelet is for on the inside of the dropout is for, best suggestion i've had was a chain tensioner, but its odd that its only on one side.
Slowly getting the build together for this; It came with a Campag Record Pista BB and some mysterious headset (both french threaded). There was one obvious choice for cranks:
Still need to source spacers for the chainring and some nice dustcaps for the crank bolts.
She's also got some NOS Mavic CPX 12 rims:
ideally they'd be laced to Mavic 520 Pista hubs:
but they're not exactly easy to find, so she'd love some suggestions for hubs.
Thats about as far as we've got with the SMG, but she's got two other builds on the go; her everyday 'functional' bike and a Charge Mortar:
Which she will be changing from its current stock setup, into a real shred sled.
Belgium, home to some of the worlds greatest cyclists; Rik Van Looy, Philippe Gilbert, Eddy Merckx and of course...my lovely girlfriend. I'll be using this thread to detail the various bikes builds that she's got on the go.
First up, the SMG Pista:
Here's a bit more about SMG:
I have never seen an explanation of the abbreviation SMG but Sur Mesure Garanti seems very likely as the firm had a reputation for custom frames, particularly very small ones ie 46 and 47 cms with 700 wheels. Frelat was a very good marketing man, and for a few years in the late 70s and early 80s, his frames were seldom out of the columns of the French cycling press. He came up with quite a few ingenious designs particularly for track frames - a discipline in which he sponsored quite a few French champions."*
Its kind of cool that's she's ended up with this frame considering their history, its perfect for her.
Here are some more details of the frame and its amazing smoke paint job:
If anyone can shed any light onto what 'CV' stands for that'd be great, Im assuming its the riders name. Also what the eyelet is for on the inside of the dropout is for, best suggestion i've had was a chain tensioner, but its odd that its only on one side.
Slowly getting the build together for this; It came with a Campag Record Pista BB and some mysterious headset (both french threaded). There was one obvious choice for cranks:
Still need to source spacers for the chainring and some nice dustcaps for the crank bolts.
She's also got some NOS Mavic CPX 12 rims:
ideally they'd be laced to Mavic 520 Pista hubs:
but they're not exactly easy to find, so she'd love some suggestions for hubs.
Thats about as far as we've got with the SMG, but she's got two other builds on the go; her everyday 'functional' bike and a Charge Mortar:
Which she will be changing from its current stock setup, into a real shred sled.