Bikes for the Belgian

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.

Best suggestion i've had was a chain tensioner, but its odd that its only on one side.

Quite likely to be this, it's not abnormal to have only one chain tensioner (on the drive side I presumed), as you only need just the one.

nice CP and nice CXP ; )

Gaston! You're a man who knows where to get his hands on mavic stuff, if you see any pista hubs (or anything else suitable), can you please let me know?

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.

I think it might be for ensuring the rear wheel is perfectly aligned rather than just relying on the rear triangle and dropouts

Dat paint

Sweet frame there! I'll keep an eye open for mavic track hubs.. ;)

Gaston! You're a man who knows where to get his hands on mavic stuff, if you see any pista hubs (or anything else suitable), can you please let me know?

OK

great paintjob

Dat paint

Word for word what I was going to post!

Love the patina too where the glazing has cracked (I think that's what it is?).

Paint seems to be in really good nick generally, might be worth giving it a one off (gentle) T-cut then a good wax/polish?

Good idea. I've been wondering about what other hubs could be used if some Mavic's don't come up. Maybe goldtec?

No more Mavic 520 but we gona have the sames rims.

http://www.leboncoin.fr/velos/630234491.htm?ca=6_s

http://www.leboncoin.fr/velos/628810956.htm?ca=6_s

fuuuuuccck I only just saw that, thanks so much gaston! I'll get in contact now!

I've got a set of those Mavic track hubs on Mavic Hard Anodised rims.

Could be persuaded to part with them.

How many holes?

Little SMG was transported yesterday from Spotter's where he was stocked to the new Belgian-Head-Quarters south of the river, along with all the bits collected so far.

This includes:
Starfish cranks
NOS Mavic 330 seatpost
Regal
Mavic 520 pista hubs - on the picture laced to Mavic tubular rims, but to be laced to Module E2 argent, not pictured.

Unfortunately, it turned out almost impossible to get hands on 520 Hubs in 32H to match the CPX12 rims I already found, so sadly won't be able to use them rims for this project.

Next to be found are stem and bars.
I'd love to find this guy (Mavic 370) - Because I find the way it works very sexy. Wow, much explosion, such isometric.

As for bar, I didn't make up my mind just yet.
Now that He's looking at me everyday from his pedestal, it makes it even harder to contain my excitement. So I'll probably go for placeholder stem and bars to ride it as soon as possible.

vraiment cool(e)/zeer gaaf.

that frame is such sex-wee. if it were not so dinky i would've snapped it up pronto back then,
cannot go wrong with mavic on this.. gon' be gud!

One of these would look great too, but i'm not sure if the frame would have enough stack height

i actually have some of the stronglight needle bearing ones for sale if close enough. their stackheight is also bit higher then normal but just putting it out there.

Found it:) This is gonna be such a rad build! Would be nice with the mavic headset. will it fit? And that stem is awesome! like the way that clamp system works, no need to remove tape and grips if you want to change bars!

I'm on the look out for a a Mavic 370 stem.

beautiful frame....the paint is fantastic.

The smg has now got its own dedicated thread:

http://www.lfgss.com/thread130273.html