1986 Ammaco 'Monte Carlo' Restoration - stripping the frame

The Springhill Cycle Collection recently acquired a 1986 Ammaco 'Monte Carlo' road bike. The seller has asked for photographs of the restored machine and it is intended to move this restoration up the works list.

Ammaco came to notice in 1985 when they jointly sponsored the 1980 and 1985 British UCI Professional Pursuit Champion, Tony Doyle with RMC-Security Grille Protections. Tony's professional Ammaco branded frames were built by Charles Roberts in London. The Ammaco professional team consisted initially of Tony Doyle but for 1986 became Ever Ready-Ammaco and also had Australian Danny Clark and Nigel Dean on their strength. The team increased in size to 7 riders for the 1988 season which marked the end of Ammaco's involvement as a major sponsor of professional cycling in Britain. The Ammaco brand is sold by the family owned chain of Cycle King cycle shops based in the English Midlands and southern England.  A major selling point appears to be price. 

The 1986 Ammaco bike frame has 3 x 4130 Cro-mo main tubes, but the forks are Hi-Ten.  The handlebar stem is a heavy 80mm alloy of Taiwanese manufacture and would indicate this is probably the source of the lugged steel frame. What is obvious is that price point was a major selling point, along with the similar colour scheme and branding to the professional team bikes. Having bikes and frames produced in the far east was nothing new as the now defunct Evian (G.B.) Limited had marketed a range of 'Hirame' branded bikes and frames in the late 1970s/early 1980s produced by Kuwahara in Japan. Their range started with Hi-Ten tubed road frames up to full Ishiwata tubed road frames. The Hirame frame in the Springhill Collection is nicely made with Kuwahara's own forged drop-outs.

The Ammaco machine came with some original parts, but the original paintwork is now very tired and in need of renewal. The frame has 'Ammaco' branded seat stay caps and fork crown. The first problem to be addressed for any potential restoration will be that of the availability of original pattern transfers/decals. The second problem is the actual stripping down of the bike, specifically, whether the seat post and handlebar stem are seized in the frame and the alloy cranks seized onto the steel crank axle. I intend to deal with the stripping down of the bike here. 

The threads for the screw in crank extractor were very, very dirty and required cleaning with Brunox and Scotchbrite before wiping clean with kitchen roll. The crank extractor then had to be carefully screwed into the righthand crank, checking that it was square to the crank as the initial first threads were damaged.  I wanted to make sure the remover was not cross threaded before fully screwing the remover home using a spanner/wrench.  Thankfully the crank did move relatively easily and the left crank was also successfully removed without any damage.  The chainset is a Japanese made Sugino 42/52T.  The chainrings are steel which are swaged onto the alloy crank.  It was typical fare on lower end sports road bikes in the 1970s/1980s with Peugeot using swaged Stronglight or Nervar and British manufacturers such as Dawes, Falcon or Raleigh using SR Silstar. The seat post was chromed steel and although rusty came out with the use of Brunox. The handlebar stem being alloy was more of a problem.  It was seized into the fork steerer tube.

I have written an earlier post about dealing with a seized handlebar stem.  The one thing to recognise is that it takes time to corrode in, so it logically follows, that it will take a bit of time to unseize it!  The first job was to put some PlusGas around the top of the headset locknut/handlebar stem interface and leave it for several hours.  I removed all the other components from the frame, chain, brake callipers, gear levers, front and rear derailleurs. The wheels were removed last and then the frame up ended so I could pour some more PlusGas down into the fork steerer tube and then leave it to soak for 3 days.  The wheels were then refitted to the frame, the allen key expander bolt loosened which showed the retaining bolt was still stuck in the fork head tube.  A sharp tap with a soft faced hammer released it, so the next thing was to try moving the handlebars and stem. I chose to use the original handlebars rather than substitute them for an MTB handlebar which would offer better leverage.   I wanted to initially try to see if I could move the stem with the steps I had already taken.  Obviously if I had failed, then it would have been back to a soak of PlusGas for a longer period and use of the longer MTB handlebar lever to break the bond. 

After gripping firmly and applying leverage, the stem moved. Brunox was then applied and the steerer moved again.  More Brunox was applied and the steerer moved more easily.  The same process was repeated until the stem was moving relatively easily and pulled upwards and out of the fork steerer tube.  There was plenty of evidence of galvanic corrosion on the shaft of the alloy stem as no grease appears to have been used to prevent it.  The photo shows the alloy stem after a quick clean with a brass brush. One alarming thing that did happen was one of the fork drop-outs cracked.  The fork drop-outs have the slot in the drop-out for the tang of a washer for what is euphemistically referred to as 'lawyers lips'. The drop-out cracked at this slot.   The frame will now have to go to a framebuilder for repair before it can be re-enamelled.

The frame once stripped is actually reasonably light.  The frame number is stamped into the bottom of the seat tube at the righthand (crank) side just above the bottom bracket shell.  The gear tunnels are plastic, afixed to the underside of the bottom bracket shell with a 5mm Phillips screw.  The frame has a chain stop brazed onto the righthand seat stay, double gear lever bosses brazed onto the down tube and three cable guides on the top of the top tube.  I will deal with components and transfers/decals in future posts.

Merry Christmas - Joyeaux Noël - Weihnachtsgrüße

I would like to take the opportunity to wish all my readers 'seasons greetings' from this corner of Ireland.  The weather has not been that kind of late with one storm system after another depositing lots of liquid sunshine outside. With the strong winds, the only variation appears to be the 'angle of attack' of the liquid stuff. 2015 has been very wet and I would expect the yearly average to be at least 130% above the statistical mean.

Despite the gloomy weather, things move on apace and 2015 did see one or two highlights for me.  I did manage to get my Goeland Randonneuse out a few times for a run.  I really like the way the bike rides. Frame is 531 tubing and bike came equipped with 650B Michelin 'World Tour' tyres.  They are amber wall tyres and it is over 30 years since my bike was equipped with Michelin 'World Tour' tyres, so the clock has been well and truly wound back.  The Goeland dates from 1960 but the rear derailleur was updated in the 1970s to a Huret 'Duopar' long cage mech.  The only thing I have added to the bike was a Lion Bellworks engraved brass bell.  I really like these and unlike the alloy 'ping' bell that equipped my racing bike in the 1970s, this one has a loud, lingering melodious ring.  Despite it's efficacy for those of normal, unobstructed hearing, the bell's performance is limited, especially where joggers and walkers are concerned, those who are plugged into their personal music player but 'tuned out' of the real world.

A friend completed two restorations over the winter of 2014/15.  The first was a 1938 Saxon Twin Tube.  His reason for wanting another Saxon was the fact his father ran a cycle shop before and after WW2 and was an agent for Saxon.

His second bike was even more personal.  It was a Hill Special from Padiham, Lancashire and was one of four frames his father had bought to sell through the shop in the early 1950s.  The bike was one of these four and had one owner from new.  He was able to buy it back from the owner as he had got too old to ride it. The bike was actually built up by his sister and given the 'once over' quality control check by his father to make sure the bike was up to spec before it left the shop.  Components are original to the bike and have been re-chromed and polished where required.

The staff at the Springhill Cycle Collection have received a new recruit in keeping with the ethos of the collection.  Meg, a rescue dog, has joined the staff in a supervisory role. Apart from watching, to make sure the restorations are up to standard, she has undertaken the onerous task of dealing with the dodgy catering. She has to be let into this role slowly.....

Cycles George Martin, Lyon

The bicycle is a rare 1952 Georges Martin randonneuse and was made in Lyon, France.  The bicycle has 700C wheels, and is similar to machines raced in events such as the Poly de Chanteloup. The bicycle does not have a decaleur, nor a sacoche. The bicycle is completely original, down to the tax plate on the head tube with the original owner's details. The machine has some rare, high end and unusual parts.

Georges Martin was born in Chamelet, Rhone Department, France in 1915 and died in Poule-les-Écharmeaux in 2010 aged 94 years. Georges rode professionally for J FOLLIS, Lyon. He is credited with one hundred victories according to the excellent Anciens Velos Lyonnaise website. Georges rode and won the Circuit de Six Provinces in 1946:- 
 

                                            1. Georges Martin,

                                            2. Pierre Baratin,

                                            3. Raphaël Géminiani.

Both Martin and Baratin were team mates for FOLLIS. Georges rode in the first post war Tour de France in 1947. The teams were national teams, but teams from both Germany and Italy were missing, an Italian team being composed of Italian-French. Georges Martin rode for a regional French Team – Equipe du Nord-Est.

The 1947 Tour started in Paris on 25^th June 1947 and comprised of 21 stages, there were 99 starters, but only 53 riders completed the race, which was won with an average speed of 31.412km/hr. The top three podium places were all filled by French riders:-

                                            1. Jean Robic,

                                            2. Édouard Fachleitner,

                                            3. Pierre Brambilla.

Georges Martin rode in the 1948 edition of the Tour de France achieving 39^thin the General Classification (G.C.) at the end of the race. The 1948 Tour was won by Gino Bartali in an average speed of 33.442km/hr. 

Georges rode the 1949 Tour improving his overall position to 35^th overall by the end of the race. The 1949 Tour was won by Fausto Coppi in an average speed of 32.121 km/hr. The speeds seem slow by modern standards, but stages could be longer and the mountain stages were run on un-metalled roads. Georges Martin also rode the 1949 Classic Paris - Roubaix achieving a position of joint third with Frans Leenan and Jésus-Jacques Moujica. 

 

I have no information on the colour of the 1940s FOLLIS team frames and trade jerseys. There is some evidence that the 1950's FOLLIS team jersey was green with a wide grey centre band on which the lettering was red. The colour of the team bikes was a metallic grey, with contrasting head and seat panels in pale metallic blue. Forks were chrome plated along with the head lugs. Earlier frames had the 'J FOLLIS' metal head badge. It is known that FOLLIS supplied frames to the cycle trade. FOLLIS had been granted a patent for the manufacture of lugless frames in Janury 1949. A WOLHAUSER (Lyon) tandem lugless frame is known, which shows all the features of being made by FOLLIS but has a WOLHAUSER metal head badge and transfers. 

 

I now know that Georges Martin finished riding professionally in 1950, but he began selling bicycles under his own name firstly at 78 Rue de la Part-Dieu, Lyon, then at 101 Rue Moncey, Lyon and finally at Rue du Noir, Lyon. The Georges Martin bicycle in the Springhill Cycle Collection dates from 1952 and shows a lot of features of an early edition FOLLIS frame. The frame fittings and wrap over seat stays are typical FOLLIS, but the fork crown is unique to Georges Martin. Given his connection to FOLLIS and the fact they were known to supply frames to the cycle trade, the evidence points to Georges Martin's frames having been built by FOLLIS and appear to have been built from Vitus tubing. However, Georges Martin was interviewed by a French researcher before his death. The truth of some of his testimony is in doubt, as known facts are different to Georges' version. What is known is that Georges Martin bicycles are rare in France. The bicycle in the Springhill Collection is in original condition complete with period components, Simplex derailleur, Pellisier hubs and Ava rims, Beborex brake levers with 'San Giorgio' brake callipers, 'Radios' dynamo and lights, Mavic 'Inal' mudguards/fenders, Selle Anglais leather saddle. The machine has the original French tax plate with original owner's name and address still attached to the frame. The only replacement parts appear to be the Christophe leather toe straps. 

The machine has 700C wheels and appears to be set up for cyclotourist competitive events. The December 1950 issue of the CTC Gazette contains a report on the Paris Bike Show of that year. Their correspondent reports on the number of constructeur Demi-Course and Randonneur bicycles at the show.  A Demi-Course bicycle has mudguards/fenders and lights but no decaleur for a sacoche/handlebar bag. Recourse to photographs from the 1950s of the Poly de

Chanteloup randonneurs event, show machines being ridden with mudguards and lights but no racks or bags. Some of these machines have the alloy drinks bottles in a cage attached to the handlebar as per the Georges Martin in the Springhill collection. The 1950 Poly de Chanteloup was won by FOLLIS, Pierre Baratin winning the professional hillclimb and Roger Billet winning

the randonneur event for FOLLIS. Since the end of competative cycletourist hillclimbs, time trials and endurance events in France from 1977, the term Demi-Course now seems to refer more to cheaper mass produced machines made from Hi-Ten tubing, rather than a bespoke hand built bicycle around an artisan constructeur built frame for cyclotourist competition. The Georges Martin in the Springhill Cycle Collection is a lightweight steel frame built up with high quality, for the time period, components.

Joseph (Giuseppe) Follis was born in Alpignano, near Turin on 16^th October 1911 and after living and working in Lyons became a naturalised French citizen on 11^th March 1940, before Italy declared war on France on 10^th June 1940. 

According to eye witnesses Joseph Follis had worked for Morel & Vana, Lyon in the 1930s and was responsible for the production of their FORTIS brand of bicycles. Following closure of the company, Joseph moved to the Rue du Dauphiné where he brazed frames in a wooden hut at the bottom of the garden. The Follis family were innovators who were granted patents for derailleur gears, manufacture of frames and bicycle brakes. The patent granted to the Follis family for a bicycle brake in November 1951 corresponds in principle to the locally (Lyon) manufactured BEBOREX brakes and levers. FOLLIS is perhaps not a French marque that is as well known as say LeJeune, Helyett, Peugeot, Mercier and Motobecane. The two known professional riders in the 1940s were Georges Martin, Pierre Baratin and André Mossière who rode cyclocross events. 

The FOLLIS professional team in 1954 ~ 1956 period included René Remangeon, Normand Christian Fanuel, Roger Chaussabel and Jean Forestiere. There were photographs of Roger Rivière with his bike published in 'Sport et Vie' in his last year as an amateur which identify it as a FOLLIS by the head badge. There is still more to be learned about both Georges Martin and the FOLLIS marque. 

George's daughter held a retrospective two day exhibition in Poule-les-Écharmeaux entitled in english – 'Georges Martin, the heroic years of the Tour de France' on 9 – 10^th July 2011, the year after Georges had passed. I wish I could have been there. 

Visit to Scottish Cycle Museum, Drumlanrig Castle

I posted earlier on 11^th July about a track bike which I saw at the Scottish Cycle Museum in the Stableyard at Drumlanrig Castle. I spent a few enjoyable hours looking at the bikes. I have to confess that I have no real interest in early machines such as Hobbyhorses or Ordinaries. I accept that some people do have an interest and I acknowledge that without them, we wouldn't have the machines we use today. I suppose my interest in bicycles and cycling was shaped by the people I knew growing up, some of whom who had cycled from the first decade of the 20^th century. I was more interested in hearing how the custom built lightweight bicycle had developed following the Great War. 

This was the machine that I could relate to, from my own experience of cycling. It was interesting, as a teenager, hearing tales of marques of machines and how folk cycled in the 1920s and 1930s. 

Having grown up in a cycling family, I was well versed in my parents experience of cycling after WW2. So my interest in cycling only goes back around 90 years.

I was very interested to see the examples of bicycles made by some of the Scottish framebuilders. Flying Scot are well known, but there were others builders, not only in Glasgow, but outside the central corridor.

I was particularly interested in the bottom bracket detail on the Lindsay of Dundee Scottish made bike, as the same detail was also found on some of the Leach Marathon frames, built by Bill Leach, a London builder. 

I really enjoyed the display of Scottish made machines and I would loved to have tried one or two, just to see how they rode. 

Another bicycle which caught my eye was a pre WW2 Granby. I was able to see it had the frame number stamped into the underside of the fork crown and had the Granby designed rear dropouts. 

More recent developments weren't ignored and there were two cast magnesium Kirk Precision frames there, a complete road bike and the MTB version – frame only. 

Mark Beaumont's Koga Miyata bike that he rode around the world to break the record on was also on display. 

If you are ever in or near Thornhill, the cycle museum at Drumlanrig Castle is well worth a visit.