Drove a couple of hours to pick up this free early 1960s Rochet. Some new tyres, brake cables and a parts bin purge later and it's pretty great. I wish more steel road bikes had this kind of tyre clearance, currently have 700×37 in there but 45s would probably fit. Time to have a few summer rides and then sell it on I guess 🙂
Easter egg – the ancient head badge has a prev owners details engraved including their address in Caen
Reposted for blurry pic
by MonsterKabouter
3 Comments
Threadless brake pads. Nice
Enchanté mademoiselle
Once upon a time, 700C was a tire size designation that meant a specific width tire (A=skinny, B=medium, C=fat) with a overall rolling diameter of 700mm.
With that in mind, a 700C would originally have meant ~38-40mm tall tire on a 622mm rim.
All that to say, it makes sense that an old French bike would fit a ‘true’ 700C tire, and old French bikes are awesome…especially in orange paint.
Incidentally, 27 x 1 1/4 wheels are 630mm rim diameter and 1 1/4 tires are around 35mm tall…which kind of makes 27″ wheels a 700A, sized in the old French way.