Alex Singer - Paris

[Bittersweet]

I'm going to Paris at the end of April. I've been told a can't miss stop is Alex Singer Cycles. Has anyone been there and where is this shop?

I enjoy all things bicycle and hence the randonneur stop which is so very French but would love to see the modern carbon doo-hickies as well.

Any other shop suggestions?

[Too Tall]

(Below a copy of what a forum-ite posted last yr. on the same topic)

Bicycle shops in Paris

I've a link _somewhere_ to all the major shops in Paris but there are really precious few worth the trouble. You see production bikes and not much in the way of swaag that is different from what we have here, very few old and interesting things. There are the two exceptions but you have to like cyclo-tourisme style riding to get the feel. Rando-Cycles is the first. Paul, the owner, speaks English perfectly and knows everything about TA and building modern bikes. It is on Rue Fernand-Fourneau, right off Boulevard Soutes near Porte Vincennes. Go here for specific directions:
http://www.rando-boutique.com/plan.php
You can take the metro and walk just a few blocks, any simple Paris map will get you there. They have a slew of bikes in all styles but its mostly cyclisme de randonnee. Modern race bikes are boring anyway...

THE place to see in Paris is the Ste Nouvelle des Cycles, the Alex Singer shop on 53, Rue de Victor Hugo in Levallois-Perret/92300. As e-richie noted this is technically not in Paris but only Parisians really think that. It is on the opposite end of the city from Rando-Cycles. Take the metro to the last stop and walk about half a mile or so. You pass a very uninspired bike shop on the way, don't bother really. Here you are thrown back into a past that is filled with beauty, elegance, and near-perfection in cycling. For a few looks inside the Singer shop go here:
http://www.mupson.com/files/galleri...ame=Alex_Singer
Relax, take your time, be respectful of M. Csuka's time, and gawk with requisite awe and wonder. There is just no other place like this on Our Faire Planet. DO NOT miss this stop. It was, in my estimate, as good as the Louvre. My wife Aimee actually was okay leaving the Louvre a bit early to get to the shop. They are closed, I think, on Mondays (or is it Tuesdays?) and do not invite yourself to the Sunday ride that begins from the shop without asking very, very politely. M. Csuka speaks very little English so if you go with a French speaker it is more fun. There is a woman working on the paperwork who speaks some English, so if she is there, you may have more luck.

If I can find that other link, I will send it along. Computer changes have left some things lost in the Bermuda cybertangle.

I do have a list of interesting dealers and shops outside of Paris, the most famous of which is likely Cycles Gilles Berthoud on Route de Montrevel, 01190 Pont-de-Vaux (ph:03.85.51.46.46). Berthoud will fit you himself and build a great bike for a very reasonable price. Of course, a Singer will cost you about 5K before delivery charges and duty. Worth every Euro

2.. Andre Dugast:
Bouray-Sur-Juine is to be found the master of the tubular, Andre Dugast.

[e-RICHIE]

don't miss it. it is about a mile from the arc de triomphe in a
suburb called levelois (sp?). you can walk there from the arc,
but it is a haul. it is the size of a postage stamp. if another
customer is there simultaneously, it will seem claustrophobic.
the czukas are always busy, so my suggestion is to go there to
do commerce, not to gawk. it is a cool, unchanged-since-eisenhower
type of place, but these guys are not on display; it is their work
place, and they have work backed up.

the bicycles on display are floor models from which orders are
taken. the actual work area is in the back, and i believe the frames
are brazed off site, but are finished in house.

it is an amazing place to visit. i don't think there are any/many
other shops like it.

[Bittersweet]

Gentlemen:

Thanks for your help. I'll be very respectful of M. Csuka's time. Probably too afraid to ask the legend a question actually but as I said I've heard you can't miss the place.

The internet has changed the availability of everything for both the better and the worse. I used to send my father on critical missions when he was on European business trips for things like the Saronni replica jersey that was unavailable in the US. Now it is just a click of the button, but that means that there is not much need to go store to store to find things when in different cities unless those places are among the best in their field (Singer).

Those were also the days when we'd ride 25 miles one way to the West Hill Shop in Putney just to see a copy of VeloNews and maybe find some Alfredo Binda toe straps. Everything seemed esoteric and a scavenger hunt. I'm hoping to find a little gem in Paris like the old days.

Thanks again. Too Tall - you're on the list for the Big Yankees.

[PeterW]

Bittersweet is right on, as always. The instant gratification/knowledge of the internet (adulthood) has a downside.

I, too, used to cherish trips to discover esoterica. As a young teen in the early 80s, I rode my third-hand Benotto (pink plastic tape and full Galli!) to Bicycle Pro Shop in DC and Proteus in College Park to gawk at stuff I couldn't afford.

Later, at 16, a trip to Paris where I bought a Benard Hinault Turbo, yellow of course. I had mined gold at the source! I wore the hide off the thing. Same trip in '84, saw the Tour in Bretagne and came back with Phil Anderson's cap!

Family friends coming back from Italia with cap and acrylic jersey of some unknow squad. Treasure! Another trip: Patrick cleats, the Raymond Polidor model! A big Velox patch kit. Later still, TA bidons. Fancier tubs. Carerra Jeans cycling kit! White Rolls! Standing next to Claudio Chiappucci in Lausanne.

20 years later, I still visit shops during each trip away. But there's less there, because what is left these days is all here and all over. I still go to bike stores everywhere, but out of reflex. The experience leaves me cold (two notable exceptions from the Bay area: Bicycle Nook (still an old world pro shop) and Jitensha Studio (a gallery)).

Here's to the days when I'd ride 20 miles to see a full Campy bike. When a trip to Paris meant counting coins, stammering school-boy French, to emerge triumphant from a dark pro shop with some tubular glue. When being a tifoso from the US did not involve waving the flag of Texas. When I didn't debate bike specs, because it all worked fine and felt great.

The internet, the chatting, the forums, the archives have driven us deeper (and a bit crazy, no?) to the likes of Singer, Dugast, Nagasawa, Toei. Not only because they make great stuff, but because they represent the last of the mystery. That few of us have seen this stuff and fewer still will own it is one reason why it sparks passion. At least for me, a pilgrimage to Singer is to revisit the halcyon days when I went to shops to discover in awe, only able to obtain a souvenir.

Bittersweet, enjoy the trip!

PeterW

[OldDog]

it is an amazing place to visit. i don't think there are any/many
other shops like it.


I've been to a cool little shop, in a little known area called Chester, CT. This guy there runs a small framebuilding business, works the same way, has a floor model or two. He has an eye for fitting you, with a little help of a tape. Builds the frames in the back of the shop, they are painted off site. Really nice bikes.

;)

[CNote]

Great post, Peter!

[Bittersweet]

PeterW:

I'll pick you up a "treasure". Possibly something that is waxed or shellaqed and will require decades to reach the appropriate patina.

I've reserved my velo de ville so that I can make my mission to Singers.

[Marron]

Gentlemen:

Thanks for your help. I'll be very respectful of M. Csuka's time. Probably too afraid to ask the legend a question actually but as I said I've heard you can't miss the place.

The internet has changed the availability of everything for both the better and the worse. I used to send my father on critical missions when he was on European business trips for things like the Saronni replica jersey that was unavailable in the US. Now it is just a click of the button, but that means that there is not much need to go store to store to find things when in different cities unless those places are among the best in their field (Singer).

Those were also the days when we'd ride 25 miles one way to the West Hill Shop in Putney just to see a copy of VeloNews and maybe find some Alfredo Binda toe straps. Everything seemed esoteric and a scavenger hunt. I'm hoping to find a little gem in Paris like the old days.

Thanks again. Too Tall - you're on the list for the Big Yankees.

Ok, I'll bite. I just got a NOS stock Saronni frame that I've built up into a fixie. I got it for very little money and was thinking "budget fixie". The reality is a beautiful frame with a delightful geometry. I rode it in this morning and was having one of those transcendent bike moments; beautiful crisp morning, great bike and perfect fixed gearing for the terain. All that for a $150 investment.

All I recall about these is that they were Colnago's budget line. Do you know any more?

[Bittersweet]

Marron:

I don't know too much more about the Saronni frames other than what you have stated. They were a lower priced Colnago, made by Colnago and others later?? More detail on this seems right up the jerk's alley.

At the time I was riding a Lotus with Shimano 600 and lusting after all things Euro and a Colnago especially. Slowly migrated to Campagnolo as lawns mowed and funds allowed. Luckily a certain e-richie took on a friend of mine to his CYBC junior team and I got a lot of Campag parts from his former steed. Later a Pinarello from another friend.

For me it was Saronni's yellow, black and white Del Tongo Colnago jersey that I desperately needed and my dad brought back from Italia with matching cap. I rode in that kit all the time as I thought it was so cool. (I was ~14.) Saronni was world champ in '82, and won the Giro and MSR in '83 on this team. Still have both the jersey and cap and they are cherished.

[PeterW]

Bittersweet,

You and I have similar paths, it seems.

You lusted after a Colnago, but for me it was the Ciocc San Cristobal, named for the city in Venezuela where an Italian lad won the U23 1977 Worlds. It was a different time when a builder could name a frame after a U23 race!

My rebrazed Benotto served well, though, and the bike's still in the family. Somehow with a Suprebe Pro rear mech. with kicky red jockey wheels.

I have recently turned to cross-country ski racing. It reminds me of cycling back then. A small, demanding, culty sport. Now, I dream of trips of Finland to buy bars of Rex wax.

Grip wax, tub glue, same diff.

PW

[e-RICHIE]

snipped:
"...for me it was the Ciocc San Cristobal, named for the city in Venezuela where an Italian lad won the U23 1977 Worlds. It was a different time when a builder could name a frame after a U23 race!"


e-RICHIE could be wrong, but there was no such division
as U23 (Espoirs) in '77. claudio corti won the amateur
race there riding a ciocc, n'est ce pas? we all know where
he is now.

[Bittersweet]

E-Richie:

Hard saying not knowing but here is a link that professes to know:

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Italy/Ciocc.htm

I'll defer to a certain builder in Chester though.

[e-RICHIE]

i wouldn't trust that as gospel.

the amateur (non profee) division is now called U23,
but the name change did not occur that far back, in
my recollection. in other words, there were older folks
passing up pro status (can you say, eastern bloc?) and
still racing worlds past the age of 23.

i think the name change and the age thing occurred
in the late 80s. i said, "i think..."!

[Bittersweet]

Certainly not trusting it as gospel but possibly the source of PeterW's misinformation?

Regardless I actually have a 58cm Mod San Cristobal in my garage. It is a childhood friend's who I started racing with and we're now neighbors. I'm a 63cm so not a great loaner candidate. The 58 Ciocc serves as a bike for visitors as it fits many people in a pinch.

It's beautiful in metal flake grey and full Campagnolo. SR where possible in the day. Cinelli 1R. Tubs on Ambrosio rims although I also have a back catalogue of other options including Fiamme hard silvers, GP40s, etc.. Many with useless straight blocks because we thought we were tough in the day even with the White Mountains of NH to contend with.

Often converts modern only people to get replicas built by the likes of RDS and maybe even e-richie if they can handle the wait ;)

[e-RICHIE]

the U23 division at the worlds began in 1996...

[Bittersweet]

Postscript part deux:

And as you pointed out Corti and Saronni are together at Lampre-Caffita.

[pale scotsman]

Here's a couple more Singer links with great pics of the shop and its wares.

http://www.ece.ubc.ca/~gillies/singer/

http://www.ece.ubc.ca/~gillies/singer/singer2.html

[jerk]

u23 came about after the demise of east german and soviet programs who would come across the border and kick our poor amateur asses. e-richie is right it was amateur worlds now its under 23 worlds....god save david hasselhof for bringing down that wall.
jerk

question: is there a german cyclist who is not east german even now fifteen years later?

[Bittersweet]

Ullrich -No
Kloden - No
Hmmm?

The Ciocc is sweet no matter what the division. Says Ciocc on it in every conceivable place and plane and coated in chrome.

[Too Tall]

I've seen Csuka's tandem and wish to see no more. D@mn it's perfect.

[PeterW]

E-ritchie & Jerk,

Thanks for the correction re: U23 and amateurs in 1977. Here's the upside of the internet, good information. I was 10 at the time.

Interesting that Ciocc's next (?) model was the Mockba 80.

Another connection to amateur racing and Eastern bloc.

Which further illustrates the point: oh for the days when a builder named two models after amateur races!

Maybe because Ciocc (relatively new at the time?) was shut out of the pro events?