Bernard Carré Chromed Road Bike 1970s

The workshop of Bernard Carré is a bit shrouded in mystery.
There is not much information to be found about this legendary framebuilder. We know that in the 1930s he was triumphant as a rider in the legendary 'Critérium des Porteurs Journeaux'. The far more prestigious equivalent of nowadays bike messenger world championships, where the paper delivery boys battled themselves on the roads of Paris, with bikes carrying a massive load of newspapers.

In one way or another, Bernard Carré had found himself starting to braze bicycles frames by the end of the 1940s. And in the 1950s he had a proper workshop installed in Montreuil, an eastern part of Paris.

His custom frames found widespread attention when famous champions like Derrigade, Anquetil and Geminiani had their bikes built by Carré. And this fame allowed him to stay in the business until the 1980s. He also was responsible for some top class frames of other brands and even stepped in for André Bertin for a short time, when their manufacture was devastated by a fire.

When we turn to our chromed Bernard Carré road bike from the late 1970s we find many of the details which are typical for his fast high class racers:
High Class Super Vitus 971 tubes, a seatlug cluster with folded willow leaf seat stay caps and 'Carré' engravings etc. etc.
Instead of a paintjob, the frame has received a full chroming and otherwise shows an Carré-characteristic lack of decals.
We kept it original with the surprisingly little patina it gained over the years.

As for the parts, a fine Groupset has been installed which is mainly formed by Campagnolo Nuovo Record parts. But there is also an obligatory French touch with the rare Idéale 90 saddle in the expensive version with aluminium rails.

This bike is not only collectible but also a fun to ride piece of cycling history.
Goof for any historic cycling event and still fast enough to give some poseurs on carbon fiber equipment a hard time keeping up.