Bernard Carré Classic Randonneur Bike 1980

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 1980 Bernard Carré Randonneur bike we find many of the details which are typical for his fast high class touring bikes:
Specific braze ons for lights and battery or extra tubes, seatlug cluster with willow leaf seat stay caps and 'Carré' engravings etc. etc.
The frame had been painted in a beautiful champagne pearl and shows a 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 includes, next to the obligatory Huret Jubilee shifting, finest lightweight Stronglight Spidel bearings and legendary Maxi-Car hubs

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.