Lots & Lots of Bicycles - 1932 Tour de France

Saturday, July 30th 1932. Stage 20, next-to-last stage of the Tour de France, from Malo-les-Bains to Amiens. Spectators line the embankments on either side of the road, Racers file up the left, official's Hotchkiss cars travel up the center, and look at the huge number of spectator's bicycles along the right edge of the road! What a dream it would be to peruse that collection of French two-wheelers.

Picture from "Match l'Intran" No.308, 2 August 1932.

Gino Bartali at the 1948 Tour de France

July 17th, 1948 was a rest day for the Tour de France. Gino Bartali had just won two consecutive mountain stages and taken the maillot jaune from Louison Bobet. Bartali broke away on stage 13, from Cannes to Briançon, beating 2nd place Briek Schotte by 6'18". On stage 14, from Briançon to Aix-les-Baines, Bartali broke away again, finishing alone 5'53 ahead of Stan Ockers. And the day after the rest day, on stage 15 from Aix-les-Baines to Lausanne, Bartali would again finish alone, 1'47" ahead of Briek Schotte. Three mountain stages and three solo wins had moved Bartali from 2nd place on the G.C., 1'06" behind Louison Bobet, to the yellow jersey, 13'47" ahead of Bobet. On stage 16 Bobet lost an additional 21'20" to Bartali, who now lead 2nd-placed Schotte by 32' 20".

Note the cambio corsa shifter, single chainring, low saddle/large framesize, different color of headtube (is this the green and red bike?), rear-facing thorn catchers, and 8-panel cycling cap with small bill.

Vel D'Hiv, 16th July 1942

Paris buses gather in front of the Vel D'Hiv during the round-up of the city's Jewish population.

Another Luxor Duo

Yup... I found yet another version of Luxor twin headlights, this time they're mounted on a crossbar instead of the aluminum front platform/rack. This set is still bolted to a bit of front fender. Found, as you probably guessed, on eBay-France.