WTB Nitto F-15

[John Mottl]

Looking for a Nitto F-15 front bag rack. Like this one on my Rene Herse

[Bill Lindsay]

Please tell us everything about your Rene Herse drive train:

2x5?  2x6?

46/28 in front?  Lever actuated front Der.  who is the maker of the front Der?

14-28 in back? What rear Der?

Whatever the details, it's great!

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Steve]

Ben's Cycle has one - 

https://www.benscycle.com/nitto-f15-handlebar-bag-supporter-bag_part_nitto__870-131-11/p?srsltid=AfmBOorFhhZMwJM_NsyfVEZ31jPF4JajgRrbmed2T88gWlrq8GDx1Gax

[John Mottl]

The crank was made in 1968 in the Rene Herse shop in France, he made his own cranks, chain rings, Stems, brakes, and pedals. The Stems are really unique and worth checking out.

This bicycle started life as a “Gentleman’ ’s city bicycle. The fellow had a touring bike made first before this one and then got a city bike for use on the streets of Paris. I added the second inner chain ring because I have some 16% grades on what used to be my daily ride (about 2,000 feet of elevation each day into work). The suicide shifter was also added at that time. It’s a Huret model from the late 1950’s early 60’s. Works very nicely as these sort of shifters go.

The setup is 2x5 and everything is French threaded (Pedals, BB, stem diameter, freewheel)

The lighting is rather unique in that it is all hidden inside the frame and fender welt…. and used a carbon brush and brass contact ring inside the head tube like this:

TBC…..

[John Mottl]

The R. Herse now has a 2x5 with  42-22 rings

The Huret Front Derailleur works fine with a 20T jump, they were made for this.

Here is what that looks like

[Steven Sweedler]

John, anything special about your 22 T ring, since modern RH rings only go down to 24 T. Beautiful bike. 

Steven Sweedler
Plymouth, New Hampshire

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[Peter Adler]

As John says, the front is a Huret pushrod lever derailleur, where the lever travels forward-down/backward-up in parallel with the frame. The pushrod has a spiral track along the rod, which is pushed inward/outward by a tang on the lever element; the cage travels inline, unlike the Simplex Competition lever derailleur, which pivots around a fulcrum with the cage forming an arc. This, I assume, is part of the reason for the relatively high placement of the cage. A countervailing aspect of this derailleur is that the cage is attached to a fitting which allows you to pivot the angle of the cage; this fitting attaches between the cage and the seat tube clamp. It's the fitting behind the derailleur in John's Rebour drawing, with the screw on top fixing the pushrod in place.

There are other variants of this derailleur, including ones with an attached removable chainring guard, and a randonneur-specific variant with a short outer cage and an even longer, more deeply curved inner cage, specifically to address setups with a wide chainring tooth count. John, if you're able to find one of those (probably on eBay France - you don't see them often in North America), that would let you get the cage closer to the chainring.

The Huret levers work fine, as long as your arms are long enough to get down to the lever in both up (big ring) and down (small ring) positions. In addition to the pivoting Competition model (longer lever pointing upwards, moves in and out from the seat tube), Simplex made a pushrod Randonneur lever model in the late 1950s, which used their longer lever in a forward/backward manner similar to Huret's design. I've never had access to examine one (I keep losing auctions), so I'm not clear what mechanism they use to do this; as Simplex had already begun making cable-operated derailleurs circa 1954, it may well be a straight ripoff of Huret's design.

The rear derailleur is a Huret Duopar, of course; looks like a titanium cage:

Peter Adler

Berkeley, California

[John Mottl]

Steven,

Whoops, my mistake.  The inner ring is a 24T. You are correct in that all the the 1940’s,50’s, and 60’s original Herse cranks that I’ve seen have had a 24T as the smallest ring. Here is a link to a 1940’s Touring R. Herse on eBay that was ridden in the Alps and it has the 24T inner. https://www.ebay.com/itm/375535565297?  I was tempted to get this one since I know who the seller is;  but it’s way too small a frame for me.

and because bill asked:

The rear derailleur was originally a Huret Luxe short cage,.. then it was changed to a Huret Jubilee, and is currently a modern deraileur while I rebuild the original Huret Luxe with a set of log  Luxe cage plates. 

[John Mottl]

That placement is an older picture as I worked around the pump peg. I did some reconfiguring of the derailleur body so that I could get it clamped below the pump peg and it looks like this... sorry but I'm not near the bicycle and this is the only picture I have...

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[Drew Fitchette]

Much nicer condition than this one Crust has for sale...

[Bill Lindsay]

Ben's Cycle has ONE Nitto F-15 rack in stock, for $87 which seems pretty fair.  

BL in EC

On Friday, February 14, 2025 at 8:51:30 AM UTC-8 moptt...@gmail.com wrote:

[John Mottl]

I have one headed my way now from a member, Thanks!