A potentially serious error in judgement

Actually, it's much further along. Take a look at the build thread I linked to in the description. As of now, the seized seatpost is out, and much of the rattlecan paint is off; the rust is slowly being removed, and I'm planning on an oxalic acid treatment to finish it. I've got a complete build kit together (TA triple, Edco Competition sealed BB, Suntour derailleurs/barcons, Mafacs, Phil/Mavic wheels and so on). Plus, all the historical research - including the 1972 Bertin catalog posted by another Classic Rendezvous member I met while he was selling at the SF Bike Expo on Saturday, which pretty much confirms that it's a C34. So graphics for decals are still being prepped.

I've been approaching the cleanup gently, because there's still traces of much of the decals left. Bertin decals aren't in ready supply; I want to be sure to have enough left to clone them.

And to complicate things further, I have two Follis projects in the works as well - an even more obscure marque.

(somebody get that French monquey off my back)

Good news, indeed. Actually, I came close to buying an early 70s Follis 672 in Reynolds 531 last year. They actually had some nice frames. The upper end, top tier French frame is a light beast for sure, seemingly lighter than the Italian counterpoints. As for your Bertin, you should move that sad shot to #5 and put some more flattering options up front and in lead. The poor beast deserves a break after a year of suffering in that state for all to see. Looks like its come a long way; nice work.

which will feature "before and after" photos of buildups: Frameset + pile of components to built bike. Unfortunately, I failed to take before photos with five of the six bikes I have posted. I have to take a photo of the FrankenFollis (two frames, with one fork and one early '60s build kit between them) endeavor before I get it built up any further; fortunately, the weather is less wretched today.

Specialites T.A. is a French company that's been in business since 1947. They've done a range of cranksets, bottles/cages, bottom brackets and assorted accessories ever since. They do modern road cranksets now, along with a variety of road and track chainrings for both Shimano-style and Campagnolo-style cranks.

The Pro V crankset is a touring crank that they first released in 1963, and only stopped making a year or so ago. Velo-Orange is the main US retailer for Pro V chainrings and cranks, but there are others, such as Rene Herse Bicycles in Colorado. The Pro V uses an attachment style that used to be common in the '50s/'60s, but has since disappeared: The 5-bolt 50.4 BCD crankarm connects to the outer ring, and then all the other rings bolt to the outer ring through a second set of holes - 6 arms at various BCD settings for TA Pro V crankarms, 5 arms at various BCD settings for Nervar/Stronglight/Sugino/Lambert/Williams and assorted Japanese brand crankarms, and 3 arms for the TA Pro 3 attaches.

There's a very thorough history of T.A.'s products at Joel Metz's http://www.blackbirdsf.org/ta/; well worth a look around, if you're into that sort of thing.

I may be interested in T.A. six-arm chainrings (I have two cranksets), but it will depend on tooth numbers. The six-arm Pro V can handle tooth counts from 26T to 64T(!), and there are arrangements for track, road racing, light and loaded touring. I'm particularly interested in 48T and 50T outer rings, and smaller inner rings (26T-30T), but whatever you have, let me know. Outer rings have five holes in the center (to attach the crankarms) and six holes further out (to attach the inner rings); inner rings have only the six holes. I'm also interested in mounting bolts; being French, they're a slightly different size from the chainring bolts everyone else uses :-P

I cruise Velo-Orange a bunch (I'm pissed that they don't do the elkhide laced bar cover in white any more; that would have been great for my Raleigh International build). The constructeur racks are very slick-looking, and I might get them for this Bertin someday, if period Frenchy stuff (TA, Gilles Berthoud etc.) doesn't turn up in the meantime. And they have metal 650b fenders.

But the current cup/cone bottom bracket seems okay, although the spindle is two-ring only. The local bike kitchen has a set of 3-bolt Stronglight cranks that I'd already rejected for the Raleigh, where I want a triple (hence the pillaging of the TA Pro V); but they might work nicely on the Bertin. If I need to replace the BB, then cartridge makes sense. The Grand Cru is one option; I might also pull the existing French cups, and swap them onto a Shimano BB-71.

> I cruise Velo-Orange a bunch (I'm pissed that they don't do the elkhide laced bar cover in white any more; that would have been great for my Raleigh International build).

You may know this, but Ralph Carnevale sells stitched leather bar wrap in several colors. I bought some in white and will soon be re-wrapping one of my handlebars with it.

I'd never heard of him, but the bar wrap looks about like the VO stuff, and they have both white (discontinued by VO) and several colors of suede, which VO never had. Seems to me that sweat would trash suede pretty quickly, but...The downside is, it costs twice what VO charges :-(

I had already found leather tape in some alarming colors from Global Cycling Supply; and a little aggressive Googling revealed that Selle An-Atomica also makes water(proof? -resistant?) leather tape (Team Estrogen has it for ten bucks less than SA-A's fifty-nine dollars*). SA-A has saddles and tape available in TdF yellow and Giro d'Italia pink, which Team Estrogen curiously does not sell.

* Once again, dollar signs are not working. Does anyone have any idea what the problem is, and why it goes in and out? Sometimes I put dollar signs in comments, and they show up fine; other times, they're stripped out with the attachen numbers. It's very irritating.

He's rjcarnivale on eBay. I'm not fond of suede wrap for the reason you mentioned. That's why I bought the smooth leather; that and the fact that it reminds me of Almarc bars from the 1980's, which I like.

* As to why you're not seeing dollar signs in text fields, I assume Greg is filtering them out to guard against SQL injection. If you used to see them but aren't now, he's probably changed the list of characters he's filtering out.

Hope you can keep that copper paint.

And about the elkhide bar covers, I was admiring those myself. Maybe on my next bike... With a Brooks saddle to match. And I love their racks, ultra classy.

Hope you can keep that copper paint.
Me too. If not, a medium-blue Rene Herse powdercoat (with a silver headtube panel, sort of like the old Raleigh Professional?) might be the ticket.

I'm highly copper-inclined, though. I've assembled a little treasure chest of Mafac Racer brakes; I'm going to clean up a set and walk them down to my local silversmith, to see what it'll cost to have them copper electroplated. If it's not too ugly, I might consider having a set of fenders done as well.

I wonder how difficult it would be to have the whole frame copper electroplated if the paint doesn't survive. I think the electroplating is a great idea. It might look interesting to have the handlebars done so you just see it between the stem and the tape.
I'm looking forward to seeing this thing done, however long from now that will be. Good luck.

I wonder how difficult it would be to have the whole frame copper electroplated
You're scaring the hell out of me...I'll have to investigate this.

Caswell Plating has a variety of DIY kits for electroplating various metal treatments (nickel, chrome, gold, bronze, silver etc.) onto various base surfaces. The smaller kits are pricy, because they include all the electroplating equipment. I'd guess that there's a financial breakpoint where it makes sense to invest in the equipment yourself, depending on the surface area you have to cover.

If you want to sell the MAFAC brakes and all the rest let me know !
Keep the color a good powder coater should be able to match it perfect !