Stuart Windsor of London, England may be a familiar name to you if you have been reading this blog for a while. Stuart is a professional photographer in London and the accompanying photos demonstrate this fact quite nicely. In August of 2016, he had completed a period correct restoration of a Bertin C 37 road racing bike which was featured here in September of that year and shared with other Bertin enthusiasts. It was a sensitive and complete restoration as can be seen in the original feature photograph from that previous post.
Drive side profile showing off the Stronglight 105bis
In that same period, Stuart had acquired another Bertin in shabby, almost derelict condition. It was dirty, faded, rusty with a few non-period components and generally showing as somewhat sad and hopeless as seen in the photo below.
Bertin C 10bis as acquired
Having just completed a full on restoration of the C 37, Stuart decided that a refurbishment of the C 10 was the way to go with replacement taking place only for the most outrageously deficient things like the rotted tires and tubes. Lubrication, cleaning, adjustment and lots and lots of Autosol polish were required to get to this.
The C 10bis after refurbishment
Stuart was kind enough to provide the pictures of the before and after which are shown below and they give a small idea of what must have been the tremendous amount of work necessary to bring the C 10 back to a usable and attractive state.
So, a vast change from grime to shine, from wreck to rehabilitated. Stuart’s C 10bis may not have the slick, like new, high gloss look of that blue C 37 but the scrapes and worn paint showing through the wax and Autosol speak of the intrinsic quality put into the bike by Cycles Bertin. Thanks for sharing, Stuart.
Bertin Classic Cycles 