2019 Anjou Velo Vintage Festival and Ride Report!

by Igor

The Anjou Velo Vintage event is not just a ride. It isn't just a festival. It isn't even a vintage flea market. It's a celebration of all things vintage, fun, refined, and rough around the edges. Folks don their finest vintage-inspired attire, give their moustaches a twirl, have a bottle of Rosé mixed in with fresh cut flowers on a Porteur Rack, and ride a metric century with a few thousand new friends. AVV was truly a remarkable event filled with dancing, delicious food, ogling classic bikes and parts, and a good mid-day sweat session through French farm country, tiny villages, and landmarks in and around Saumur.

I posted this hammered fenderset on one of our Instagram Stories and it garnered a ton of interest and I think it requires a bit more information. In the pursuit of complete and total integration by Constructeurs, the builders would create these platformed rear rack/fender combinations. They are extremely difficult and time consuming to make. They aren't simply flattened, they are formed around a positive tool and beaten into a shape that maintains tire clearance. Some makers would create internal structures under the fender to keep the shape, others would let the fender stand. They cannot take as much weight as a Constructeur Rack can, but they can support simple tool rolls, blankets, light panniers, etc....

Few know that Shimano 600EX is one of Theo's favorite component groups.

Mini-Velo Fenders!

In case you forgot your suspenders

Film dispenser!

This Alex Singer was an exceptionally interesting ride that Enzo of La Bicyclette of Paris brought to the show. While it appears as a traditional French Randonneur, it features heavy influence from Italian designs from the 70s. The bike features a 56cm seat tube, a 54cm top tube, and a rather long stem. It also has no internal lighting accommodations, rather opting for heavy, battery operated flashlights that were to be mounted on the sides of the front rack. The front end also has a higher trail, making it more stable for unloaded and lightly-weighted riding.

Tubeset is 531c (competition grade). I am working on an old Trek that has the same tubeset, so I'm pretty excited.

Maxicar hubs front and rear.

A tremendously smooth shellac job done by Enzo.

The event rides offered ranged from 30km to 100km, so whether you wanted to bring out your weirdest bike and impractical riding outfit or sport-up with a tubular around your shoulders and nailed-in cleats, there's a ride for you. I opted for the 62km route, which was a great combination of mileage, chill time at rest stops, and opportunities to see more of the French countryside that would otherwise be missed.

The route even took us through the Saumur Zoo!

The last half of the ride got really hot. 95*F with hardly any shade. A cold water hose was a welcome reprieve from the heat.

Here's my full video review from the saddle towards the end of the ride. Thanks a ton of having us Anjou! See you next time!

Next up: Rustines Factory Visit!