SNEL (translation: FAST) from Utrecht is a bike shop that has been there since 1940 until now.
Everything about their history can be found here: http://www.snelfietsen.nl/over-ons (DUTCH).
Now let’s get to it, the frame:
SNEL bought high quality frames from Belgium, most people will recognize this as a “Kessels” build frame by looking at the fork crown, the slip in the front lugs and the attachment of the seat stays on the seat lug. But in fact it is a “Weymans” built frame, most of you won’t know him but that might change in the future. They were the only official menders for Colnago in Belgium at that time. Father and son made a huge amount of framesets and many of them have been ridden by famous professional racers. Jan Weymans is still active in the business of frame building and can be found at Neerweg 1, 2800 Mechelen (Belgium). An enthusiast in old steel frames once told me: “A frame cannot be judged by the looks, you have to look at the bottom bracket and it will tell you most of what you need to know” so I did, the fit and finish is amazing. Weymans has put a large amount of time and effort in building this frame, high precision, perfect cut tubes and to top it off a perfect chamfered bottom bracket and a clean tread (it’s just a small extra step to chamfer the bottom bracket but it has a huge impact on the lifespan of the bearings). Painted in house and chromed at Mossu in Waasmunster, after almost 40 years it’s still in great condition.
Fun fact, the drawing on the fork crown is a compass. It’s a signature of high precision and craftsmanship from the Belgium frame building industry. Some rumors say that it’s a clock that refers to the world hour record of Eddy Merck but that isn’t true.
Look at the pictures and judge for yourself, this is something else than a mass produced Gazelle, Colnago or Gios.
Frame specifications:
64ct
59cc top tube
Kubota blue
Full 531 tubing
Build around 1980
This is our second Weymans produced frame, the Terryn “Competition” is from the same manifacturer.
Thanks, Stefan. That is a pretty good reason!
How do you distinguish a Weymans from a VanEenooghe? The fork rake on this bike does not look the same as the other Weymans frames I’ve seen. Very sexy fork curve.
Hi Jim, we use a very effective method for this: We ask Jan Weymans himself. He knows his own and his father’s ‘handwriting’ as well as many other Belgian frame builders’.
Compass on fork crown shows it was built by VanEenooghe, no?
Nope, a couple of framebuilders had access to these crowns, this one has been manifactured at Weymans in Mechelen (BE)