(via Michael Crichton's Charrel. This one will be completed and… | Flickr)
Michael Crichton's Charrel. This one will be completed and ridden.
I could spend weeks with this one.
A few people went on at length about the year this bike was made. Myself included.
Some suggested that the shape was modern and the cleanliness indicated a later bike(50s). Some looked at the parts and and an early year (pre war)was suggested. Some looked at details and determined that it was earlier work of Charrel (40s, just after the war).
I personally love the mystery behind a bike. I've always liked to say that a bike talks... you may not understand what is being said, but the bike is speaking to you. If you look at it like a language,,, you can see it as this: The less Knowledge of a language that you have; especially French, the less you will understand the nuances as they are communicated. The more you understand a language the clearer the message becomes. So do the subtleties of a bike become clear. Year, lineage, intended use, level of sophistication, mastery of the build, and overall importance. These are all things that may be missed, if it's the first, or even initial examples that you observe of these complex machines.
There are individuals who would look at this bike and say "it's a bike with fenders... So what".
One thing is for sure. Admiring a Charrel, if you speak the "language" is always an interesting and fascinating experience.