Follis Classic 650B Randonneur 1950s

Cycles Follis has its origins in 1930s Lyon.
Giuseppe 'Joseph' Follis had been emigrating to France from the Piedmont region, taking his family with him. There he made his way up to the head of production at a company which owned the bicyle brand Fortis. When this company shut down in the 1930s he started his own small manufacture.
In the 1940s, the production started to flourish, patents for innovative derailleurs, brakes and levers were filed. Even a split seat tube frame which anticipated the design of some 1980s short bikes was introduced.

Francois Follis, Joseph's son took over the conduct of Follis and was able to pump up the production significantly. They also started to sponsor a cycling team. Some of their early riders like Sablière should become famous constructeurs themselves.
When in 1946, Follis riders took the first place of the road racing category in the famed Poly de Chanteloup and first and second place in the randonneurs category, they had beaten the creme de la creme of French bicycle constructeurs, the like of Alex Singer and René Herse.

Their success should even grow in the following years and reached its peak in the 1950s, when Follis riders won the Tour d'Europe, the Tour of Flanders, The Tour de Romandie, Paris Roubaix and stages in the Tour de France.

One of the bikes from their successful 1950s years is our Follis 650b randonneur.
The bike was developed with touring in mind and is set up with Mafac brakes and Simplex shifting.
Stable and with a long wheelbase, travelling at high speed would be the natural movement for this nice historic piece.
Our Follis is a bike for friends of French cycling heritage and the golden age of randonneurs.