I just picked up a Roger Riviere step through 10 speed for my other, and I have a few questions about road bikes, first and foremost about tires. Do I need folding tires or wire bead tires? Or does it matter? I have never built or even owned a 10 speed, so I know nothing about them. Thank you.
See this wiki page for info about Roger. Former pro bike racer in the late 1950s (doper before there were tests), spinal injury during le Tour du France, never regained full use of his body, died at age 40.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Rivière
Your bike was a tribute bike from Gitane.
some photos would be interesting to see.
anyhow it is a bike boom bike (late 1960s to mid 1970s). All the french bike companies that shipped bikes to the USA put 27" tires and rims on them. The cheaper models had steel rims. The high end models would have sew ups or tubular tires with racing rims where there is no bead and the tires are glued on.
27" folding tires are quite rare. By the time they developed kevlar beaded folding tires, the industry switched to 700c tires and 12 or more speeds.
My guess is your bike is 27" and standard wire bead tires are fine. 27" was dropped from all bikes by the late 1980s but there are many tire makers still producing them.
A bigger issue is sourcing certain parts. The French made bikes to metric specs. Sheldon Brown has a web page on the topic.
Folding bead tires tend to stretch out pretty fast. A battle to install new tires and in a couple years, they practically fall of the rims. There are some advantages to folding tires. Easier to stock on shelves and ship. Can be a bit lighter weight (good for race bikes). Most racers get about 3000 miles out of a set of tires which isn't even two months of training so they often wear out before they stretch out. Tires in boxes at the big box stores are just horrible. They fold but they don't use kevlar for beads, more like nylon. I had a pair stretch out and blow off the rims over night. Never buying tires a those stores again in any size. Note that some tires have kevlar belts to help prevent thorns and wires from puncturing the tube. That is different from kevlar beads.
I organize an annual Bastille Day bike ride. A ride for French made bikes only on July 14. Perhaps you can take it for a spin then. To a good french pastry shop or restaurant if there are any in your area.
