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Frenchbuilt

Hi I bought the frame and it is very interesting and very well built compared to my older Gitanes. The frame tubes are all profiled and the down tube has a triangular cross section. There is one nonstructural dent on top of the rear lug where it meets the seat tube. Probably can be worked out by access once seat post is removed. Also it is very light. Geometry seems OK.

The bike was originally equiped with Shimano 600ax components. All nice looking except the "crab" brakes. Nothing remains except the Aeroshifters.

But the biggest challenge will be finding the missing front frok. The 1982 catalogue shows an all chrome fork that looks like a Vitus type piece.

Our French friend at Vintage bike always has some Gitane forks listed on US Ebay and the chrome one has the right length (if he measured well) to fit the original type Shimano 600 ax or ex headset. Measured stack height and should work.

But I don't know what type of fork this is...he says steel but thats it.
Any ideas?

This one:

http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140392273649#ht_600wt_903

Will clean up and photograph and work on building it up. Really interesting and so finely made, real surprise.

Dan

lofter

dont get a fork with fender eyelets Shocked

Wisey

lofter

Frenchbuilt

Some pictures.
Dan

Wisey

Frenchbuilt

Since i am a designer, I started with the most important functional stuff!
Who cares about wheels and cranks etc. But a cool water bottle is all it needs for now.

Anyway, discovering the very interesting and visually well designed Shimano 600AX "aero" range of the early '80's.

Can see how the sleeping french equipment industry was pretty much
left behind design wise even though their products worked well.

Dan

sandranian · Site Admin

Those look like Vitus dropouts....any stamp on the derailleur hanger?

Frenchbuilt

Marked "Vitus".

Dan

lofter

cant wait to see the finnished product. did u get the paint off it easy?

Frenchbuilt

Hi Paint still not cleaned/repaired.

Photo of latest additions.

Dan

Gtane

Dan,

It's looking good and is a nice piece or art in itself.

Tim

Karloman

Hi Dan
Once again Norris Lockley AKA Cyclecrank is one of the very few available source of information. Here's what you can learn on his Flickr page :

"CAMUS tubes were developed and marketed by Ateliers de Maison Rouge -AMR-, of Tonnerre to the NE of Paris, by a small team directed by Christophe Liebert - it is Christophe himself, out-of-the-saddle - on the cover of the catalogue. I think its called product testing!
The tubes were all plain gauge seamed products, and of varying weights..and shapes. They were extremely easy to work and brazed and welded readily . The alloy steels used were less technically complicated more predictable and less demanding than many of those of their their competitors.
The company was the first to introduce sets of aero tubes with round ends that could be used with lugs, - the Force7 and Force8 sets and it was also the first to introduce a full low-profile set with curved seat and top-tubes and aero section for all the other tubes- the CAMUS 789. All tubes were available on a mix and match basis.
The numerals in the names of the sets indicate the gauges of the tubes used.
The series of tubes were very popular with many custom builders, as they facilitated the production of unusual and often avantgarde frames at very reasonable cost."

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyclecrank ... otostream/

Cheers
Karl

logarto

I've been saving this kind of waterbottle and cage plus the top mount shifters for years; interesting that this bike didn't have recessed brake bolts yet?

It may be that the frame itself actually did, all the Chevron decal Super Corsas I handled came with little brass washers to run normal centerbolts in recessed holes. I also wonder if this frame wasn't the one that started interal brake cable routing at Gitane now?

I can tell you that if you can find DynaDrive Cranks, adaptors to 9/16ths pedals actually did exist. Looks like you have the cups and I think the correct spindle was about 114 mm in length and asymmetrical. That huge DD pedal bearing held up reasonably well but after 30 years?

The whole aero school of design was really a flash in the pan, started in 1981 and pretty much over with by the time that pre-indexing Shimano 600EX came along in 1983. Almost all the 600AX went out as OEM parts on bikes from Lotus and a handful of others, Dura Ace AX was a little more prominent in the marketplace as a boxed groupo. I doubt that the two of them together added up to a tenth of what Campy was selling in boxed NR/SR groupos at the time. Maybe not even as much as SunTour Superbe which was really a hodgepodge of Sugino, SunTour and DiaCompe parts in the first edition.

Those long skinny Shimano AX brake levers became very popular with Triatheletes years later so they are really scarce today. I sold a set of the Dura-Ace AXs with a pair of brand new replacement hoods for a ridiculous amount of money on eBay around 2004. 600AX was almost always white hoods too.

In the Japanese 600AX bikes the rims were usually Araya Aeros, the tubular version needed little convex washers to support the spoke nipple in the nose of the rim. Believe it or not those were just about the only aero rims on the market back then, they might even have been what Gitane was using?

The Columbus tubing approach to this required an ovalized seatpost all the way down

I'm not sure that the fork is the exact match but it sure looks like your supplier chose the best one available, are they Atelier (Vitus) dropouts in the front too?

I think the 600AX headset had a whole lot of plastic and finding one of those in presentable condition thirty years later may be a real challenge, ditto for the hubs. The AX hubs also had machined flanges that wanted all the spokes mounted heads in.

Frenchbuilt

Hello, thanks for the mails/ information about Camus tubes and the Shimano/Dura Ace AX equipment. The frame is very light and actually well made. It just needs some touch up here and there but luckily is straight.

I have never had a bike with any Shimano pieces so it is a discovery and I am making this one completely Japanese. The Araya Aeros 1 rims are sitting in California and I will build up some wheels with Dura Ace AX hubs. I have a front hub but still looking for the rear. The forks are from a supplier here in France and fairly light but of recent construction with recessed brake bolt mount. They just happen to look about right and needed only to be cut down for the Shimano headset. The ends have no markings but the frame has Vitus rears. Once the snow melts I will see really how it rides and if the derailleur shifts. Everything works OK on indoor rollers.

What I like about this bike is the mix of old and new and especially the
hidden cable routing and aero brakes. The fatter tubes (in side view) also
gives it a more solid and modern look.

Thanks again, Dan