gitaneusa.com Forum Index » Vintage Gitane » 1984 Gitane TdF    View previous topic :: View next topic  1984 Gitane TdF   Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 8:32 pm cornu90 Joined: 01 Feb 2011 Posts: 3 Location: Seoul, South Korea About two years ago, I bought an '84 Gitane Tour de France on eBay. As I live in Seoul, I had the bike sent to my friends house in San Francisco. After bringing the bike home, I started commuting on it on my daily 15km ride to the office through thr streets of Seoul. Of course, on my first ride, my Ofmega front derailleur clamp snaps in half dangling the derailleur from the seatpost as I am cruising through a 6 lane roundabout during rush hour. Then, I noticed the rear wheel wobbling. To get to the chase, I spend the next year acquiting parts from North America and Europe in pursuit of rebuilding my lovely Super Vitus 983 frame. The result is a Campagnolo Super Record drivetrain and brakeset with some sweet NOS Campagnolo "Seoul 88" tubular rims with Campy SR hubs. I fell in love with the Simplex shifters and introduced it to the Campy family. On my weekend outings and the very occasional race, I ride an Italian-made carbon racing bike with my team Seoul Synergy. However, the feel and the ride of my Gitane is like a delectable dessert - sweet!   Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 10:39 pm scozim Joined: 26 Sep 2008 Posts: 629 Location: Ellensburg, WA I absolutely love the ride and handling of my '84 TdF. Your bike is in great shape. Not sure my derriere could handle that saddle, though. _________________ 1984 Gitane Sprint 1984 Gitane Tour de France mid-1970's Gitane Olympic Plus many more http://eburgcycling.blogspot.com 1984 TdF   Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 11:22 pm verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area Great job! It looks really nice all Campy. The original plastic Ofmega derailleurs and levers that came on 1984 TdFs left a lot to be desired. I have 2 1984 TdFs. Both of them had the wheels changed out from sewups to clinchers. My first one came with Campy NR front and rear derailleurs, the original bars and stem, seatpost, Bernard Hinault saddle, Ofmega cranks, Maillard pedals, Modolo brakes and so on. I switched to wider bars with a shorter stem and I also replaced the Campy NR derailleurs with metal Ofmega metal Mistral derailleurs. I had a set of black anodized Simplex retrofriction shift levers to round out the bike. I haven't done anything with the second one yet. The TdF and the Super Corsa had the same frames only red vs. blue. My 84 Super Corsa remains my all time favorite riding and handling bike. It has 700x25c tires while the TdFs have 700x19c tires. With larger tires, the TdFs will probably ride the same as the SC. 1984 Super Corsa "Franken Bike" _________________ Chas. SF Bay Area, CA USA ============== 1984 Criterium 1969 TdF 1971 TdF 1974 TdF 1984 TdF x 2 Bikes 1970 SC 1971 SC 1972 SC 1984 SC 1984 Team Pro 1985 Professional 1990s Team Replica One Day   Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 10:12 am smilingroadrunner Joined: 10 Aug 2007 Posts: 278 Location: Salina, Ks. "I Chas do hereby bequeath to C.A. aka smilingroadrunner" Sorry just kidding BUT, if you ever have ANY thoughts of 'thinning out' your stable by removal of this Bike---please keep me in at the top of your list for the first PM These are great looking machines. I Lke Steel !!! ________________ C.A. Salina, Ks.   Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 3:44 pm cornu90 Joined: 01 Feb 2011 Posts: 3 Location: Seoul, South Korea Chas- I need your advice on two points: 1. Do you know whether the "Tour de France" decal on your top tube is still available? 2. I love the enameled metal-flecked orange red paint job. However, I have some chipping issues on the chainstays. Overall, beyond the chainstays, the paint is in reasonable good shape. Would you recommend staying with the paint as is or get a new paint job that matches the original? Thanks and look forward to your reply?   Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 5:44 pm scozim Joined: 26 Sep 2008 Posts: 629 Location: Ellensburg, WA Stay with the paint - if you could see mine you'd cringe. But, I love that metallic look and the fact that it's original. But, as we always say here - it's your bike. _________________ 1984 Gitane Sprint 1984 Gitane Tour de France mid-1970's Gitane Olympic Plus many more http://eburgcycling.blogspot.com Repaint   Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2011 11:20 pm verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area LIGHTEN UP FOLKS! THIS WAS SAID IN LEVITY! READ DOWN FURTHER AND YOU CAN SEE THAT I BECOME VERY CIVIL! In my rude, crude, meant to be insulting opinion, if you want a bright shiny new looking bike then go buy one! That said, there probably were far less than 10,000 1984 Gitane Tour de France bikes ever made for the whole world market. Maybe even less than 5000! That was 27 years ago and of those how many are left and of those how many are complete beaters? Once repainted, the bike will have lost much of it's value. I've been watching eBay for going on 5 years and beat up old Gitane TdFs and Super Corsas have consistently brought more money than beautifully restored bikes! My first 1984 TdF looked like it had less than 100 miles on it. The seller did a really poor job of packing it and the rear wheel was rolling around in the box. It scratched up the left rear stays. eBay picture: How it was packed: Scratched paint left rear triangle: I found some Testors model paint that was a close match and I was able to touch up the scratches so well that the bike not only passes the 5 foot test (touch up not noticeable at 5 feet) it passes the 2 foot test! Something else to consider, after a few months or so of riding there's a good chance that the bike will look just as chipped and scratched as it is now. Something that I've heard most painters/restorers say, ride the bike into the ground then repaint it! Looking at your pictures, the bike appears to be in great shape. Remember touch up is camouflage, less is better. Several thin coats applied with a good quality artist's paint brush over several days and let it sit for a month or so. After that you can rub it out with some auto rubbing compound. Here's some before and after camouflage work: It's not perfect but from 5 feet it looks great! BTW, I've never seen the model stickers for the top tubes for any Gitanes from that era. You could probably have a decal maker custom make a few. I'm sure there are several other TdF owner here who might be interested in buying one. I just turned 67 so I earned the right to be grouchy and crochtety! Last edited by verktyg on Thu Feb 10, 2011 11:45 am; edited 1 time in total _________________ Chas. SF Bay Area, CA USA ============== 1984 Criterium 1969 TdF 1971 TdF 1974 TdF 1984 TdF x 2 Bikes 1970 SC 1971 SC 1972 SC 1984 SC 1984 Team Pro 1985 Professional 1990s Team Replica Re: Repaint   Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 7:25 am greyhundguy Joined: 09 Apr 2008 Posts: 678 Location: South-Central VIRGINIA verktyg wrote: ... there probably were far less than 10,000 1984 Gitane Tour de France bikes ever made for the whole world market. Maybe even less than 5000! That was 27 years ago and of those how many are left and of those how many are complete beaters? I would like to know how you calculated this? Jay _________________ Dance like nobody is watching. Re: Repaint   Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 7:35 am greyhundguy Joined: 09 Apr 2008 Posts: 678 Location: South-Central VIRGINIA verktyg wrote: In my rude, crude, meant to be insulting opinion, if you want a bright shiny new looking bike then go buy one! I just turned 67 so I earned the right to be grouchy and crochtety! Chas. I believe all of the regular posters are well aware of this fact. It does not need to be continually repeated. If you want the NEW POSTERS to know, send them a PM or refer them to the archives. Jay _________________ Dance like nobody is watching. Re: Repaint   Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 11:42 am verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area greyhundguy wrote: verktyg wrote: ... there probably were far less than 10,000 1984 Gitane Tour de France bikes ever made for the whole world market. Maybe even less than 5000! That was 27 years ago and of those how many are left and of those how many are complete beaters? I would like to know how you calculated this? Jay That's a valid questions and the following is not an attempt to brag about my knowledge or experience. This is just a list of how I gained my information and formed my opinions. A lot of the numbers I throw out are based on educated guestimates and experience, here's my credentials: 6 years in the retail, wholesale and importing side of the bicycle business 1973-79, 30+ years of frequent manufacturing/engineering contact with bicycle and component makers around the US including Phil Wood, Avocet, Rock Shock, Fox Factory, Cannodale, Salsa, Ibis, Paul Components, White Industries, Paragon Machine Works and others plus many of the local NorCal frame builders of yore and so on. Many of the local Classic Rendezvous members and other bike collectors that I ride with were shakers and movers in the bike business during the 70s and 80s. In addition data compiled in Frank Berto's book "The Dancing Chain"lists quantities of bikes manufactured in or imported into the US and the quantities produced by exporting nations. For example "French bicycle exports to the U.S. increased from 20,000 per year before the bike boom [1970] to a peak of 500,000 in 1973." That was probably well under 1.5 million bikes divided among over 25 French makes with Peugeot, Motobecane and Gitane being the largest. During that time, Gitane, Peugeot and Motobecane all claimed to be the largest French bike makers, also only about 65% of the French bikes exported were adult models. From various information that I've seen, Peugeot was by far the largest maker of French bikes imported into the US during the 1970s. After 1974 Gitane fell off the map in part due to the end of the bike boom plus changing distribution from Mel Pinto Imports to Gitane Pacific. Peugeot, Motobecane and Raleigh were the major European players in the US market for the rest of the decade. I'd venture to guess that during the bike boom of 1970-74 Peugeot had 35% of market share among French makes with Gitane and Motobecane at about 25% each. Of those bikes, the majority were entry level models with $225 to $250 being the sweet spot for mid range bikes (PX-10s and TdFs were midrange). Models over that price range represented less than 5% of all of the bikes sold in the US. At that time you could buy a VW for under $2k and a Chevy for under $3k. In the US, bikes were still considered to be kids toys. "$300-$500 for a bike? You got to be kidding me!" Same thing throughout much of Europe (the UK excluded). Unless they were avid riders average folks didn't spend that kind of money on those kinds of bikes (in the US I saw a lot of vanity impulse purchases of top model bikes that never got ridden). Crunch some numbers: US Gitane sales = 25% of 1.5 million French bikes = 375,000 Gitanes. TdFs and SCs = 5% of 375,000 Gitanes = 18,750 of those models sold in the US during that era. I estimate the "street life" of a bicycle in the US to be 5 years or less! Today, many people get a skewed view of how many mid range and above model bikes were purchased in the US or manufactured during the 70s and 80s period. That's partly due to the number of these bikes that appear on eBay and Craigslist. Most of these bikes, especially ones in good condition were probably not ridden for more than 5 years and they've been in storage since then. Read the listings: "I bought it when I was in high school/college and rode it for a few years or raced it during my 20s". As bike owners got older for whatever reason most did very little riding after that. The better bikes sat in garages or basements. Entry level models went to the crusher or ended up in landfills. It's now 25 to 30 years on and many people are selling these bikes because "they will never ride them again". BTW, from the late 70s on, mid range and better quality bikes represented a much higher percentage of purchases. In the early 80s , probably about 1983 Trek got involved in an unholy alliance with Gitane and was selling Gitanes through a subsidiary company Cycles de France. There is one forum member who worked at Trek during that period. It's never been fully clear whether Cycles de France was importing complete Gitanes, bringing bare frames and assembling them here or both. According to what I've read there were "a lot" of 1984 Gitane TdFs sold in the US, but... but... How many is a lot? So that's what I base my opinions on. In trying to be somewhat of an historian I try to make sure that my information is accurate. I semi-retired a few years ago and it's given me time to explore my life long love of bikes. I'm passing on what I know before I forget all of it... _________________ Chas. SF Bay Area, CA USA ============== 1984 Criterium 1969 TdF 1971 TdF 1974 TdF 1984 TdF x 2 Bikes 1970 SC 1971 SC 1972 SC 1984 SC 1984 Team Pro 1985 Professional 1990s Team Replica 1984 Gitane TdF     gitaneusa.com Forum Index » Vintage Gitane You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum All times are GMT - 8 Hours   Page 1 of 1   All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First  Select a forum Gitane USA----------------Vintage GitaneGitane RacingModern GitanePro Racing - Classics/Giro/Tour....Owner Gallery   Powered by phpBB © 2001-2004 phpBB Group Designed for Trushkin.net | Themes Database.