gitaneusa.com :: View topic - Ugh in the "states"

lofter

chas , a bunch had the number pegs , ive seen alot with them on them .

Frenchbuilt

Got it and could be a team bike. Not sure. Guy bought it used in 1985 and told me it was 2 or 3 years old. He used it for professional racing. Just checked and not original paint But a official respray (old) sticker "Reemaillage Extra legier Tout Reynolds 531" in red. Never seen such a sticker but looks to be the real offical thing.. pro.

Could be factory respray? because it is very, very well done. The chrome on rear stay is like the 1980 Olympic. I will double check with the guy I bought it from to see what he did in 1985 to the bike. This explains the later Gitane stickers.

Beautifully done bottom bracket area with oval lighting slots and brazed on curved cabe guides.

Pictures soon. Dan

verktyg · Last edited by verktyg on Thu Feb 24, 2011 9:21 pm; edited 2 times in total

verktyg · Last edited by verktyg on Thu Feb 24, 2011 9:22 pm; edited 1 time in total

verktyg

Frenchbuilt

Hi Chas, thanks for info. Here are some first shots early before going offto work.

As you can see, the sticker is very old and has plastic retrofriction shifters i believe.

Dan

verktyg

Dan,

Congratulations, looks like you got yourself a real Team bike (with a hodge podge of components).

I hadn't seen the old style Reynolds respray stickers in a long time and forgot what they looked like. They were very rare!

Add to that, I've only seen pictures of French reemullage stickers and never saw any respray/reemullage stickers for 531SL tubing.

As I mentioned, the respray stickers were only doled out to established painters (determined by Reynolds) and I think that they even had to jump through hoops to get them.

Reynolds 531SL was reserved for use on special bikes so it was never very common. Back in the day I only remember seeing a handful of bikes made out of it.

The bottom bracket shell is very uncommon. It's light weight, well machined and made of cast steel. I had a sample that I used in my mountain bike frame. It may have been Japanese made???

That the seller said he had been a professional racer also adds a lot to the provenance. Cool

Can you get any more info about the seller?

Gtane

Great buy. That's definitely a special machine, and well found by Scott. That was a keen eye.

Many aspects of the machine compare favourably to Greg Lemond's team machine. Here's a shot - http://tinyurl.com/4pqqwjw

Gear cable guides going over the bottom bracket suggest that it's a machine of the early 1980s or before but not that much later.

Any details/marks on the bottom bracket?

I'll go with an ex team/race built machine.

Tim

Frenchbuilt

Thanks again for the lead on this bike!

I talked again to the owner and he said that he bought it second hand in '85 and raced for 4 years "amature" not professional. The history ends here since he does not know much else and the bike shop no longer exists. He was told that the bike was several years old when he bought it.

I noticed that the left side rear stay where it attaches to the seat tube (super fine) looks to have been repaired. Slightly more brazing material on that side and what looks to be the remains of a small hairline crack.

The bike may have been repainted after this possible repair. All was done before 1985 since the owner has never done anything to the bike except change around the equipment and never knew that it was resprayed.

Possible repaire at the factory in the early '80's? since the repair and respray are very well done.

Dan

Frenchbuilt

Here is a photo of the Gitane "team" bike after adding some tires (Michelin Orium), seat and post and general clean up.

Also some photos of the rear stay repair which is probably why the bike was resprayed early in its life. Looking at the very small attachment area, I can see why this might be a fragile zone with only 4 or 5 mm of brazed surface. The right repaired side has more brazing material than the left.

The owner was a budget racer and looks to have built up the bike with what he could afford in 1985.

Parts include:

Stronglight 200 LX crankset (never seen one)
Spidel BB
Suntour Cyclone rear derailleur
Huret Success front derailleur
Simplex plastic retrofriction shifters
Shimano 600 headset
Mavic 500RD / 550 RD Hubs
Mavic MA 40 rims
TTT cast stem
Atax Handlebars
Saccon Altex Brakes (probably the cheapest Campy like brakes at the time)
I added a saddle off my old Peugeot with very long Shimano Aero like post. And some cheap japanese campy clone pedals which I had around with (luckily) french threads.

Detail photos another day.

Bike stays like this for now (maybe for good) since I really don't know how it should be equipped. Rides fine like this.

I still believe that it was repaired by Gitane, resprayed and resold later to a shop to be then bought by the previous owner. So keep it as a 1985 bike or 1982/83 bike? (the dropouts are all Campagnolo so later Simplex will not fit?) I have a complete Simplex '85 SLJ system sitting in some box somewhere. I have never owner any bike with Campanolo parts so maybe this will be the first,

Anyway thanks, Dan

scozim

Very nice - it cleaned up quite. Love to hear a ride report once you get more miles on it.