gitaneusa.com :: View topic

lofter

radsonne , wow is all i can say . thanks for sharing this wonderful bike with all of us here. there has never to my knowledge , been a close up picture or pictures from a delta road bike . thank you .

nicolas

FYI, "Ghidini" is a well known bike shop in the suburbs of Paris. He was a sponsor from a team I know very well. He probably did the paint job. I'll ask around and see if I can get some background info on this.

radsonne

Good evening to all who answered
I couldn't answer as I stayed the last 2 days in France to buy a bicycle Not a gitane but a four seat stayer from about 1897.
Ididn't know I would cause such pain or desire ( which are always togetehr in life). I don't want to sell the bike. My future intention is to build a bicycle museum. So the rarer the better.
@nicolas
Thanks for looking for background . The former owner bought it from Ghidini . He gave me a card from the shop but I lost it.

@sandranian
I liked to hear your roots are german. But I think it was the better choice to go to soutern California. The Kassel area ist often cold an fogy!

For the bike I would prefer to paint it in the classic blue . I admire this Laurent Fignon picture on the website. I Think I would try to copy the colour of my Bernard Hinault TT type. I hope tis is not a mistake.

@ lofter Don't get depressive It doesnt look so wonderful from the inner side Cool

. I don't know the english word . There are sheets of printed paper to build for example toy houses or castles. You cut them out of the paper and there are small triangles to glue them together. The steering tube loks similar at the inner side.

I got the delta just some weeeks after I visited what a small bicycle history conference in Germany where was a dissertation about the Textima time trials bicycles from the former GDR. Which awaked my interest in TT bicycles

http://www.heikosdiamantrad.de/Textima-Generation-1.htm

Quite interestenting all handmade bicycles in the early 80's

sandranian · Site Admin

Great link. I like all of the DDR stuff...very interesting. Still looking for a picture of the 1980's team time trial where the team from the DDR had cables attaching themselves to their bikes.....

We are all very interested in your restoration, and would love to see the progress!

verktyg

Here's a link showing more pictures of the Textima GDR TT bike plus lots of great trivia and pictures of other team bikes.

http://tinyurl.com/3q6lwtd

Wisey

Hi radsonne

Just amazing. Thank you for sharing this with us.

I would love to see some photos of the handle bar and steerer tube attachment when you have it all unassembled for restoration.

Is the handle bar wing made from aluminium or something like fibreglass?

Thanks.

radsonne

Hi Wisey
The wing is of aluminium. I think I will not paint them as here on the Lorent Fignon bike
http://gitaneusa.com/images/models/timetrial/Laurent-Fignon.jpg
The blac conic handlebar plugs ( is that the correct english word?) are of solid rubber ( no plastic ) and quite heavy . They are fixed by a screw .

What's concerning restauration pictures. It wil take a long time as I think I will give it away for the paintjob . This friend is extremely busy .

Oes anyone know what will be the correct saddle and Brake leviers?

Kindly regards

Wisey

Yes, handlebar plugs is the correct term.

If you are going to restore it to the Team Toshiba of 1989, then it would be fully equipped with Shimano Dura Ace 8 speed. (not STI)

If however, you are going to make it like the 1984 bike that Fignon rode, then it would be equipped with Campagnolo Nuovo Record / Super Record. Brake levers were the early aero model with gum hoods.
Saddle would have been a yellow Turbo from Selle Italia.
At some point they also used Roval wheels on these bikes, but I'm not sure of the dates. It may have been during the Systeme U era 85-88.

radsonne

Hi Wisey
I think this is a older one . There have been different shapes of the handlebar .

These have a more deltas shape as mine
http://gitaneusa.com/images/models/timetrial/1984-1988-TT-Bike.jpg
That's the reason I think I own the older one, Spmeone might know it better- Do you know how Iidentify the older aeroleviers only by the rubber covers?
ThaNKS

sandranian · Site Admin

The bars in the picture you showed were painted white (I believe), not left in the original aluminum. That bike (in the picture) is from 1987 (team Systeme U), and would be built with Campagnolo C-Record. The brake levers could be routed either way: Standard or "Aero".

If you are making it into a circa 1984 delta, then yes: Campagnolo Super Record with custom drilled brake levers, because the brake levers only came in the traditional "standard" routing. Mechanics would have to custom make them to get them to be Aero. Fignon rode his Gitane in 1984 with custom-drilled brake levers and Cinelli "Giro d'Italia" bars to make them aero. But that all had to be done by hand and was not available for purchase in that configuration. Here is a picture of Fignon on his Gitane in 1984 and shows the aero routed brake levers:
[url]http://www.gitaneusa.com/images/racing/Fignon-(in-the-jersey-of-th.jpg[/url]
Here is a picture of the "Delta" in the 1984 tour de france, also with the custom modified Campagnolo Super Record brake levers (and silver bars):
http://www.gitaneusa.com/images/models/timetrial/TDFprologue84.jpg

radsonne

Hi Sandranian

I saw a picture with two man wearing the Delta over the shoulder on this website ( by the means I forget to mention a fantastic site which helped much as I got the bike in 2008.) There it seems as i f the handlebar was Aluminium.
For brake levers: What do you think might this be the same custom made brakelevers as on my about 1981 TT Gitane. The brake levers are custom made and although shimano equipped you can reed very thin Campagnolo on the filed levers. They are quite thin at the ends what I can't see on the picture under The hands of Fignon.

sandranian · Site Admin

That picture is of the track version and was taken at the 1984 Olympic velodrome in Los Angeles.

The brake levers on the 1984 version of the Delta bicycle are definitely Campagnolo Super Record, with custom drilling. There are folks who can tell you how to do that, but I am not one of them!

As I stated above, there were several different versions over the year of your Delta. Sometimes the bars were painted white, others they were left aluminum (as in 1984). The picture in the catalogue of the track version appears to be silver:
http://www.gitaneusa.com/images/catalog/1984/Page_02-a.jpg

trois tubes

Killer bike - I love it !!!

Here are a few front views of Fignon (1984) and Mottet (both 1985). That's all I could find quickly/easily. Nicolas would be an excellent source for this, he has always been able to provide fantastic(que) photos for me.

nicolas

Word from Mr Ghidini himself : he has a slight recollection of selling a delta once, a long time ago. That's pretty much it. VB BACO being the name of the guy who did his paintjobs at the time...