gitaneusa.com :: View topic - Gitane "Profil" Track Version on Ebay (in France)

sandranian · Site Admin

This is a rare one: The Profil Track version! Made for giants, and in France, still special and not so common!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fixie-Gitane-Profil-S-/280663416490?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4158d7deaa

lofter

this a nice bike, unfortunately its been painted . lately every bike i've wanted, needs repainted , and in france. which for me , is alot of money to paint ,decal, buy, ship , u name it. this bike is a must for my collection because i have a profile . but alas too much money to invest . aleast let it fall with one of the euro members or someone with some extra dough.

lofter

people might want to be careful on this auction , ive seen this listed in french ebay also , but it says its in new york ,one listing in the us says its in france the other , french ebay says its in the us , plus the seller has no feedback.one auction has two bids the other none.

lofter

well its mine i bought it . now i have to go get it . he offered to take me on a bike ride from brooklyn thru manhattan to central park and back .if the wife goes noway thats happening but if she dont im definately interested .looking at may 13th. any members from up that way?

lofter

now that this is mine , anybody have any of their gitanes painted gitane blue ? and if you did who did you use?

lofter

well, back home from nyc, went for a ride in manhattan , ground zero , battery park(statue of liberty),chinatown,didnt get to central park but no big thing.rode in brooklyn also.
had a blast , met a new friend who lives close to the alpe de huez in the alps ,thanks (arnaud) Very Happy

. had a flat on the car, took pics and only have had 6 hrs of bad sleep (in the car) since i left thur morning. im beat , tired ,exhausted and going to crash. will give a better follow up with pics of the ride and bike when i wake up . good nite ,over and out.

lofter · Last edited by lofter on Sun May 15, 2011 10:51 am; edited 1 time in total

ok so heres the story on the profile s . the bike originated from a small local bike shop in the alps region. the bike was sold to arnaud, the guy i bought it off of . he was looking to buy a bike to make into a fixie. he finished his bachelor degree in france and then came over to the states for 5 or 6 months holiday he is in brooklyn right now then heading to boston to hang with a friend before heading back to france to work i presume. he was looking at a local builder track frame for another fixie. when i visited the shop to break down the profile i noticed no new bikes in the shop . it basically a repair shop that sells small stuff like hemets a little clothes, etc. all the frames in the ceiling were used . i noticed a nice 3rensho track frame a serotta track and a feujus(sp?)track frame . they were the only ones to stand out. after we broke the bike down we looked inside the bb and bingo gitane blue. i paid 650 for it . he wanted 800 but i have to paint it so he settled for my offer.

when i first arrived i met him at a local cafe at 10am we had till noon before the shop opened so he took me into manhattan for a ride. i rode across the williamsburg bridge into the city. then we went thru chinatown. from there we made our way over to ground zero . wow the area that the destuction happened at was massive. pictures cant capture how big it was. after taking pics and checking out the new constuction we headed for battery park. this is where you catch the ferries over to the statue of liberty. the lines to go over where huge.we took some pics with lady liberty in the background.then we just rode around .stopped and had a dog.then rode back over the manhattan bridge into brooklyn. from there we made our way through a fashion neiborhood, a jewish neiborhood then finally to the shop .

as we made our way back from the shop to the cafe where i parked my car, some gangbanger threw a cherry slushie out his window onto some hispanics guys car cussing at him for stopping to not clip us on the street. the guy got out and acted all bad as if it was who could intimitate the other one . the hispanic guy blinked and turned around and got back in his car . i said my goodbyes and took off for home . riding a bike in the city is the fastest way of getting around .arnaud for only being there 3 months ,whipped in and out of traffic like he had been there for years. me on the other hand was more cautious. all in all im glad i made the trip to expierience riding in nyc. it somewhat had a calming effect from the drive in .

lofter

somehow i feel i belong in this van Confused

the oslo cafe

wtf? locking up a ross and not the gitane?

riding up top on the williamsburg bridge into manhattan

arnaud on the profile s .dont crash it arnaud Shocked

chinatown

mini Arc de Triomphe

a cross from the wreckage of groungd zero

yours truly at ground zero

new freedom tower

lofter

memorial outside firehouse ten at the foot of the towers

construction zone

arnaud

a frenchie in manhattan Very Happy

empire state building from atop the manhattan bridge

lofter

verktyg

Don,

Quite a story. Thanks for sharing and the pictures are great!

sandranian · Site Admin

Right on...and great story. Is that a cork in the steerer, or is it wood throughout?

In the "olden days", they would put a wooden dowel in the steerer tube to reinforce it.

lofter

it was a cork

sandranian · Site Admin

Thought so. No purpose in putting a dowel down the steerer of a track bike! But then there is no real purpose for putting a cork in the steerer either, unless, I guess, you are on an outdoor velodrome. But even then....