gitaneusa.com Forum Index » Vintage Gitane » Should I buy this...    View previous topic :: View next topic  Should I buy this...   Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 8:44 am coopdad Joined: 21 Jun 2011 Posts: 2 I need some advice please... I have been searching for a vintage bike for a while to get into road biking (I normally do mtn biking) and found a Gitane this morning. The ad says: "French made Gitane bicycle needs repairs to be rideable. " Some Googling I believe it is a Grand Sport Deluxe? I called the owner asking about the "repairs" and he said the rear wheel is "wobbly" and will need to be straightened or replaced. He wants $50 but I might be able to talk him down. So if the wheel is trueable, and there is nothing major needing replacing, is there anything else I need to look for other than the usuals: rust, dents, bends? Thank you for your advice!   Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 9:01 am Cary1 Joined: 16 Jun 2011 Posts: 29 Location: Milwaukee I think $50 is a great price. Especially if the drivetrain is in good working condition. I just obtained a 72 Hosteller, which is very almost the same bike for $80. From the research I have done, these are great handmade bikes, built to last Good luck, keep us posted Re: Should I buy this...   Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:05 am verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area coopdad wrote: I need some advice please... So if the wheel is trueable, and there is nothing major needing replacing, is there anything else I need to look for other than the usuals: rust, dents, bends? By the looks of the bike in the picture, everything is going to need to be replaced or overhauled: cables, tires, bearings, brake blocks, rear wheel, saddle and so on. There's a Kia over in Korea just waiting it's arrival! You're looking at $200+ to get it running SAFE and reliable and you'll still have a "gas pipe" entry level bike! Find a bike in better condition with no rust and spend a little more for it. Look for an early 70s Gitane Tour de France. _________________ 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   Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 4:00 am FORDSVTPARTS Joined: 25 Sep 2010 Posts: 32 Is it your size? Do you really like the bike? Those are the important questions, gaspipe or not it'll still be a great ride when it's fixed up and if it was near me I'd buy it and rehab in in a heartbeat. It'll never be terribly valuable but I don't see that as a reason to disregard any classic steel frame road bike.   Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 10:04 am sandranian Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 2701 Location: Southern California I agree with Verktyg's comments above. This is a project, which may sour you on French bikes altogether. Best not be your first one! _________________ Stephan Andranian Costa Mesa, CA www.gitaneusa.com   Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 11:50 am verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area FORDSVTPARTS wrote: It'll never be terribly valuable but I don't see that as a reason to disregard any classic steel frame road bike. As I said in my original post, there's a Kia in Korea impatiently awaiting this bike's arrival! (much of the scrap metal from the US goes to Korea and other steel producing countries for recycling) There were hundreds of thousands of Gitane Gran Sport bikes imported into the US between the late 60s and mid 70s. The street life of a bike is about 5 years so some of these bikes have traveled back and forth across the Pacific several times in one reincarnation or another! Judging from the picture it's like the hundreds of these bikes that I worked on back in the 70s but maybe worse because of rust. On a bike like this, the stem and or seatpost can be frozen into the frame. All of the cables will need to be replaced if for no other reason than the originals were really cheap quality and didn't move smoothly plus all of the other things that I mentioned above. A "wobbly" rear wheel on one of these bikes isn't worth fixing plus 27" steel rims have been obsolete for almost 25 years. If someone wants to bust their knuckles and throw a bunch of money down a rat hole then by all means, buy the bike - just to prove me wrong! As I suggested to the OP, there are lots of old Gitane still around. Look for one in better condition or a better yet one of the better models. Last edited by verktyg on Thu Jun 23, 2011 6:46 pm; 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   Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 3:55 pm sandranian Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 2701 Location: Southern California Yes. What he said. _________________ Stephan Andranian Costa Mesa, CA www.gitaneusa.com Bike Sizes   Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 5:08 pm verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area Frequently, inexperienced used bike buyers get a bike with the wrong size frame... The frame is too small or too big but they bought it because it was cheap! There are some guidelines for frame size. Ideally you should be able to comfortably stand over the bike with 1"-2" of clearance between the top tube and your personal area. That's called "stand over height". If the frame is too small, you will have to raise the seat too high and bend over a significant amount to reach the handlebars (yes hard core racers and pros do it but the practice isn't recommended for starting out). The bike in the picture appears to have a 62cm (24 1/2") nominal frame size with a stand over height of about 33 1/2" to 34". A partial 1975 Gitane Gran Sport just posted on eBay. It looks to be a 62cm frame too. It needs wheels and derailleurs but it will probably go cheap. It's pretty clean. No relation to the seller just using this as an example. http://tinyurl.com/68r5ecp _________________ 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   Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 6:39 pm coopdad Joined: 21 Jun 2011 Posts: 2 Thanks much for all the advice. I am choosing to err on the side of caution right now and keep looking. Hopefully a Gitane will make itself known, with less risk in its rebuild-ablity. John Gas Pipe Bikes Revisited   Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 11:59 pm verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area My first Gitane was an orange 1972 60cm Gran Sport Deluxe. I loved that bike. Even though it was over an inch too big for me I road it that way for about a year before I knew any better. I've owned a bunch of gas pipe Gitanes over the years and still have one that's too big for me so I don't ride it. I've had my eye out for an orange 57cm Gran Sport in nice condition just to have one in my collection. They were great bikes for commuting to work and school, going shopping and so on. I never worried about them getting stolen. The Gran Sport model road better than many of the contemporary bikes from the early 70s especially in the larger sizes, 60cm, 62cm and 64cm. The smaller 50cm and 54cm sizes were a little harsh riding. What's a gas pipe bike? The term gas pipe refers to the frames on entry level bikes made of seamed carbon steel tubing similar to pipe used for natural gas distribution. The carbon steel has only about 1/3 to 1/2 the strength of the alloy steels used in Reynolds, Columbus and Super Vitus tubing. Alloy steels allow the tubes to be made with thinner wall thicknesses. This translates into a lighter bike frame but more importantly, a livelier feeling bike. The French call this a "supple" feel because the tubes can flex more easily. For example the tubing that was used in the lower priced Gitanes had a wall thickness of 1.5mm for the 3 main tubes. The Reynolds 531 tubing that Gitane used for a lot of their better models had butted main tubes with a wall thickness on 1.0mm at the thick ends and 0.7mm in the thinner section. This made for a frame that was at least a pound lighter. The Gran Sport frames were light compared to some cheap bikes from the bike boom era. A lot of bikes had main tubes with 2mm wall thickness and I remember some Japanese and Taiwanese bikes with 3mm wall thickness tubing - real 40 Lb. tanks! So my advice is if you are looking for a nice casual bike to ride then a Gran Sport is a good choice but find one in decent condition. If you plan on doing any longer rides say over 10 miles, consider a better model with an alloy steel frame. The frame is the most important part of the bike followed by the wheels then a comfortable saddle, plus good brakes. The rest of the components aren't that important. Gran Sports weighed in at ~28 Lbs. An alloy steel frame with alloy rims can weigh between 24 1/2 to 26 Lbs. and the ride is going to be far superior. _________________ 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   Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 5:43 pm FORDSVTPARTS Joined: 25 Sep 2010 Posts: 32 verktyg wrote: FORDSVTPARTS wrote: It'll never be terribly valuable but I don't see that as a reason to disregard any classic steel frame road bike. As I said in my original post, there's a Kia in Korea impatiently awaiting this bike's arrival! (much of the scrap metal from the US goes to Korea and other steel producing countries for recycling) There were hundreds of thousands of Gitane Gran Sport bikes imported into the US between the late 60s and mid 70s. The street life of a bike is about 5 years so some of these bikes have traveled back and forth across the Pacific several times in one reincarnation or another! Judging from the picture it's like the hundreds of these bikes that I worked on back in the 70s but maybe worse because of rust. On a bike like this, the stem and or seatpost can be frozen into the frame. All of the cables will need to be replaced if for no other reason than the originals were really cheap quality and didn't move smoothly plus all of the other things that I mentioned above. A "wobbly" rear wheel on one of these bikes isn't worth fixing plus 27" steel rims have been obsolete for almost 25 years. If someone wants to bust their knuckles and throw a bunch of money down a rat hole then by all means, buy the bike - just to prove me wrong! As I suggested to the OP, there are lots of old Gitane still around. Look for one in better condition or a better yet one of the better models. I'm not here to argue with you, I was just making the point that in the grand scheme of things there's nothing inherently wrong with that bike. I rehab and sell bikes as a hobby and I'd gladly rescue a bike like that, of course I do have the skills to do all the work myself which makes a huge difference. Most of the bikes I build are gaspipe specials but they're still worthy or rescue and I sell a lot of them to very happy new owners. If I can start with this, And turn it into this and make some spare cash I think it's well worth the effort. Or turn this, Into this, Just because it's not a high end bike it doesn't mean it should be melted down for scrap, It may not be everyones cup of tea but I enjoy working on them and getting people back on the road with them. Missing My Point   Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 9:55 pm verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area Nice work restoring those bikes. But, you're missing my point. Neither of those bike were rust buckets like the bike pictured in the first message: It looks like most of the chrome is rusted, the nice brown rims, the rusted bars and so on usually mean that just about every thing else on the bike is corroded too. We should take this discussion over to Bike Forums to hash out where I'll discuss "everything you never wanted to know about Gitanes". _________________ 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   Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 7:28 am FORDSVTPARTS Joined: 25 Sep 2010 Posts: 32 I don't know, I can't tell that much from the tiny pic posted but surface rust is no big deal. It's when the rust gets deep it becomes a problem. 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