gitaneusa.com :: View topic - Renovating early 70's Gitane Grand Sport DeLuxe Mixte.

LinkaMark

We began our search on Craigslist looking for a French mixte. The first criteria for the search was that it had to be for a tall rider. The bike had to fit Linka who is just under 6' 3". After spending weeks researching various bikes that may work for her and scanning Craigslist for a possible option we found this one for sale just over an hours drive from Sacramento. I called the owner up and inquired about the bike. After hearing that it was actually a 61cm frame I told him I was interested in looking at it. He also mentioned that if I called 10 minutes later I would have missed him because he was coming up to the Sacramento airport to pick up a relative. He ended up bringing the bike with him and I met him a block off the freeway which was also a block from my work. After laying my eyes on it and seeing how well this had all worked out I just couldn't pass it up. And for $50, I figured even if Linka didn't like it it really wouldn't be too much of a loss. So here is the skinny on the bike:
Mafac Racer center pull brakes
Huret derailleurs
Pivo stem(22.2mm)
MD Rewax crank spindle
MSM seat(25mm post)
Sunshine wheels
Head lug stamped: BCM 78
Left chainstay stamped: 9296
This is going to be a work in progress. In the next couple of days we will begin to post our questions for the readers, our goals for the final product, the parts purchased, and the progress being made. We look forward to the readers feedback. Thank you.

verktyg

Greetings and welcome to the forum.

Several suggestions to start off with:

1. Find some modern brake levers. I never had a lot of faith in those plastic levers 35+ years ago and plastic deteriorates over time.

2. Get one of the modern women's saddles. Those kinds of seats were designed by men... who didn't have a clue about what women needed! Confused

3. French stems were 22.0mm, Inch size stems are 22.2mm or .875" in diameter. Many Japanese made Nitto stems are marked 22.2mm but are actually undersized and may fit a French fork without to much trouble.

4. BCM is Bocama and 78 is the angle, 78° but it's probably 73 because that's a more logical head or seat tube angle for a bike from the early 70s.

BTW the bike is probably a 1972-74 Gran Sport model.

LinkaMark

To start off with this bike is going to be strictly an around town casual riding bike. So the changes that we are making to the bike will be reflecting this type of riding style.

The purchases to date are as follows:

1. A new stem to accommodate a taller rider and for preventative measures due to the potential defects that we have read about of the original stem. The replacement is a Velo Orange Technomic Stem(120mm), Tall. And yes, you are right verktyg. I was using the new Technomic stem measurement of 22.2mm as my assumption for the real measurement due to the fact that it slipped in so perfectly. I didn't realize that the Japanese stems run a little short. I was disappointed that I didn't have to do some serious sanding to make it fit.

2. Tektro RX4.1 Silver Inverse Brake levers from Velo Orange. We really liked the look of this style and it fits the upright position that this bike is being outfitted for. The original ones are 40 years old and made of plastic. Yuk!

3. Nitto Albatross aluminum bars from Rivendell with shim to fit new stem. The original bars were too narrow and just not the look and feel we were looking for.

4. Velo Orange Elkhide Sewn-on City Bike Grips. We went with the color "espresso" to match the new saddle.

5. Uno SP-248 Seat Post from VO. I had spent hours online trying to find the seat post size for this bike but it seems there was no common size for the early 70s Gitanes to even make an educated guess. I ended up going to Home Depot and buying a caliper to be certain. It measured 25mm which was way off from the various sizes I had found online.

6. Brooks B67 S brown saddle for obvious reasons.

And regards to verktygs earlier post:

After closely looking at the Gitane USA websites bicycle catalogues it looks like this mixte is a 1970 or 71. The 1973 and 74 catalogues shows the mixte with chromed forks.

I also checked the stamped number on the BCM head lug and it does say 78. ????

Thanks for your input. For the most part your ideas have already been implemented. I will be posting some questions soon that I suspect you might have some answers to. Thanks again.

Mark

LinkaMark

We currently have a 52/40 tooth chainring set on the Gitane and it is cottered. We are wanting to change the chainring from a double to a single. A 5-speed would fit the riding style we want out of the bike and simplify the gears for the flat terrain of Sacramento. It would also provide slightly cleaner lines to the bike by removing the front derailleur.

2 questions for the forum readers:

Question 1. How does one determine the chainring tooth count to go with when shopping for a single chainring? We are looking at getting a vintage Stronglight replacement. We like the 5-pointed star look.

Question 2. Should we stay with the existing cottered bottom bracket? If not, how do we figure out the sizing and threading so we know what to look for when shopping around for an alternative.

Thanks for any feedback!