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sandranian · Site Admin

These were fairly common...although because of the materials and construction techniques, not so many lasted. You can still find them in France pretty regularly.

Stamping the framesets made for Gitane at the Alan factory would have been quite simple, as it doesn't take much to stamp aluminum. Also, Gitane must have been a pretty decent size customer for Alan, as they were a large bicycle manufacturer/distributor at the time (late 1970's, early 1980s).

verktyg

Alan is an Italian frame maker. They started making aluminum frames 1972. Today they still make some aluminum frames for cyclocross but many of their frames are carbon fiber.

Your particular frame was "glues and screwed" together. The main tubes were glued and then screwed into the lugs.

In the late 70s Alan sold thee frames under their name plus private labeled them to a number of French and Italian bike manufacturers.

Vitus did the same thing.

Even though they were used for professional cyclocross racing, many that were ridden hard suffered failure in the main tube connections.

If you plan on doing any amount of serious riding on this frame, I'd recommend frequent inspections of the all the joints. Look for signs of cracking or separation.

TyrannosaurusALAN

verktyg

The 1978 Gitane Catalog in the Catalogue Archive lists 2 models using the Alan frame, the Record and the Barrachi.

It's probably not the same model Alan as your frame because the seat stay attachment is different.

The numbers and GITANE stamped in the bottom bracket were probably done by Alan. Gitane stampings were never that neatly done. Rolling Eyes

You may not find much more info on your frame as Gitane had a very small presence in the US market after 1976. The 1978 catalog is a French version.

I've seen pictures of Gitane badged Alans but I doubt that many made it to the US.

BTW, there is very little if any logic to Gitane serial numbers.

TyrannosaurusALAN

Great post, thanks for that. It's nice to see the same decals used in the catalogue as are on mine, but as you say, the seat cluster is different on the Record...

FWIW, this Alan spent it's life in France. I bought it there a few years back.

Im keen to learn if there is is a way if reading the serial. Assuming it was stamped by Alan, it must refer to their archives?

Thanks again

verktyg

Greetings,

There is a Gitane Alan listed on US eBay as a 1980 model:

http://tinyurl.com/82xn7y9

The square block seat tube decals date it to about 1978 or 79???

Those are starting points... Who knows when the bike left Gitane's warehouse in France and when it was sold to a retail buyer in a shop.

Also, there is no indication of Gitane stamped into the BB shell.

My guess is that some of these frames were decaled up by Alan and sold to Gitane ready to assemble and that others had the decals put on at the Gitane factory.

The last option makes more sense to me since Gitane didn't have to send decals to Italy and chance them getting lost in the Italian mail system.

Also it would allow Gitane to use the latest style decals.

Similar late 70s decals are available from Cyclomondo on eBay except white and red, not black and blue:

http://tinyurl.com/6t3pxwj

TyrannosaurusALAN

For the benefit of those who were watching the thread, I've just received an email response from Alan that reads:

Hello,
the Alan frame you have is an Alan Super made on half 70’s (1974-1976) for the french market with the Gitane name on it.
Regards
Alberto Falconi / Alan bikes

So there we have it, it's an Alan Super made for Gitane, nice!

Thanks again to those who posted. If anyone has any further info though it'll always be welcomed as there are still a few bits of info that I'm unsure on.

Thanks again!