gitaneusa.com :: View topic

verktyg

I just bought the red 1984 Tour de France that was on the US eBay. It was too good of a deal to pass up. Wink

It was listed a few weeks ago and I was the high bidder but got beat at the last 10 seconds by someone with a snipe program. Well The winning bidder could not provide a confirmed address with PayPal so the bike was re-listed.

I contacted the seller about a "second chance" offer but he said it was too late to process it.

I think that I got a pretty good deal on the bike, less than my original bid.

It looks completely original except for the Campy NR rear derailleur. I also bought an Ofmega dérailleur on eBay to replace the Campy.

This bike is the same size and geometry as my 1984 Super Corsa so I'll have a red and a blue bike to ride depending on my mood. Cool

I'll list better pics and the serial number info when I get it.

I'm still looking for an early 70s orange or gold TdF or SC to round out my Gitane collection.

Chas. Cool

lofter

nice chas, i always liked that red bike. congrats

bowser

nice one chas looks good in red

verktyg

As of 12-13-07 I'm still waiting for this bike to ship.

For a week and a half the seller said that he hadn't received my PayPal payment even though my account was charged the same day the auction closed on 11-26-07.

He's been telling me he can't find anything for blocking the forks and dropouts for the past week and a half.

Tonight he sent me an email saying he's shipping tomorrow. I've been hearing that for a week and a half now.

Stephan, sound familiar?

Chas. Mad

lofter

sorry to here it .
on a lighter note maybe he just doesnt want to finally let go of another one of the best brand of bicycles in the world . Wink

sandranian · Site Admin

Where is the bike? Maybe we can send a "collection/enforcement" squad out to pick it up.....

verktyg

I just got an email saying it shipped today. The frame appeared to be in really nice condition in the auction photos. I hope that it's packed well.

Several months ago my riding buddy got a brand new 1985 NOS Centurion Triathlon bike off of eBay. Someone assembled it for the auction pictures.

Apparently the seller was expecting ~$1000 for the bike but my buddy got it very cheap. It took the seller over a month before he shipped the bike. He used a pry bar to remove the crank arms and just threw all the parts and wheels in the original 1985 packing box without any protection.

The bike was beautifully finished, built at the peak of the Japanese production era. It came in dented and scratched all over. The seller left negative feedback when my friend complained.

Chas.

verktyg

sandranian · Site Admin

Let's hope that your's doesn't suffer the same fate. That Centurion was made with Tange #1 tubing, right? Those things were as common as...well...they were all over the place, and retailed for about $500 in the 1980s...Shimano 600 SIS. I remember that Bicology (Supergo and now Performance) had a house brand which was identical to those, and actually was my first bike: A "Sintesi". I couldn't afford a Gitane at the time, and there were no dealers in my area....which is why I was so excited to get the 1987 Gitane Team Pro (finally)!

verktyg

Centurions were plentiful. I have 2 pink & yellow Centurion Ironman bikes, a 1986 and a 1987. My buddy's bike is a red and white 1985 model with much better workmanship on the frame than my 2 bikes. The shame of it is his bike was NOS with 0 miles on it.

My 1987 Ironman came from SoCal and has some rust and corrosion. It's my wet weather beater. The 86 is going to became a stationary bike when I get a chance to make some changes on it.

That pawn shop over in Phoenix has a 54cm Gitane Pro up for auction. I might throw a few buck at it and see what happens. These were the same folks that had the beat up 1985-6 58cm Pro frame that went for ~$100.

Chas.

verktyg

Well.... the bike finally arrived today 25 days after the auction closed (shipped from Arizona to California).

I wont go into all of the communications I had with the seller but I went into detail with him on how to pack it.

He packed it alright, just like I asked him not to! I suggested that he block the fork ends and rear drop outs and suggested several ways to do it. I even volunteered to send him a set of plastic dropout shipping spacers.

The bike arrived in a standard bike box. The frame was wrapped in single ply bubble wrap with about a bucket full of Styrofoam peanuts thrown loosely in the box.

The wheels were loose in the box and scratched the paint on the left seat stay and chain stay.

The rear dropouts where bent in about 1/4" (6mm).

Other than that, the bike is almost new and appears to have less than a hundred miles on it. The frame is made of Super Vitus 938 tubing rather than the older, heavier Super Vitus 971 as listed in the 1984 catalog specs.

Also it was supposed have Ofmega hubs, cranks and dérailleurs. The hubs are sealed bearing Mavics and the dérailleurs are Campy Nuovo Record.

So all in all I got a pretty good deal.

How the bike arrived:

Scratched paint on seat and chain stay:

I'm thinking of putting together a "How to pack a bike" set of instructions.

Chas.

dvancleve · Last edited by dvancleve on Fri Dec 21, 2007 10:54 pm; edited 1 time in total

Hey Chas,

Strange but this is the same model/year/color and state as the bike I am thinking of building up with either Victory or mixed Nuovo/Super Record. The one I might buy back is missing the fork blade decals and I'm hoping they can be replicated for a reasonable amount of dough. Might I be able to get suitable hi res pictures of some of your decals if I get to that point?

As I mentioned, I owned this bike the bike I'm considering then sold it to a riding buddy. I put the correct Modolo Speedy (?) black brakes back on the bike, but it didn't have the correct derailleurs/shifters (mix of Suntour) and the rims seem to have been replaced (Mavic MA40s). I just reread your post. If having wheels with the correct hubs would interest you, the ones I mentioned will be available if I buy the frame/fork back.

Merry Christmas :^)

Doug Van Cleve
Chandler, AZ

smilingroadrunner

Chas ---I feel your pain & frustration. Doesn't it just "Chap your Backside". I believe that like you; because I went to some length of communication with the seller's of the most recent frames that I won on Ebay this past fall, (also negotiated an extra fee for shipping and handling to try to insure that the frames were properly cared for in packing for shipping) that they arrived in better shape than previous purchases.

However, ultimately it still was the sellers conscious decision to follow through with their committment---and not just say they would, by giving me lip service. As I shared with you in one of my earlier posts, the '73 Red Tour De France was relegated to basically a parts donor because of frame damage.

I felt like the last two bikes I've received were shipped by "Honorable sellers"--but like you, there had been lots of communication. The White '71 TdeF actually was prepared by a bike shop (drop-outs were blocked and plastic spacers in the stays) and double boxed. Now I wish I had taken a few more pictures of how it had been prepared for shipping.

Seems like it's a crap shoot. We do our best to communicate our interest in preserving these Vintage bikes---asking most often complete strangers to temporarily share that interest by doing their best to protect our investment in its' transit to its' new owner. And all we can do is wait to see if the roll of the dice has been kind to us this time.

Not that any of the nationwide package shipping companies particularly seem to care about the safe handling of these frames either (but that's another story)

But what a shame, especially as nice as the bike seems to have been cared for. Last thing one needs it to try to match or touch up these original paint jobs. Especially when it could have been prevented with a little extra care. I think I have about 15-17 hrs so far on the blue '70 T de F frame. It just will have to carry its patina--but I've done my best, most of the rust and paint bubble spots have been cleaned and working to touch up to protect for future. Generally the most difficult part has been to try to match the "sun faded effect" of the candy metallic finish

Kind of hard to write a positive feedback for some of these folks, especially when you go out of your way to try to communicate the buyers expectations.

But here at the forum, we all know that your expertise will perserver, will be interested to see the finished restoration.

Wishing for a better day and to your good health in the New Year. Oh,---and my thanks again, for the wealth of information you share on this site.

___________________
C.A.
Salina, Ks

verktyg

Thanks for the kind words.

Over the past year and a half I've bought a number of frames and bikes off of eBay. Fortunately most of them were well packed.
On the same day that I won the 1984 TdF I also bought a classic 1972 Motobecane Le Champion.

I received the Motobecane in less than a week. I made some packing suggestions to the seller and he went overboard. It was so well packed that a gorilla could have jumped up and down on the box and not caused any damage. The main box weighed over 40 lbs. The rear wheel came in a separate box.

BTW the bike is completely original except for the brake levers which I'm going to change out this coming week.

Last summer I got this 1988 Bianchi Giro. As you can see in the original eBay photo it "was" in almost new condition.

The seller charged me $90 for packing and shipping. This is a seller who moves a lot of bikes on eBay so I figured he would know what he was doing. Just in case I suggested how to pack the bike.

When I received the bike, the hub axles were sticking out of the cardboard box. The bike was wrapped in a single layer of large size bubble wrap and the wheels were rolling around loose in the box. A wheel axle gouged the seat and down tubes, the seat covering was torn from poor packing and the cable adjuster for the rear derailleur was broken.

It was in worse condition than the pictures show. Someone had ridden the bike in salt water and put it away wet. I had to replace the bottom bracket and rebuild the hubs, brakes, derailleurs and headset.

Fortunately I was able to negotiate a substantial refund for all of the damage and problems with the bike.

Stephan is probably going to 86 me for showing pictures of non-Gitane junk! Laughing

Chas.

sandranian · Site Admin

Right, Chas...I will '86' you as soon as someone comes along with as much or more knowledge. Until that time, you pretty much get a pass for everything.