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verktyg

I found some pictures of a really nice 1980 Gitane. It sounds like it may have been one of Bernard Hinault's bikes or maybe that's him in the picture. Babel Fish butchered the translation.

http://velosvintage.ultim-blog.com/article-192123.html

Nicolas can you translate this text for us?

"GITANE,vélo Français. Ce vélo a appartenu à Bernard HINAULT en personne.Cette année là il gagne le Giro,abandonne au Tour de France et devient Champion du Monde. Le vainqueur du Tour est Joop ZOETEMELK (Hol.), en 104h 7' - 2ème Hennie KUIPER (Hol.), à 6'55" - 3ème Raymond MARTIN (Fr.), à 7'56" meilleur Grimpeur. L'équipe Renault-Elf-Gitane était composée de: B.HINAULT (np.13°), H.ARBES (ab.10°), B.BECAAS, J.R BERNAUDEAU , Y.BERTIN (ab.13°), P.BONNET, J.CHASSANG, M.LE GUILLOUX, B.QUILFEN (ab.19°), P.R VILLEMIANE.

Le vélo est un tout Reynolds 5/10°,équipé en Campagnolo Super Record. Le guidon est un Cinelli revêtu de guidoline en tissu Tressostar avec des bouchons en plastique Cinelli. La selle une Concor. Les cale-pieds sont des Cinelli avec des courroies Campagnolo. Les roues à petites flasques Campa 32 trous son montés avec des jantes Mavic "Services courses".Boyaux Clément Critérium. Poids du vélo: 9,250 KG.

Photo ci-dessous moi même avec qui vous savez ! (cyclo La Bernard HINAULT 2006)."

Chas.

nicolas

He says this bike belonged to Bernard Hinault in 1980 (can you imagine !) and gives figures about what the team won that year.

The last part is about technical specs of the bike. I guess you can figure out most of it : reynolds frame, all campy, cinelli handlebar with tressostar ribbon, concor saddle, cinelli pedals, mavic rims...

The angle of the frame seems a bit small for Bernard, but...they look about the same height on this picture !

Could be the real deal...I'd pay a VERY good price for this !

nicolas

I sent a mail to the man in charge of the blog...

From what I read in the comments, it seems that he is in fact the brother of Hubert Arbes, great rider in the Renault team & friend with Hinault...but I'm not sure.

I'll tell you if anything comes up.

verktyg

Nicholas,

Thanks for the translations. Does it say who the other person is in the picture that I posted?

There are some other older Gitanes pictured in the "Liste Complete" link section of this site.

Chas.

sandranian · Site Admin

I have been looking for a pair of those bib shorts for years (the ones which say "Cycles Gitane" in the bubble letters). How many of you would be interested in purchasing some if I had them made?

lofter

i would for sure.

smilingroadrunner

Stephan , was there something in the "velovintage" link above that I missed, lots of great photos of vintage steel, but I didn't see the bib shorts that you reference. I would definitely be interested ---even more so if some type of period typical fabric is involved---but I ride in Nylon/Lycra, Triflex, or what have you fabrics "better living (riding) through modern chemistry" so I'm interested in your proposal---I never have created a Gitane kit so this could be a start.

___________________
C.A.
Salina, Ks.

nicolas

nicolas

Gtane

That's a great find Chas. Thanks for posting. What a wonderful collection of bikes. Thanks Nicolas for your information too.

It's great that M. Arbes is the brother of an ex pro rider. There must be some terrific stories of old. Do we know if the brother is contactable and if he has a collection - of perhaps Gitanes? Can we imagine a garage full of ex pro Gitanes of the early 80's? Oh gosh!

If that is genuinely Bernard Hinault's bike then what a wonderful machine to own. I agree Nicolas, but will these machines ever hit the open market? Sometimes they do but often they are traded privately.

I believe that there are many private collections of this type but they just don't see the light of day. Thank you M. Arbes for the opportunity to view.

As for the shorts Stephan, I'd be interested in a pair - medium.

verktyg

It was a lucky find indeed thanks to Andrew Muzi of the Yellow Jersey bike shop in Madison, Wisconsin.

Did you click on the Liste complete link?

There are 2 more pages of bikes plus the last listing on the 2nd page is a tour of a museum.

Chas. Very Happy

Gtane

Thanks Chas (and to Yellow Jersey bike shop), I did click on the 'Liste complete' link first time round and what a collection it is. Amazing. It's rather like the Swiss Speedbicycles.ch site.

I missed the museum link and have just taken a look. It looks like it's a display of M. Arbes' bikes. I love the other collections too of jerseys and general memorabilia. It was nice to see a Renault Gitane shirt hanging along the back of the display, c1980. I have a similar one that I purchased about that time.

Tim

nicolas

Hi everyone,

I got a reply from Mr Emile Arbes, bother of Hubert Arbes.

First, the exhibit you see on the site occured in Pau during the last tour de france but it's not a permanent exhibit.

Mr Arbes was very proud of the fact that his site is appreciated as far as in the US or Australia. He told me about a Mr Farren, president of the vintage cycle club of Victoria, Australia, whom he met during his exhibit.

He was very humble about himself and rather than speaking about himself pointed me to 2 magazines with articles related to him. I'll try to get my hands on those...

He says that he and his brother were under a contract with Gitane when they were both amateurs. His brother stayed with the firm for his whole carreer until 1982 (and kept his last gitane).

He shared the following anecdote : Cyrille Guimard was asking his Gitane riders to attack downhill because he knew Peugeot bikes had issues with trajectories and such... Shocked

About collecting, he did not know much more about the Hinault Bike because at the time Gitane riders had a minimum of 5 bikes each, Hinault probably a bit more so it's not possible to track the bike's itinirary. This bike was a purchase of Hubert Arbes at the end of the 1980 season.

Then...he told me that he has another bike belonging to Hinault that was used for...time trials ! Only, it had been re-painted since. Evil or Very Mad

!

That's pretty much it. I sensed he was not really keen on giving me his brother's adress but it appears that Hubert Arbes owns a bicycle shop so I might be able to get in touch with him.

Cheers,

Nicolas.

verktyg

Nicolas,

Thanks for all of the information.

We had one of Lucien Van Impe's Gitanes from the 1976 Tour de France at the bike shop that I managed during those years. I'm not sure where the shop owner got the bike, maybe Gitane Pacific or Mel Pinto.

I never paid too much attention to that bike. I was somewhat disappointed because I thought that it would be something special. Instead it looked pretty much like most of the other used pro bikes that we had on display.

Lucien Van Impe and Luis Ocana never got much recognition. They were overshadowed by Eddy Merckx and Bernard Thévenet. Crying or Very sad

Chas.

nicolas

I read an autobiography by Cyrille Guimard...you should hear what he had to say about Van Impe ! It was written in 1979 or 1980.

Basically, he said that Van Impe knew nothing about tactics, had absolutely no sense of team work and almost did not want to win the tour in 1976...too much stress !