gitaneusa.com Forum Index » Vintage Gitane » New bike comming! Goto page Previous  1, 2    View previous topic :: View next topic  Season's greetings   Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2007 11:08 am verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area Stephan, You can trust me because I'm always right and I never lie! Thank YOU for all of your efforts in setting up this web site. This is the best interactive site I've run across on the web. Chas. I'll second that!   Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2007 11:44 am smilingroadrunner Joined: 10 Aug 2007 Posts: 278 Location: Salina, Ks. Thanks Stephan for your post to forum members earlier today. Along with my earlier PM to you, I definetly will 2nd Chas response---Great Site and Great -helpful -knowledgeable forum members.!!! Happy Holiday All __________________ C.A. Salina, Ks. Re: New bike comming! - Update on 84 TdF   Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2007 1:14 pm verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area dvancleve wrote: 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. Doug, Cyclomondo sells decals on eBay. He's down in OZ. He's made up some Gitanes decal sets and sells them for $40. I put a set on my 1984 Super Corsa. I like them better than the factory originals because there is no excess clear plastic showing. Someone in the group complained that the yellow was too dark, picky, picky, picky... Note, the blue background was just done for eBay display and isn't on the real decals. http://cgi.ebay.com/Gitane-set-of-decals-vintage_W0QQitemZ300165841079QQihZ020QQcategoryZ56197QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p1638.m118 Here's an update on the 1984 Tour de France. It's virtually brand new save for some scratches on the paint and a missing Super Vitus decal on the fork. There's less than 100 miles on it. The 1984 TdF came with Ofmega cranks, hubs and derailleurs. The original Ofmega Mistral rear derailleur was made of Rilsan PA polyamide plastic (Simplex used Delrin plastic a form of nylon). Fortunately for me someone switched out both Ofmega derailleurs for Campy Nuovo Record derailleurs. It still has the Ofmega Rilsan shift levers that I'm going to try for a little bit but they have a bad reputation for breaking. I bought a new Ofmega Master rear derailleur on eBay with the idea of restoring the bike to similar period equipment. It's all metal but quality wise not in the league with Campy, Shimano, Suntour or even Simplex. I'm sticking with the Campy derailleurs for now. Here's the best part, someone switched out the wheels with the Ofmega hubs for a set built with Mavic 500 series hubs, stainless spokes and Mavic SUP clincher rims. The rims are the Mavic Reflex SUP models made for 1 year back in the early 90s. They had a reputation for cracking around the spoke nipples and were replaced by the Mavic Open Pro model. I'll keep an eye on them and at first sign of problems I'll switch them out for Open Pros. I thought that the rear triangle had gotten squished in shipping because I had trouble putting the wheel in. When I checked it the spacing was 124mm wide instead of the 126mm width it should have been. I checked the Mavic rear hub and it's 130mm wide which is great. I can use 7 speed and 8 speed freewheels on it. Last night I rechecked the frame alignment and spread the rear triangle out to 130mm so the Mavic wheel will fit properly. I'm going to take it out for a spin today but first I have to put on a different freewheel and pedals. I'm too old to push 13-21t corncob freewheels around these hills especially in the cold. Season's Greeting to all... Chas.   Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2007 1:23 pm sandranian Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 2701 Location: Southern California That guy used my design to make those decals. I added a link to my website, and tell everyone to purchase decals from him. In exchange, he was supposed to give me a free set of any Gitane decals that he produced. I have heard of at least 2 people on this site ordering decals from him...and yet he hasn't lived up to his side of the bargain. I am a bit put out by that, but not really to the point of being upset. Maybe just a little bit bitter! Oh well...so much for a deal! _________________ Stephan Andranian Costa Mesa, CA www.gitaneusa.com   Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2007 10:39 am Peter S. Horn Joined: 15 Oct 2007 Posts: 144 Echoing the sentiments of all; thanks Stephan for all of the vision and hard work on this fine Gitane website, the finest in the field. Seasons' greetings to all! Peter H. Sacramento decals & xmas   Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2007 1:25 pm Paul Wiseman Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 584 Location: Brisbane, Australia If anyone is ordering decals from cyclemondo, please let him know that you saw them on gitaneUSA, so maybe he will come good with his agreement with Stephan. Merry Christmas everyone. It's all over here at 7:30am on Boxing Day. _________________ Wisey Brisbane, Australia 1974 Paris - Nice 1985 Defi 1985 Victoire 1985 Victoire (yes, another one!) 1985 Professionnel Re: New bike comming! - Update on 84 TdF   Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2007 8:20 pm dvancleve Joined: 20 Dec 2007 Posts: 10 Location: Chandler, AZ Chas, So I am assuming I will buy back just the frameset of the Gitane I had just like yours. Would the Cyclomondo decals match well enough to use just the ones that are missing, or would I really want to peel all the originals off? Just your opinion, of course ;^) Merry Christmas, Doug (Van Cleve) Chandler, AZ verktyg wrote: Doug, Cyclomondo sells decals on eBay. He's down in OZ. He's made up some Gitanes decal sets and sells them for $40. I put a set on my 1984 Super Corsa. I like them better than the factory originals because there is no excess clear plastic showing. Someone in the group complained that the yellow was too dark, picky, picky, picky... Note, the blue background was just done for eBay display and isn't on the real decals. http://cgi.ebay.com/Gitane-set-of-decals-vintage_W0QQitemZ300165841079QQihZ020QQcategoryZ56197QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p1638.m118 Season's Greeting to all... Chas.   Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2007 11:34 pm verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area Doug, I think the Cyclomondo decals are much nicer than the original ones on my TdF. For one thing they are made from a reasonably thick vinyl and they're cropped close to the colored logo designs. The originals are on square or rectangular clear plastic that wraps around the tubes. What I'd do is get a set of decals and replace the ones on the bike that are missing or damaged. If they match pretty close at 5-10 feet then I'd save the unused decals for future replacement. Chas.   Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2007 11:42 pm verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area sandranian wrote: That guy used my design to make those decals. I added a link to my website, and tell everyone to purchase decals from him. In exchange, he was supposed to give me a free set of any Gitane decals that he produced. I have heard of at least 2 people on this site ordering decals from him...and yet he hasn't lived up to his side of the bargain. I am a bit put out by that, but not really to the point of being upset. Maybe just a little bit bitter! Oh well...so much for a deal! Stephan, Maybe you should drop Greg??? a polite note to remind him of his deal. He seems pretty reasonable. I've ordered a number of different sets of decals from him. It usually takes him a few days to get back to me but he does. Chas.   Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 9:24 am dvancleve Joined: 20 Dec 2007 Posts: 10 Location: Chandler, AZ Thanks again Chas :^) I notice that your TdF doesn't have a left side chainstay decal. Neither does the one I had/plan to buy back, yet the decal sheet shows two of them and that makes more sense than just one. Any thoughts? Also, does your fork have the Vitus decal on both blades? "Mine" has just one. I have always assumed the other was marred and then removed. Happy holidays, Doug (Van Cleve) (Chandler, AZ) verktyg wrote: Doug, I think the Cyclomondo decals are much nicer than the original ones on my TdF. For one thing they are made from a reasonably thick vinyl and they're cropped close to the colored logo designs. The originals are on square or rectangular clear plastic that wraps around the tubes. What I'd do is get a set of decals and replace the ones on the bike that are missing or damaged. If they match pretty close at 5-10 feet then I'd save the unused decals for future replacement. Chas.   Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 2:54 pm verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area I don't have Gitane decals on either the forks or chainstays on my Super Corsa. The "Made In France - Super Corsa" decal that's supposed to be on the right side on the top tube is on the right chainstay instead. I'll probably put Gitane decals on the front of the fork blades. My new TdF is missing the SV decal on the right fork blade and you're right the decal is missing from the left chainstay. Decals on the right chain stay probably get easily damaged by chain slap. Chas. First Ride   Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 7:16 pm verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area I took my "new" 1984 Tour de France out for a spin around the block this afternoon. It was great! It has a little different feel than my 1984 Super Corsa which has an identical frame. It's probably the tires; the SC has 700x25c tires and this one has 700x19c tires. As I mentioned before the bike is almost NOS. The 84 TdFs came with Ofmega cranks, hubs and plastic dérailleurs. Someone did me a favor and switched the wheels to Mavic 50x hubs with SUP rims and the dérailleurs to Campy Nuovo Record front and rear. They left on the original Ofmega shift levers which had a reputation for breaking. I decided to leave the levers alone for now but I switched the Campy NR rear derailleur to an Ofmega Master which is supposed to shift very well (it's a Shimano clone). I never liked the old Campy NR rear deraillers. Campagnolo never changed the basic design geometry from 1963 until they stopped making them around 1984. They only shifted well with 13-18 corncob freewheels and any dérailleur can handle those. I also changed the chain to one of the new SRAM 8 speed models which looks like the original Shimano Uniglide chains from the 1970s. The shift levers were stiff so I pulled the right one off to clean and lube it and a flat spring washer fell out in 4 pieces. I had a nice set of black Simplex Retro Friction shift levers that I was saving for just the right bike so I put those on. I also switched the 6 speed 13-24 Maillard 700 Corse freewheel to a 13-26 Sachs ARIS 7 speed. It shifts great now. The original bars and stem had a little too much reach for me. I have wide shoulders, a long torso and a short neck plus I don't like having to look over the tops of my glasses when I ride. I switched the stem to a black Cinelli 80cm and the bars to black short reach 44cm wide Ritchey Pro Logic Bars. The 24 year old Modolo rubber brake lever hoods were dry rotted. I had some new ones and installed them plus I switched to stainless steel brake cables. The Modolo sintered brake blocks are still new and they seem to stop pretty well. I had the forks aligned. They were out by several millimeters. I repacked the headset and it's smooth as silk. I don't know how long the plastic Stronglight headset will last but it's BSC thread and easy to change. The only complaint is the seat has to go! It has a Selle Italia Bernard Hinault Turbo saddle. I ride wide flat saddles like Brooks Pros and I'm not going back to see my urologist just so my bike looks pretty! Anyone interested in the saddle PM me. Before After Chas. 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