gitaneusa.com :: View topic - Old Frame with a Photo of Jacques Anquetil

verktyg

1. Anquetil started riding for Gitane in 1963. Since he didn't win the TdF on a Gitane until August 1963 it's not very likely that his picture would appear on a 1963 model bike.

2. Gitane started using mylar foil decals in 1967. This frame has what appear to be water slide decals.

These 2 pieces of information place the probable of date manufacture sometime between 1964 and 1966 regardless of what kind of arcane Campy dropouts are on the frame.

Of course the frame could have been repainted or the decals replaced sometime in the early 1960s. However replacement decals for high quality bikes were very difficult to get in those days because of the possibility that someone would use them on a lower quality bike.

One last point, Gitane made models for different markets around the world. So did Raleigh and most of the other large European bike manufacturers. This is one reason it's difficult to make definitive identifications of European bikes from the last century.

BTW, the 73° stamped into the seat lug (it looks like a 3 with a dot) indicates the lug angles. Most Nervex lugs I've seen had 73° angles but that does not guarantee the real angles of the the seat and head tubes.

Chas.

DP

Early 60's

verktyg

"Sporting" or performance bicycles were never made in any quantities until the late 1970s and even then the top of the line bikes were built as show pieces. Until that time most bike shops in the US never sold more than 1 or 2 high performance models a year.

The ratio between Gitane Tour de France bikes and more pedestrian models was probably at least 10,000 to 1 and maybe 50,000 to 1 for Super Corsa and other premium model bikes. That's one of the reasons many of these bikes are so rare.

Bike manufacturers built their show piece bikes in small quantities. Many of these kinds of French bikes were made for export to other countries. Not many Frenchmen could afford a $150-$300 USD bike in the 1960s. Those who could usually had a bike custom built for them by local "constructeur", a bike shop that built frames and sometimes even components. Rene Herse and Alex Singer are two of the most well known French constructeurs.

The common practice for larger bike manufacturers was to build a small quantity of these performance frames on a production line, spray them with primer paint and store them until they received orders for them. The same frame could be used for a number of different models and equipped with different components depending on where they were being sold.

The frames rarely changed much between model years, only the paint, decals and components. It's conceivable a frame could sit around a bike plant for a number of years before being painted and assembled.

All of this makes it difficult to pin down the exact date of manufacture.

Watch Antique Road Show on PBS in the US.... Laughing

Chas.