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citternmaker

Can any of y'all shed some light on the differences in pre-1973 Simplex droputs? I've got two pre-1973 TdF frames with different left rear dropouts:

On my 62cm (SN# 153111), it has a spur near the opening:

and on my 53cm (SN# 1400542, Marked 4H on inside) it has a dropout without the spur:

Thanks in advance,

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verktyg

From my bike shop experience in the 1970s, Simplex dropouts with the "spur" were pretty rare. My guess is that the spur feature was discontinued in the late 1960s or very early 1970s.

I have 2 bikes from the 60s with spurs on the left Simplex dropouts, a 1967 Peugeot PX10 and a 1968 or 69 Gitane Tour de France.

The photo of your bike with the spur is entitled "62cm dropout". Even though it has a higher serial number than your other bike, it could be an older frame that was made in the late 1960s. Are the lugs the same on both bikes?

The most popular frame sizes were/are 54cm to 60cm (21 1/4" to 23 5/8"). The demand for bikes with frames larger or smaller than the "norm" wasn't as high so they sat in warehouses and showrooms for a lot longer.

Another possibility would be due to parts shortages during the peak of the US Bike Boom from 1971 to 1973. Bike makers used whatever they could get, so these may have been old stock dropouts used on a later model bike.

I remember 1 or 2 owners cutting the spurs off when the modified the right dropouts to work with Campy derailleurs.

Chas.

citternmaker

Chas,

Thanks for the quick reply and sorry if my post caused some confusion -- the dropout with the spur actually has a 6-digit SN, the one without has 7-digits. The frame with the spur has Prugnat(?) lugs, while the one without the spur has Bocama (BCM) lugs.

My first thought was that the spur had been cut off at some point -- if it was done, it was a very clean (and thinly rechromed) job. The paint on the non-spur frame seems original (with beat-up original decals), so I figured that the dropout was probably also original.

Fearing that Gitane SN's aren't always a reliable an indicator of age, I thought it best to ask.

Looking at the location the spur terminates, it makes me wonder if it increased the number of failures at that point in the dropout... Then again, cost-to-produce is probably the more likely reason...

Thanks,

verktyg

Ron,

There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to Gitane serial numbers. I'll have to compare the numbers from my late 60s TdF with your older bike.

Two indicators of age are flat oval caps brazed onto the tops of the seat stays and a brake cable stop for centerpulls brazed onto the seat stays just below seat lug. Gitane stopped using these features sometime during the early part of the US Bike Boom probably around 1971 to 1972. They also switched from the elegant long point Prugnat lugs to the shorter Bocama lugs on the TdFs about that time too.

I don't ever recall seeing a broken Simplex old style dropout like ones you have on your bikes.

Sucking a derailleur into the spokes is the most frequent cause for a dropout to break. The derailleur hangers on these Simplex dropouts have quite a bit more metal than Campy style dropouts plus there are no holes for the axle stop screws which weaken the dropouts in a critical area.

I have no proof but I'd be willing to guess that Simplex used a higher quality steel in their dropouts. Simplex dropouts were always harder to file that Campy dropouts.

I guess that the spurs where supposed to make it easier to put the rear wheel in. From what I've seen, Simplex only used them for a few years in the late 60s.

There were some Suntour dropouts from the early 70s that were really brittle. I saw an number of those break from normal use, especially on Swedish made Crescent bikes.

I've also seen a few broken dropouts from quick releases that came loose.

You should post some pictures of your bikes in the Owner Gallery section of the forum.

Chas.

citternmaker

Chas,

As always, thanks for your help, and insight on dropouts of the era!

Both bikes have the early features (brazed on rear cable hanger and flat oval seat stay caps). I'll get some photos of them in the Owner's gallery soon. I'm in the process of swapping the components over from the larger frame to the smaller frame (which fits me), and will post them as soon it's in a more complete state.

Take care,