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thepipedog

Hello all - my first post - my first Gitane
Bought this locally last night for 60 bucks.

What appears to be a 52cm ‘85 TdF?????, s/n C144377

The good:
The frame is straight, no re-spray, no rust inside, BB and Headset have been maintained, minor
chipping, decent badging, SuperVitus 983:
Ofmega ~ 42-52 cranks, BB, shifters.
Cinelli Campione del Mondo 66-42 bars
Campy Pedals (not yet positively id’d) Super record, 4021 just not yet sure
TurinTubeTech stem
What I do believe are the original Dia_Compe brakes (dated Feb. ‘85)
Stronglite Headset
LaPrade seatpost
Wheels are truer than true.

The Bad:
Shimano SIS freewheel (it works but...)
Two different Rigida Rims (an HLC2000) and something more vintage to the bike
Suntour Cyclone rear hub, Suntour VX front hub (not necessarily bad just different), a Sansin & a Shimano skewer.
Tires, tubes, cables, casings, tape, hoods

and The Ugly
Suntour Blaze (1990) RD
Shimano ty20 (1992) FD
Saddle (what the....?)

Brought it home last night, couldn’t sleep with all my joy, so I got up at 4:30, strapped on a few
blinkies and a B17 and went 38 miles. What could go wrong. A few things became apparent: This
bike is going to be fun as Hell, I’m no longer strong enough to push 42 gear inches around the
Finger Lakes, and I’m going to do a complete tear-down and restore it.

I probably won’t begin to tear it apart till next weekend. In the meantime can someone please
identify these brake? Dia-Compe?, Weinmann?, custom made by some Italian named Giuseppe
living high in the Dolomites?

verktyg

Let me be the first to congratulate you on a SWEET deal. Cool

Last fall I lucked out and got a good deal on one of these 1984 TdFs on eBay. It was almost new with probably less than 50 miles on it. A previous owner had upgraded the derailleurs from Ofmega to Campy NR and the wheels to Mavic hubs and rims.

Here's a link to the 1984 catalog with a picture of your bike:
http://www.gitaneusa.com/images/catalog/1984/Page_03.jpg

This is a spec sheet listing all of the original components:
http://www.gitaneusa.com/images/catalog/1984/Page_08.jpg

The cranks on your bike are Ofmega Mistral models as were the original derailleurs and hubs (someone did you a BIG favor on the derailleurs). The Ofmega cranks use the same 144 BCD size chainrings as the older Nuovo Record/Super Record cranks so 42 teeth is the smallest chainring that will fit that crank (there were some ultra rare 41T Campy CRs but...). These cranks are fine for now but you may run into BB problems some day and I'd recommend switching to a cartridge style when you do.

You should figure on changing the shift levers sooner rather than later. They have a reputation for breaking . The levers looked interesting but on mine the levers were really stiff. I pulled them off to lube them and the flat spring washers came out in pieces. Shocked

The Ofmega Mistral dérailleurs were made of some high tech plastic and came in black and several pastel colors. Unfortunately the plastic they used was nowhere near as tough as the Delrin nylon plastic that Simplex used.

I haven't ridden mine yet (except for some test rides) because it's not geared low enough for most of my rides (I can't push big gears up hills anymore either).

I've been riding it's sister, my 1984 Super Corsa a lot lately, same frame just painted blue instead of red. Great ride!

Can't tell what the brakes are but the levers are top of the line Gran Compe models that came with their premium centerpull brakes and some sidepulls.

Enjoy your bike, my ridding buddy beckons me so I have to take off.

Chas.

thepipedog

Chas., thanks for the quick reply!

I'm familiar with the Gran Compe levers with the stamped "GC"
http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Japan/Diacompe/GC500_brakes/photos/photo4.html

But I've never seen them with a stamped "GS" like mine. So last night I continued to poke around and perhaps these where the standard levers from the GS 400 brakes.

The brakes on my Gitane are N500's which btw are totally uninspiring and mundane.

Kevin

sandranian · Site Admin

Nice Tour de France. Where are all these garage sales? The ones I see always have just a bunch of CRAP! Oh well...i'll keep looking, and hopefully will find a "diamond in the rough"...or in the "not so rough", as is your bike.

thepipedog

This started out on the Ithaca, NY Craigslist a few weeks ago advertised as, "Ten Speed Bicycle" "Best Offer" w/ a fuzzy pic. That was it. I wrote, got the details, seller told me he was going to close the sale at noon on a Friday and accept the best offer. I wasn't interested in that so I let it go. I had explained to him what he had and what I thought it might be worth. I knew it was an '84 TdF I type'od the '85 in my post above.

Every few days he would call or write telling me his latest buyer had fallen through and that he was now willing to take less. Few more days-less. Few more days-less. And less. Finally at 80 I went down, made notice of its' shortcomings, offered 60 and I had a bike. I assume had Cornell been in session perhaps a student would have snapped it up.

Funny how you find things when you're not looking. The fact that I was emotionally detached and truly didn't care either way, made it easy to play hard ball. Which I honestly wasn't doing but it probably appeared so to the seller.

Last night I began re-building the pedals. The rest I'm going to delay and ride it for a few weeks before I tear it apart - make sure it's for me. Rode it this morning with the sun rising over Skaneateles Lake, vineyards, no helmet ... very cool.

Kevin

sandranian · Site Admin

If you find it "isn't for you", I'll offer you $40 for it....

Wink

greyhundguy

$42.50

thepipedog

OK, OK I'll take 35 but that's my final offer. Until my next offer which will be lower than 35.

And that's how it all went down.

Gtane

What a buy! Well done. That Ofmega chainset is one of the most elegant ever made. It's so distinctive and highly collectable. I very much like the Mavic chainset of the similar period. Both are pretty rare nowadays. Thanks for posting.

Tim

thepipedog

I agree Tim, it's almost an art deco look. I like it.

I decided to ride it till I flatted or broke a cable then tear it apart. Last night I flatted so now it looks like this.

thepipedog

Does anyone know the price of a '84 Tour de France when new?

Thanks in advance.

Kevin

Gtane

Kevin, you really have taken the bike to bits. This is going to be a serious restoration. Will we see it back in one piece and a listing in the owner's gallery?

I don't know of the original price of the machine but I'm sure another forum member will be able to assist you.

Tim

verktyg

thepipedog

Every screw, washer, and ball will be disassembled, checked for spec; then either replaced or cleaned and re-fit. There'll be some period appropriate upgrades made. Wink

However, I'm not touching anything paint or decal related~the battle scars/patina are part of it's history. The pedals are severely scraped - I wonder if it saw a bunch of crits?

I'm finishing a build that is going to be my wife's 50th birthday present so this is being put on hold for a bit.

My biggest struggle is honestly what color casings and tape to use. It'll have a well broken in Brooks honey B17 in all likelihood. ANY SUGGESTIONS?

Last night I began disassembly of the freewheel. .125 -> perfect!
1987 ShimaNO, probably not going back on the bike. I'll put it on eBay, somebody can stick it on their PX-10 . . .

sandranian · Site Admin

My humble suggestion: Black, like the original.

http://www.gitaneusa.com/images/catalog/1984/Page_03.jpg