gitaneusa.com Forum Index » Owner Gallery » 83/84 Team Frame    View previous topic :: View next topic  83/84 Team Frame   Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 4:50 pm dbieger Joined: 25 Jul 2008 Posts: 1 Location: Orlando, Florida Hello and it is great to see a site for Gitanes only. I purchased this frame in 1991 from a shop in Orlando Florida. The person now works for Trek but while he owned it he actually raced it here in the late 80's. He sold it to me for $100 with the head set and seat post. I built it up with Shimano 600 parts and raced it for about a year while my other frame was in the shop. Unfortunately prior to building up the frame I had it powder coated. I know ------- I take a beating every time I say that. Well here are the questions, is this a Team bike from that era most likely 1984, what would have been the components that would have come on it new? The bottom bracket has Cinnelli stamped on it. I tried to show it in one of the photos. Would it be out of the question to go with Campy parts? _________________ dbieger   Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 8:44 pm lofter Joined: 05 Mar 2006 Posts: 1162 yep that would be a 83 team pro.the pic of the drops a little blurry or is that the beam and cokes ive had. is that simplex on the drops? the drive side chain stay should be chromed. as far as parts, this particular year the team went with stronglight and simplex componets with cinelli bars and modolo brakes. heres a link to the parts that came on it http://www.gitaneusa.com/images/catalog/1984/Page_08.jpg renault elf rode these bikes in 83 and they came out in the 84 catalog. tis was the year when they tried to make the team bikes all french . you can get a set of decals on ebay, just type in gitane and scoll to the bottom of the page and you should see a set for sale from cyclomondo from australia. hope this helps .......don   Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 8:51 pm lofter Joined: 05 Mar 2006 Posts: 1162 aas far as campy parts , yeah they will work, but the front derailleur ive never seen a braze on campy that fits it .if someone ever has let me know. ive seen a mavic , huret and simplex ront derailleur, but not a campy.thats why i try to steer folks with these frames to stronglight and simplex.in the 84 season they went back to campy sr. peugot and motobecane also had these type of front derailleurs also . 1984 Team Pro???   Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:35 pm verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area Welcome to the group. Nice frame. Judging from the catalogs it appears to be a 1984 Team Pro frame. http://www.gitaneusa.com/images/catalog/1984/Page_03.jpg This is the only bike that I could find in these catalogs with the distinctive Simplex braze-on front derailleur mount and the aero fork crown. If it's an 84 Team Pro frame then it came with mostly French components except for the Italian Modolo brakes and Turbo saddle. http://www.gitaneusa.com/images/catalog/1984/Page_08.jpg You can put on any components that fit except I think that Simplex front derailleurs are the only ones that fit that braze-on mount. The French/Italian non Campy components from that era worked just as well if not better than Campy stuff. Campy = pure vanity and if you are in to that, fine! Blasphemy! There are a couple of oddities with this frame versus the one pictured in the catalog: there's no number tag braze-on on the underside of the top tube and it has short point "Italian" style Prugnat lugs which I've never seen on a Gitane (note the little round hooks in the lugs on the headtube). Here's a long point version: You can get Gitane decals from Cyclomondo on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/Gitane-set-of-decals-vintage_W0QQitemZ300211719712QQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116 Greg sells these with a set of Vitus or Super Vitus tubing stickers but this frame was probably made with Columbus tubing. If you buy a set of decals from him he will probably supply you with Columbus decals instead if you ask him. Chas.   Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 6:09 am sandranian Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 2701 Location: Southern California I gave Cyclomondo a scan of a NOS French Columbus decal for that bike, so he has the scan for it...whether he made it yet or not is a different story. Bummer than someone cut off the number tab...and I won't hassle you any more about the powder coating. You can have it repainted for around 200-400 dollars. I would get some opinions here as to the painter if you decide to go that way. _________________ Stephan Andranian Costa Mesa, CA www.gitaneusa.com   Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:24 pm verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area lofter wrote: aas far as campy parts , yeah they will work, but the front derailleur ive never seen a braze on campy that fits it .if someone ever has let me know. ive seen a mavic , huret and simplex ront derailleur, but not a campy.thats why i try to steer folks with these frames to stronglight and simplex.in the 84 season they went back to campy sr. peugot and motobecane also had these type of front derailleurs also . lofter!, NOT ANOTHER CAMPY BIKE! BORING..... Le Chas.   Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:42 pm sandranian Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 2701 Location: Southern California OK...the French components are, by in large, crap. Sure, I would like to say that I am all Francophiled out, but the truth of the matter is that the French components do not compare with Campagnolo stuff, both in form or function (at least by this time). If you were going to build a bike from the 1950's...well then maybe. But in the 1970's/1980's??? C'mon.... _________________ Stephan Andranian Costa Mesa, CA www.gitaneusa.com   Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 8:47 pm verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area sandranian wrote: OK...the French components are, by in large, crap. Sure, I would like to say that I am all Francophiled out, but the truth of the matter is that the French components do not compare with Campagnolo stuff, both in form or function (at least by this time). If you were going to build a bike from the 1950's...well then maybe. But in the 1970's/1980's??? C'mon.... WHAT! C'mon Stephan you're kidding right? The plastic Simplex Criterium rear derailleurs on my 1967 PX10 and my 1969 TdF work far better than any of the half dozen or so Nuovo Record and Super Record derailleurs that I have on other bikes! Read Frank Berto's book "The Dancing Chain" http://www.thedancingchain.com/ I hear back in the day Campy put out a contract on Frank Berto more than once for telling the truth - $6.00 Suntour V rear derailleurs far out performed $40.00 Campy Nuovo Record derailleurs. Simplex Super LJ deraileurs where more than a match to Campy NR and SR derailleurs in both quality and performance. I'm index shifting an 8 speed 13-28 cassette with a standard length cage Simplex rear derailleur. Let see you do that with any pre 1990s Campy derailleur. I gave up on getting any Campy RD to index shift with Synchro, Synchro II or Synchro III shift levers. They even work poorly in friction mode. Standard Simplex RDs will handle at least a 30T rear sprocket and 32T on some bikes - something needed as you get old and fat! Want to hear more rants? Le Chas.   Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 5:44 am sandranian Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 2701 Location: Southern California Deadly serious! And happy to get such a spirited response! Suntour and even perhaps Simplex stuff MAY shift better then Campy when new.... However, Campagnolo stuff looks better (specially than the Delrin parts), holds its value better, and is bomb-proof. Add to that the certain "mojo" (others may call "snob appeal") that goes with Campagnolo, and you have an all around "better" part. You will note that NONE of the above catagories of what makes a bike part great have to do with actual performance. What do you think of that? _________________ Stephan Andranian Costa Mesa, CA www.gitaneusa.com   Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 6:03 am lofter Joined: 05 Mar 2006 Posts: 1162 thats why i have both, so i can sit back here agree with both you guys   Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 6:11 am sandranian Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 2701 Location: Southern California Lofter...what are you doing with all of those Systeme U gloves you have purchased lately??? How many hands do you have??? I bought a Campy Super Record crankset on Friday for $50.00! Pretty happy about that! Your 1984 is coming together slowly, but it is coming!!! I need to have it and my wife ready to ride by next year. We will be in Solvang for the Tour of California Time Trial. I am all excited as well because the ToC is ending on a climb up Mt. Palomar. I had a race up Palomar when I was in high school, and it will be cool to see pros racing up that mountain. _________________ Stephan Andranian Costa Mesa, CA www.gitaneusa.com   Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 12:05 pm verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area sandranian wrote: Deadly serious! And happy to get such a spirited response! However, Campagnolo stuff looks better (specially than the Delrin parts), holds its value better, and is bomb-proof. Add to that the certain "mojo" (others may call "snob appeal") that goes with Campagnolo, and you have an all around "better" part. You will note that NONE of the above catagories of what makes a bike part great have to do with actual performance. What do you think of that? Here's what I think! "You don't frighten us, English pig-dog! Go and boil your bottoms, son of a silly person. I blow my nose on you..." "I'm French. Why do think I have this outrageous accent, you silly king." My first pro bike, a 1971 Gitane Super Corsa was all Campy except for the Mafac brakes (Mafac brakes were the choice of pros and were found on many pro racing bikes up into the early 1970s). I bought it for the beauty of the workmanship on the Campy components, for the same reasons I would have bought a Porsche or a Ferrari. I started racing seriously in 1975 and bought a custom built frame. I transfered the Campy components from my Super Corsa over to the new frame. Since I was managing a bike shop I was able to experiment with all kinds of components. Within a few months I switched the Campy cranks over to Stronglight because the chainrings shifted much better. I replaced the Campy brakes with Weinmann Carrera Pro brakes which stopped far better (better stopping pads). The NR derailleurs were changed to 1st generation Suntour Cyclone derailleurs which shifted drastically better. I'd been using that same Cyclone rear derailleur until last fall when it got sucked into the spokes when I shifted to the largest sprocket chasing a guy on a plastic bike honking up a hill. It had been used on 3 different bikes and at the time I was friction shifting an 8 speed cassette with it when it died. WARNING! BLASPHEMOUS PICTURES BELOW! Here's a picture of my 1975 Raleigh Pro. What's wrong with this picture? Hint: I bought it as a bare frame on eBay. It's all Campy except for the Stronglight cranks. I didn't have a Campy compatible bottom bracket handy when I was building it up so I used the Stronglight instead. This is my 1988 Bianchi Giro with a Campy Victory gruppo. I bought it off eBay complete. The bike probably had less than 50 miles on it but it appears that someone was riding it on the beach in Southern California and put it away wet. The bottom side of everything was salt water corroded. I finally got around to finishing the overhaul in May and started riding it. The ride is terrible and the Victory derailleurs shift like merde! I say this because I have a complete Victory gruppo to put on the 1985/86 Gitane Professional frame I bought a while back. I'm considering something different now, say Dura-Ace! "And Now for Something Completely Different" Here's something to break the heart of any Campy loving Italian bike aficionado, my Shimano equipped 1988 Colnago Technos: I do have several all Campy bikes including a 1974 Motobecane Le Champion. After playing Goldilocks with bikes for the past several years, my 1984 Gitane Super Corsa is probably the best overall combination riding, handling and shifting bike that I have. It was thrown together as a beater but it's gotten a lot of respect since then. Notice the Campy cranks (with TA chainrings). I built this up to look like the Super Corsa in the Models section of the site. Note: I'm index shifting an 8 speed cassette with a Simplex SLJ rear derailleur - lets see you do that with a Campy friction RD! Le Chas. (not French, Francophone or Francophile. I just like old French bikes)   Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 8:10 pm sandranian Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 2701 Location: Southern California The problem with the Campy stuff on the Bianchi is that it is not on a Gitane. How is that for logic? _________________ Stephan Andranian Costa Mesa, CA www.gitaneusa.com Bianchi - Yech!   Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 11:01 pm verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area My worst ride on a Gitane is/was/will be better than the best ride on a Bianchi! Satisfied now? Celeste = Sick Room Green! Le Chas.   Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 9:05 am sandranian Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 2701 Location: Southern California Hilarious! _________________ Stephan Andranian Costa Mesa, CA www.gitaneusa.com 83/84 Team Frame     gitaneusa.com Forum Index » Owner Gallery You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum All times are GMT - 8 Hours   Page 1 of 1   All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First  Select a forum Gitane USA----------------Vintage GitaneGitane RacingModern GitanePro Racing - Classics/Giro/Tour....Owner Gallery   Powered by phpBB © 2001-2004 phpBB Group Designed for Trushkin.net | Themes Database.