gitaneusa.com :: View topic - So, I've got this Gitane TdF Professional, early 80's...

lynnef

It needs love. Much love.

Pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/20084214@N00/sets/72157603685138782/detail/

Any advice welcome. I know it needs new tires, tubes, cables, housing... I'm planning on replacing the crank - 52/42 is a little much.

The rusty bits worry me some; I've already had one early 80's steel frame disintegrate under me.

I'd consider repainting it, but I'd like to preserve the decals. Does anyone know of a source for these decals?

Lynne F
Portland OR

smilingroadrunner

Welcome Lynne to the Forum. Your photos and the foil decals suggest that you have an early 70's Gitane Tour De France Match Blue color scheme. Probably of the 1970 to 1973 model years. As you suggest these become a labor of love. Probably you will be able to clean up-touch up the paint scheme. It's nearly impossible to come up with the vintage foil decals, although there is a link to Gitane decals at Cyclomonde's site replacement Reynolds and Mavic rim decals are available. Basically these frames will carry the Patina that they have developed over the decades. If you take a look at the model section of the home page Stephan has a wonderful example of your bike & color scheme. Your pictures suggest that the frame does look pretty good. Glancing at your site it's obvious that you are not shy when it comes to putting some miles on the saddle. I've found that my '71 Interclub and the other early '70 frames that I ride have held up well over the years (and in the early '70s I use to really hammer my Interclub and Paramount when I was racing)--but I'm not dealing with the wetter weather of the Pacific Northwest. Watch this site, I'm sure that other more informed members will chip in with suggestions. Depends on what your goal is: to modernize some components, to restore to vintage. Lots of Simplex, Suntour, Mafac, Mavic components show up constantly on Ebay--Basically to possibly just regear the crankset and rear freewheel if bottom bracket and hubs are in good shape. French threading on bottom bracket and headset can complicate modern replacement items. I've continued to use my '71 Interclub as my daily ride-trainer after 35 + years ----it has always been stored in my home--but still subjected to the elements when riding. I feel like these frames are stronger than sometimes given credit. Given the limit of photos over the web it still looks like you've got a good project.
I'm working to hopefully complete my Champion Blue '70 TdeF in the next couple weeks. The Match Blue paint scheme should be slightly easier to come up with a touch up paint for the small rust areas Vs the Candy Apple metallic blue appearance of the Champion blue frames

I like Steel
___________________
C.A.
Salina, Ks.

lofter

welcome lynn, that looks more like 70's to me.

smilingroadrunner

Lynne, I was back at your pictures and looking at the middle image titled "Simplex downtube shifters"

Chas: Can you chime in on this??? Am I seeing things or is that a braze on fixture for a water bottle holder?

Lynne can you verify ??? I would have assumed these early '70 models would have "clamp on" bottle holder.

Lynne if possible do you know any provenance of this bike or frame. Is it possible to post some images of the front & rear hubs, the front fork crown & forks area, the top of the seat tube -rear stay -- brake bridge area.

I would guess the Huret derailleurs and some components front stem would suggest a possible later '72, 73; but the Maillard rear hub-freewheel combo & front hub low flange suggest ??? someone replaced the stock hubs??? I'm not sure how long they utilized the Match Blue color scheme, but the Foil Decals really put this in the early '70s family.

___________________
C.A.
Salina, Ks.

lynnef

it has brazed on water bottle holder bosses Smile

And 700c wheels.

It came from my uncle, who used to work for Mel Pinto, and had a bike store in NJ when I was a teenager.

Match Blue - is there a Testor's model paint that works? Or any other?

I was looking at pictures of other bikes, it seemed that the 70's was about the right era matching the decals as well.

smilingroadrunner

Interesting. Maybe your uncle can explain the brazed on bottle holder---if he worked for Mel Pinto --maybe his connection allowed him to access a custom frame set up. Possibly the braze on's were added and the down tube re-painted and new down tube decals had been placed back in the '70s when foil decal sets were available. I have a complete set of foil decals for the Interclub (except for the large Gitane seat tube decal) that I got from the local bike shop back about '72 to replace the seat tube decal that was damaged in a chrash. I only wish I had the foil seat tube decal now as I have to believe someone has the capability to reproduce these foil type decals if they had a good original to work from. The more I view at this site, the more I realize how often something will show up that just doesn't seem to follow the standard components for a lot of the early '70 frames---but these braze on's are the first example on an early '70s TdeF that I've seen---certainly a unique frame.

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C.A.
Salina, Ks.

verktyg

Lynne, welcome to the group.

Looking at your bike I don't see any reason to worry about the frame rusting through. While you are working on it, there are some rust preventatives that you can spray inside the frame tubes to help "resist" rust and corrosion.

From the late 1960s through early 1974 Gitane only made minor changes to the frames on their Tour de France and Super Corsa models. This makes dating the bikes more of a challenge.

The earlier models had flat ovals brazed on to the tops of the seatstays at the seatpost lug. Sometime during the US Bike Boom which lasted from 1971 through mid 1974 they switched to the crimped seatstay tops like on your frame (probably 1972 or 73). This was obviously a move to reduce production time and costs.

The older TdFs and Super Corsas also had a small piece of arched heavy gage sheet metal brazed to the seatstays above the rear brake bridge. It held a cable adjuster or quick release for the rear centerpull brake. These were dropped on the later models in favor of a V shaped Mafac brake cable hanger that was held in place by the seatpost bolt.

So now we can make an educated guess that your bike is probably later than a 1971 model. I've only seen a few Gitanes in the Match Blue color like yours.

Here's the kicker, I think that your's is 1972 or 73 bike because of the Pivo stem with a recessed hex bolt. Pivo only made those for a few years and they are pretty rare. They are beefier than the cast aluminum stems found on most French bikes from that era.

Now what to do with it? Unless you want to do a total appearance makeover I recommend a thorough cleaning and polishing of the frame and components plus maybe a crank update.

First off you may never find replacement foil decals for your bike. There are several people on the web that make VERY poor quality replicas and there is one seller on eBay who makes some nice later version Gitane decals.

If it were my bike (and I recently came by a late 1960s TdF so I have some fresh experience in these matters). I'd clean it up, carefully protecting the "patina".

Take some spray household cleaner like 409 and clean off all of the easily accessible road grime. Use care around the decals as they are irreplaceable at this point. Also get some kind of degreasing solvent to remove the caked on grease (watch the decals).

I don't know how handy you are with tools and working on bikes. I shudder of the thought of having to take one of my "babies" into a LBS (Local Bike Shop) for service. This bike was built before many of the "bike mechanics" (and I use the term lightly) were even a gleam in their parents eyes. Shocked

Anyway at least once a year the headset bearings, bottom bracket bearings and hub bearings should be dissembled, cleaned, inspected and the balls replaced and repacked with fresh grease.

It's easier to clean the frame when the bike is partially dissembled. Remove the brake calipers, clean and lube them and so on.

Get some super fine 3xxx steel wool and polish the chrome plated parts of the frame. Use care around where the paint blends with the plating.

I use 3M rubbing compound to polish out light scratches but any automotive car polish should work fine. Go easy though because you are removing paint which was not too thick to begin with.

A little elbow grease and voilà.... Cool

As far as components go the parts on you bike are very good quality. The Simplex Super LJ derailleurs shifted as well as any friction shifters on the market - much better than the older campy stuff.

The retrofriction shift levers are still in high demand. Lance Armstrong used one for his front derailleur on a lot of his bikes. Cleaned up, that set of Simplex derailleurs and levers could go for as much as $175 on eBay.

The Simplex Super LJ rear derailleurs can handle a 28T rear sprocket, 30T on some bikes.

That brings up the Helicomatic rear hub - a memorial to Charles de Gaulle. The Brits used to say "There will always be an England" referring to their proprietary mechanical goods that they foisted on the world. The Helicomatic rear hub was the French equivalent. You may be able to get some replacement sprockets in lager sizes on eBay (search Helicomatic and Maillard) also Harris Cyclery and The Yellow Jersey may still have some. ....Then ride it into the ground.

Harris Cyclery
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/index.html

Here's a link on French Bikes by Sheldon brown of Harris Cyclery
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/velos.html

The Yellow Jersey
http://www.yellowjersey.org/

The Sugino Mighty crankset on your bike was one of the first Campy knockoff cranks and still one of the better ones. They use the same 144mm BCD chainrings as Campy Nuovo/Super Record and dozens of clones. They are inexpensive and available from 42T (some rare 41T too) on up.

I'm assuming that you are looking for lower gearing. A 42T-28T combo is fine for general purpose riding with no big hills. To get lower than that you will have to either switch rear wheels and use a bigger freewheel or cassette or switch to a crank with smaller chainrings.

If you make the changes in the rear i.e. replace the rear hub and sprockets you will need to get another rear derailleur if you go over 28T (30T???). That may be the least expensive route.

Your crankset probably has 52T-42T chainrings. I'd switch down to a 48T, 49T or 50T large chainring with the 42T small chainring.

You could put a tripple on the front too but you will probably need to put on newer derailleurs so it will cost more.

French threaded components are still available, you just need to know what to look for and where to look. The Sugino bottom bracket cups and spindle will work with a lot of other brands.

You can get new Wienmann rubber brake lever hoods pretty inexpensively. They will also interchange with DiaCompe rubber hoods.

Thomas Jefferson wanted to make the US a metric nation back in the 1700s. Instead we stuck with a system of linear measurement derived from fractional portions of a dead Brit king's foot! Rolling Eyes

Clean it up and keep it like it is with minimal changes and enjoy riding a 35+ year old bike.

Good Luck,

Chas. (let me know if ou want to get rid of that stem)

verktyg

smilingroadrunner

Chas: "We're not worthy" Lynne, I know all would agree, he is a wonderful resource. I'm still curious about the braze on water bottle holders.

Thanks again Chas!!

G'night all

P.S.
Oop's Sorry I see you answered my question already ( a rivet type device )
___________________
C.A.
Salina, Ks.

verktyg

C.A.

Here's several links that show how these work:

http://www.hansonrivet.com/w64.htm

http://www.hrpworld.com/index.cfm?form_prod_id=815,363_4353&action=product

The only problem is if one of these comes loose in the tube you will have fun trying to remove the screw.

Chas.

Paul Wiseman

Just a heads up for those who don't know. The cyclemondo guy (Greg) is working on repro foil decals now. Don't forget to mention gitaneUSA if you buy from him.

verktyg

Wisey,

That's great to know. I figured he would get around to it one of these days.

Greg seems like a pretty nice "bloke". I got some tubing stickers that didn't print out quite right. I asked him about them, he sent me replacements without any hassle.

Chas.

smilingroadrunner

Wisey:
Wow, that's great to know. I had recently ordered some Mavic rim and Reynolds frame decals and stickers. The gold foil decal repros for the Mavic rims look great. Wow really!!! the seat tube decal ??? the whole set for the early '70's ??? that would just be too cool.

Chas:
Thanks for the link to the inserts---I just couldn't figure out how that frame could have come with water bottle attachment.

Wow foil decals---that will be just GREAT!

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C.A.

lynnef

For the unitiated... does the cyclomondo guy(Greg) have a url?

Thanks!
Lynne F
Portland OR

ps. just ordered the Stronglight Impact compact crank (48/34). My, it is pretty. As Velo Orange was out of 165s, I had to order it from FRANCE.

pps. next step - Cane Creek SCR-5C brake levers silver/gum hoods. Those Weinmanns are way too big for my hands. And my uncle wondered why my aunt didn't ride the bike much Smile

verktyg

Here's a link to his eBay store:

http://stores.ebay.com/Cyclomondo

Also some feedback from other users:

http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-352512.html

Chas.