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lofter

hey guys , im going to get a new bike this weekend. its a 84 gran tour . ive been wanting a tour bike for awhile now . stephan gave me the link to it last week .

im going to buy some nice touring panniers , handle bar bag and replace the componets . im putting simplex bar ends ,simplex front and rear derailleur , new yellow cables and tape and yellow saddle and pedals .its going to be all french , just how i like my bikes. i was thinking of getting a gitane mtb. it was blue with yellow decals almost like the team bikes. its in france but the seller didnt want to ship , so ti-commuter was going to help me get it home . i still might send a email to the seller to see if he still has it . ive been interested in another project , but its been really slow to get off the ground . if it doesnt come to fruitation soon im might just go in another direction .i have the money now to do the mtb , but everyday that passes it gets smaller if you know what i mean.

ill post some more pics when i get it home and cleaned up this weekend.im stoked it will be fun this summer to do some long distance tours on it. ill be a road gypsy lol just wandering along the country side. Wink

verktyg

lofter, nice ride.... Cool

I wouldn't mess with changing the derailleurs. Back in the day (before index shifting) BOTH Suntour and Shimano had "Beat DuoPar" development teams. Huret introduced the original DuoPar in 1975 and had a patent on their design that lasted until the late 1980s.

Huret DuoPar rear derailleurs - even the all steel models are still the best shifting non index touring derailleurs out there. Here's what Sheldon Brown (RIP) had to say:

"The Hurét "DuoPar" touring derailleur had two parallelograms (hence the name.) The extra parallelogram was used to move the jockey pulley up and down, permitting the DuoPar to handle a wider gear range than any other rear derailleur before or since. The original DuoPar was quite expensive, and featured titanium parts. A later, less-expensive version, the Eco DuoPar was also available for a while. In the 1980s, Huret was absorbed by Sachs, and Sachs, in turn was taken over by SRAM."

Yes, the long arm Simplex LJs are on a par with Suntour VGT and Shimano Crane derailleurs but the dual pivot chain cages of the DuoPar can shift from the smallest sprocket to biggest on a standard freewheel under load without "grinding gears". Embarassed

This kind of shifting wasn't available from other makers until Shimano introduced their HyperGlide freewheels and cassettes in 1989.

http://www.bikepro.com/products/freewheels/shimhg.html
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/k7.html

I briefly had one of the titanium/alloy model DuoPars that originally sold for ~$175 in 1975. I swapped it out for one of the rare steel/alloy DuoPars because the steel chain cage was a little more rigid (and the price tag on the titanium model was beyond my budget). Later Huret introduced the less expensive DuoPar Eco which has steel instead of titanium parts. Your bike has a Sachs/Huret DuoPar Eco rear derailleur. I have one of them, I'm waiting for the right bike to put it on.

I had my touring bike (pictured above) out for a club ride last Saturday. The bike has a Suntour 6sp 13-32 Ultra (narrow to fit a 5sp hub) freewheel and a TA crank with 49-45-30T chainrings. I'm running Simplex RetroFriction downtube shifters and they work great.

I'm happy to report that I'm in better condition than I was this time last year. I only had to drop down to a 30T/26T combo once on the ride and I never had to resort to the 30T/32T. Very Happy

The Huret front dérailleur is probably pretty good too. I can't tell from the picture what the model is. I have a Motobecane Grand Jubile that came with the flimsy Huret Jubile derailleurs. I switched them to one of the steel and alloy short arm Huret Challenger rear derailleurs and a late model Huret front derailleur.

The combination provides the best shifting I've experienced with non index derailleurs. The newer chains and freewheels make a big difference too. I'm running a Suntour 7sp Ultra freewheel and one of the newer SRAM PC47 chains on that bike.

BTW, I only have indexing on 1 or 2 road bikes - the day I can't friction shift an 8sp with downtube shifters is the day they pull my cold dead hands off on off of my bike and put me on a plastic/carbon fiber frame for my Valhalla funeral pyre! Twisted Evil

I take it that you got the Simplex LJ long arm rear dérailleur. "Sorry Charlie", save it for another bike, you wont be sorry... Wink

Have fun with your new project and try the Huret dérailleurs....

Chas.

Paul Wiseman

In 1975? Crikey! I don't want to even think about what that would be today.

Nice ride Lofter. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

ti-commuter

Hi lofter,

nice find.
have you bought the lovely modolo cantelivers?
still needs a trailer to get the gypsy lifestyle credibility Rolling Eyes

early eighties french trailers anyone Question

@ verktyg......i love your bikes,i envy your knowledge,i should keep my mouth shut but .....uncut derailleur cable Question

verktyg

verktyg

Gtane

Nice bike Lofter. I really like the bar end levers, great detail and sought after too. Super powerful brakes for touring and heavy panniers.

A set of those lovely French aluminium mudguards would look wonderful.

lofter

got it home , the paint is in excellent shape. the only blemishes is to the seatube decals.no biggie.its dirty fo sure.needs a bath.yes verktyg huret dupar eco on the back .suntour barcons which seem to be carbon or plastic like.evrything is pretty much stock like the 83 catalog. must not have changed stuff in 84.im pleased with it .it has a helio on the rear also.

verktyg

lofter,

I bet I know what you did last night and will be doing today... Wink

Give that Duo-Par a try, I think that you'll like it. Lube the cables and deralleurs first to get a good feel of how smooth it handles big gear jumps.

What's the Helico, 14-28T or bigger? The Stronglight looks like it has a 30T or 32T small chainring.

Chas.

lofter

30 on the small ring . im just now setting down to play with it . been busy today .cables r coming off yellow ones going on .ill keep the derailleurs on for a try . there french so its no crime Wink

going over to get a couple tubes for the tires.

lofter

28,24,20,17,14,13 on the helio.

verktyg

The 13-14 is a strange combo for a touring block.

I've found that I can tolerate bigger gear jumps at the high and low ends but prefer closer jumps in the middle. You can probably find a 13-15 sprocket set for you block.

Chas.

lofter

ive got two other helio's around here somewhere. im sure i can get something to work.

lofter · Last edited by lofter on Tue Mar 11, 2008 4:02 pm; edited 1 time in total

gettin there, parts are slowly trickling in .each day something new comes in the mail.

lofter

i got ortlieb panniers coming , yellow look pedals and fenders, yellow brake pads.