gitaneusa.com Forum Index » Vintage Gitane » New bike    View previous topic :: View next topic  New bike   Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 4:34 pm Wisey Joined: 19 May 2009 Posts: 631 Location: Brisbane, Australia Well, perhaps I shouldn't say "new". It's a long way from being new in both age and condition. Originally I was thinking 74ish, but on further gazing at the catalogues, I think it might be a 77 Interclub. The one hesitation I have is that this thing is not particularly light, and the 77 Interclub is supposed to be Durifort tubing which I thought was around the same weight as Reynolds 531. Perhaps someone could enlighten me? Chas? _________________ Kind Regards, Wisey Delta Dreamin'   Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 4:35 pm Wisey Joined: 19 May 2009 Posts: 631 Location: Brisbane, Australia BTW - Parts are obviously all non-original except for the Huret front dreailleur. _________________ Kind Regards, Wisey Delta Dreamin'   Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 7:48 pm smilingroadrunner Joined: 10 Aug 2007 Posts: 278 Location: Salina, Ks. Wisey, thanks for the Poster Girl post yesterday, It was a good laugh after work. Was this frame from the coastal areas of Oz, ---looks like the fork crown could be a challenge to clean-up. Salt Water spray??? I'm soooo envious of your shop space---Nice Shop I Like Steel !!!! _______________ C.A. Salina, Ks.   Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 7:56 pm Wisey Joined: 19 May 2009 Posts: 631 Location: Brisbane, Australia Ha! You wouldn't believe how long it took me to find a pic of a nice girl with a bike that was actually 'family safe'. _________________ Kind Regards, Wisey Delta Dreamin' Re: New bike   Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2009 4:29 am verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area Wisey wrote: ...Originally I was thinking 74ish, but on further gazing at the catalogues, I think it might be a 77 Interclub. The one hesitation I have is that this thing is not particularly light, and the 77 Interclub is supposed to be Durifort tubing which I thought was around the same weight as Reynolds 531. Perhaps someone could enlighten me? Chas? Wisey, Has someone been surfing with that bike? "...this thing is not particularly light" Light is relative! (didn't Einstein say something like that?) Have you been riding plastic again? The the bare frame and should weigh about 6 lbs. In the early 70s we were told that Interclubs were made of Durifort tubing. I have a fork from an old IC and you can clearly see Durifort stamped into the blades. I suspect that earlier Interclubs were made out of a variety of different tube sets both light and heavy. Some Foil Decal era Interclub frames weren't too much different than Gran Sport frames except they didn't have any brazed on cable stops and they had a lot less fork rake. These frames probably had 1.2mm to 1.3mm wall thickness tubing and used 25mm seatposts. A larger seatpost would indicate thinner wall tubing which would be lighter. BTW, I Recently dug out an old top tube I removed from a Gran Sport cadaver. It was 1.0mm thick which was pretty thin for "gas pipe" tubing! Gitane made a lot of changes in mid 1974 (maybe for the 1975 model year). They cheapened the TdFs by switching from all Reynolds 531 tubing to just the 3 main tubes 531. At the same time they upgraded the Interclub components a little. Both models had the weird (read ugly) Huret honeycomb rear dropouts. During the last few years of production, the Foil Decal TdFs used the same short point Bocama "Professional" lugs as are on your bike. The new "improved" TdFs came out with long point Bocamas with stamped out Vs. So, theoretically, based on the modified Nervex DuBois crown this could be a 1974-75 TdF. Most likely, it's as you guessed, a 1974-77 Interclub or a Euro/Non-US model. I bet that it has metric diameter tubes with British threads in the headset and bottom bracket! Durifort tubing with butted main tubes had just about the same wall thickness as Columbus SP tubing and Reynolds 531ST tubing. The 3 main tubes were 1.0mm at the butted ends and 0.7mm in the midsection. Durifort offered some less expensive straight gage main tubes called "Rubis 888". They were 0.8mm wall thickness throughout. These main tubes eventually developed into 788 and 999 tubing. I suspect that Rubis 888 was used in Interclubs rather than the butted main tubes. Around 1976 the TdFs were upgraded to full Reynolds tubs again. At this point, I saw 1 or 2 Interclubs with 3 main tubes Reynolds 531. They also had long point Bocama lugs. Here's what I would do with this bike: 1. stripped it and remove the plastic decals. You may have fun getting the stem and seatpost out. 2. have it sandblasted to remove the paint and rust and chrome and rust and rust! 3. one reason to have it sandblasted is to check the tubes for pitting and rust through. If you find any, send it up north, Kia is waiting! 4. after sandblasting, I'd probably paint the whole fork and not worry about the chrome. Gitane made a number of European models without chrome (as late as 1974 the Euro model IC had steel cranks and a Huret Svelto RD. _________________ Chas. SF Bay Area, CA USA ============== 1984 Criterium 1969 TdF 1971 TdF 1974 TdF 1984 TdF x 2 Bikes 1970 SC 1971 SC 1972 SC 1984 SC 1984 Team Pro 1985 Professional 1990s Team Replica   Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 10:20 am Gtane Joined: 14 Sep 2007 Posts: 681 Location: UK That's a nice project Wisey. Enjoy the restoration. Tim _________________ Everything has a cycle   Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2009 2:31 am Wisey Joined: 19 May 2009 Posts: 631 Location: Brisbane, Australia Haven't had time to get out the verniers yet. Thanks for the comments guys. Yes, she's had a bit a battering, but it looks to be only surface blemishes. No hints of rust inside the tubes. Chas, it's a bit 'heavy' in relation to a traditional 531 frame like the blue one now in your collection. It had a 25.0 post in it, but it is a bit loose. Again, have to measure it next week. _________________ Kind Regards, Wisey Delta Dreamin' New bike     gitaneusa.com Forum Index » Vintage Gitane 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.