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macdavepro · Last edited by macdavepro on Tue Apr 06, 2010 9:20 pm; edited 2 times in total

I picked up this Gitane a couple years ago for basically nothing. I had no idea what it was, but I knew it was light, comfortable, very clean, and just my size. A friend offered to put some clipless pedals on without either of us remembering the French threading, so it's been unrideable for the past year. It's going in to get tapped for ISO pedals this week, and I might just keep upgrading if I can figure out which model it is.

From what I've read I think it's ~1983, but I'd like a few more opinions.

I was told it's a seventies bike, with no components changed since it was purchased.

Super Vitus 971 frame.
Spidel all over the place.
Sits on 700C with Mavic/Shimano wheels.
Unlike another one of this color I've seen in the forums this one does NOT have eyelets for fenders.
Campy dropout.
Avocet Racing I saddle.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Dave Morgan
Seattle, WA

scozim

Dave,
Just looking at the photos you have and the '83 catalog I would say it's a Criterium but I'm don't consider myself an expert. Based on your component list it appears it's had plenty of upgrades/changes. Do you have more photos from the "drive" side? Many of the Gitane models had the model name on the front right of the top tube. My Sprint, however, was one of the ones where the decal either came off or wasn't applied so it was some deductive reasoning to determined the model.

Scott

macdavepro

Scott,
I wish it had that identifier decal, but it appears to have befallen the same fate as your sticker. I thought it had received a few upgrades, but I had been assured it had not. My guess is that it was built/upgraded by the store that initially sold it. The component group is most similar to the Super Corsa, but the frame is not. It's made identifying this bike a little tough.

I got the bike in Denver, CO, but the original shop had closed so I couldn't pester them for information. It was tough finding a shop there willing to work on it, but thankfully Seattle shops are much less picky.

verktyg

Dave,

Welcome to the forum. I'm the semiofficial retrogrouch!

A 1980s Gitane bike with a Super Vitus 971 frame without fender eyelets on the dropouts would be a high end racing model.

The 1980 French catalog lists 2 such models: the Tricolore with French Spidel components and the Vuelta with Shimano 600EX components.

Both models probably shared the same frame.

http://www.gitaneusa.com/images/catalog/1980/french/Gitane_1980_Page_10.jpg

http://www.gitaneusa.com/images/catalog/1980/french/Gitane_1980_Page_11.jpg

They both came in all the colors listed on page 35:

http://www.gitaneusa.com/images/catalog/1980/french/Gitane_1980_Page_35.jpg

I suspect that it's a Tricolore in bronze anthracite color.

My 1st obnoxious question is WHY would you want to "upgrade" a rare classic bike like this and my 1st obnoxious answer to the question is "If you want a hot new bike buy one"!

Consider this, you may have the only one of these in the US or at least in this color, really!

Because a lot of similar high quality bikes like this show up on eBay, I think that many people who (how do I say this politely) weren't around or at least not into these types of bikes, think that they were pretty commonplace! WRONG!

This was a 2nd tier from the top model marketed to amateur racers, maybe only in France.

Gitane might have only made as few as 1000 of these for the whole world market back then. By now most of them have been reincarnated into Peugeots or Renaults or Kias or even Yugos! Laughing

If the bike fits you well and you like the way it rides, I would limit changes to replacing the cables and repacking the bearings. If you are used to clipless pedals then have the cranks tapped oversize.

Those Atom/Maillard/Spidel pedals are probably worth $25-$50 to collectors of French bikes if they are in good shape.

The Stronglight/Spidel cranks rival classic Campy cranks and the Simplex/Spidel Super LJ derailleurs will out shift anything Campy made until the 1990s! Brakes, it's hard to tell what they are from the pictures.

Index shifting was developed by the Japanese for the American market to appeal to wimpy folks afraid of mechanical things and who never learned the Manly art of friction shifting a 10 speed bike. Razz

3 speed, 4 speed, 5 speed, 8 speed, 10 speed, 12 speed, 14 speed, 15 speed, 18 speed, 21 speed, 24 speed, 27 speed, 30 speed, now 33 speed... Feature sprawl!

I want a V10 with a 6 speed automatic transmission to help me feel more Manly or these days Womanly! Rolling Eyes

Bigger or more is not necessarily better.

BTW, the Super Vitus 971 frame should make a great riding bike. It has the same wall thickness as Columbus SL tubes. The next models up have Reynolds 531 7/10 tubes which are the same thickness as the heavier Columbus SP tubes which weigh over 1/2 Lb. more than SL.

I have index shifters on several 7 and 8 speed cassette and freewheel bikes plus my MTBs but I also have several 8 speeds with friction shifters.

Those Simplex Retrofriction shifters were and still are in high demand. Lance Armstrong used one of the left levers for the front derailleurs on some of his bikes!

Hopefully I've convinced you to preserve this rare almost 30 year old bike... Wink

macdavepro

Well, poop the tub! I had no idea it would end up being such a fancy piece of bike. I'll save my upgrading for a PX-10.

I need to find a shop in the Seattle area to spruce it up a bit. I took a Peugeot to a shop in Denver... with an Italian name... and it came back in worse shape. Any recommendations, people of the message boards?

scozim

You could try Elliot Bay Cycles or The Recycle Shop (I think that's it's name) in the U-district. The latter has used parts bins and sell used bikes. Besides just looking at the vintage bikes hanging from the ceiling is worth the visit.

I live in Ellensburg so we may just have to get together sometime and ride our Gitane's together.

greyhundguy

Elliot Bay for sure!!!

Jay

verktyg

The 2 shops mentioned might be a good start.

If you walk into a LBS and mention the words French and bike in the same sentence and you see a glazed over look in their eyes or they roll back in their head, slowly back out the door without turning around and... "...Run Away Run Away!"*

Think of it this way, why should you trust your 30 year old classic steed to someone who disrespects her and wasn't even "around" when she made her first debut? Mad

You saw what happened to your Peugeot in Denver! Crying or Very sad

*Monty Python

garage sale GT

Now I'm confused. I have a bike which looks just like page 11 of the 1980 French Gitane catalog gauging from the parts. The rear derailleur is stamped "SLJ" and the derailleurs have the little gold logo panels. The dropouts however each have one set of eyelets despite being stamped "Super Vitus". It would be a tricolore but for the eyelets but I can't find another 1980 model which doesn't have them but should have Super Vitus with forged SV drops. (That is, assuming the "Legere" or 171/181 tubing didn't also come with forged SV drops.)

Does anyone know what that might be? I don't speak French.

verktyg

In your first post you said:

verktyg · Last edited by verktyg on Wed Jul 28, 2010 10:17 am; edited 1 time in total

Unfortunately we don't have any US catalogs from 1977 to 1983. The catalogs posted for the in between years were for the French and UK markets.

Your bike could be from one of those "in between" years. It could also be one built for the French or UK market. Additionally Gitane catalogs and spec sheets state "specifications subject to change without notice".

One other thing.... and please don't take this as a criticism - I've been trying to figure out why people post pictures of the left side of a bike when the right side has all of the important equipment.

I wonder if it's because many people get on a bike from the left side?

Please post some sharper pictures and we can probably help you ID it.

garage sale GT

Macdavepro's bike doesn't have eyelets, and he is the OP. I found this thread searching on "tricolore". I am not the OP.

The seller of my bike said he got a few old bikes and parts left over from a closing bike shop. I am concerned he or the bike shop or the guy who had the bike shop stuff in his basement from the 1980s may have assembled a Tricolore groupset on a different frame.

It has the same brakes as on page 11 of the 1980 catalog, same gold-paneled slj derailleurs, Mavic rims, spidel everything, etc. However, it also has forged drops that say "SUPER VITUS" which have one eyelet each.

You are looking at the outside of the RH drop, with a piece of white styrofoam stuck behind it where the wheel would go.

verktyg

garage sale GT

971 on the frame, 980 on the fork, both of which however are available online. The tubing sure looks like thin stuff and the bike is not that heavy, but no bike I can see in the 1980 catalog should have had both Super Vitus tubing and eyelets.

Maybe they brazed on some eyelets per customer request? I can't tell. Something would sure be out of place if this were the only one piece, forged, Super Vitus set of drops you ever saw because forging dies are not cheap or simple to modify.

verktyg

Gitane used the lighter weight Super Vitus 980 tubing on some bikes from the late 1970s to the early 1980s.

I have a 1980 Bertin C37bis with Super Vitus 971 decals. The 3 main tubes are the lighter Super Vitus 980 while the forks and rear stays are Super Vitus 971. The paint is thin and you can see S.V. 971 and S.V. 980 stamped into the tubes.

The bike was Bertin's "Team" model and came with top of the line French components including Spidel (Stronglight) cranks.

It also has fender eyelets on the Campy dropouts. It rains a lot in Northern Europe and the UK so lots of people ride with fenders on their bikes, even full Campy bikes!

As far as your dropouts are concerned, Gitane was notorious for using whatever dropouts (or other components) they had on hand (or at least it appears that way).

There were rumors of rear dropout breakage problems with some of the late model Simplex dropouts pictured above.

Supposedly Gitane switched to Vitus dropouts like those above to correct the problem. The Super Vitus dropouts on your bike may have been an interim solution. The eyelets appear to be part of the forging, definitely not brazed on.

There are several possibilities as to why your forks have Super Vitus 980 decals.

1. It's a Super Vitus 971 or 980 frame and Gitane ran out of the correct decals.

2. It's a Super Vitus 971 or 980 frame and someone in assembly at the Gitane factory used the wrong decals.

3. It could be a SV 971 frame that someone pieced together for whatever reason and they used a SV 980 fork. Is there a brand name stamped int the front dropouts? If it says Vitus or Super Vitus then the fork is probably original to the frame.

It's most likely 1. or 2. but in any case it should be a nice riding bike.

The use of lighter gage forks and stays makes for a smoother riding bike but was not commonly done in production bikes.

The norm was to use a premium brand of main tubes with less expensive forks and stays: Reynolds 531/Durifort, Super Vitus 983/Vitus 181, Vitus or Durifort 888 or 999/gaspipe forks and stays. Is was done for marketing rather than performance.

Can you post some more pictures showing the whole right side plus closeups of the brakes, cranks and derailleurs?

Thanks...