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mikkla

Hi all Gitane fans!

My name is michael and as the topic stated, from the Netherlands.
Last night I bought my first Gitane, for as it appears a very good bargain.
I "only" paid 35$ for this

I have no idea what model it is or from what year.
It sure looks a bit like the one Jeremy has, type wise that is, not state wise.
But as I said, I have no clue since I am an absolute newbee to vintage bikes.
Anyways, I would love to hear more about it as I am planning to "restore" it as best I can and give it as a present to my wife.

Here are some more detailed pics.

I would like to make it as original as I can.
Maybe some of you can point to me which parts aren't original.

The guy I bought it from claimed to be the first owner, what I believe since the shop badge is still on the rear fender.
And the town name is the same as where I bought it
Pic beneath here.

The guy told me that he changed the handles bars, or at least if I recall it right. I wasn't really paying attention, kinda distracted by the bike haha.

Love to hear from you!

Greetings
Michael
The Netherlands

mikkla

One thing about the lock, of which I am pretty sure is not standard.
The lock doesnt have a key, and was not intended to have one.

The round "thing" with the reflector on it can move in four directions (North South East West)
You can lock it as any "normal" lock.

Unlocking it is an other thing
You have to move the "round" thing in a few directions, the sequence is what unlocks it.
My sequence is, 1 left, 1 right, 1 left, 2 right, 1 up.
And it actually works, amazing as it is a mechanic lock.
Really cracking my mind on how this works..

Nice isnt it?
Anyone ever seen any of these locks?

greyhundguy

Michael,
Welcome to the list and forum.

It appears you found a GREAT Bargain on a late 1960's or very early 70's tandem. The only down side I see is that you have double the work in cleaning it up. Wink

The lock is very unique. A combination reflector for opening is very creative.

It looks to be all original with maybe the exception of the rear derailleur and saddle. Catalogs from the period say Simplex RD. Yours looks like Huret which could potentially be original in Europe.

Jay

mikkla

Hello Jay,

Thanks for your reply.
Nice to hear that an expert also thinks it is a good bargain!

Indeed i will be doing twice the work for cleaning it.
In fact I did some yesterday, and amazing what a little Unipol and a toothbrush can do Smile

I will have a look at the derailleur to see the brand and let you know.

I am thinking of repspraying it but can not decide on the color.
If it would be an other color then so far for originallity...
Do any of you know in which colors they came, or where I can find that?

Greetings
Michael
Netherlands

mikkla

Oke, I did some research on the lock.

Apparently it is/was manufatured in Danmark by a company called "CEDO".
At some point they changed there name to Basta, today AXA or subcompany?
Anyway they still produced the models but renamed them to "basta automatic" or "basta 2000".
You can find info on Google about it

Other then I stated, the refelctor can only go North, East and West.
It has countless combinations only known to the buyer.
When bought back in the days the buyer would also get a very small lock with the combination on/in it.
This could be saved at a save place or even wallet, for futher forgetting the combination.

Here a picture of some Dutch brochure that I found.
Not very interesting text, but theres fun for the picture of the lock combined with little lock.

Search Google for CEDO LOCK and you can find some hits and pics.
A guy on the Raleigh forum has all the combinations, since he was an importer of these locks.
He can provide the combination if you give him the serial.

I found a brand new one in the Netherlands, I have had contact with the guy but not sure if it still there, would love to have another of these nice locks.

Greeting
Michael
Netherlands

greyhundguy

Micheal,
If you go to the catalog section on this site you can find some of the info under the 60's-70's section.

http://www.gitaneusa.com/catalogues.asp

The last page of the 1970 catalog shows the colors that were available for that year.

Looking at the post from Dan you will see the before and after of a good cleaning. That may be all you need too.

http://www.gitaneusa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1592

All the best with your project.

Jay

sandranian · Site Admin

Nice bike. I know my wife would love one of those. The "commuter" bars are better too...

That lock is certainly very interesting. I would carry a conventional lock for that bike though...and be sure to lock it to something!

mikkla

@jay,
Thanks for the link, I completely missed that one.
very informative.

@sandranian
I hope that my wife will like it to.
I am sure she will once its done, I hide the bike at my work.
So she doesnt even know I got it Very Happy

LeicaLad

Hi Mikkla,

Lovely bike and a great deal. I'll join those saying that serious cleaning will do the most wonders. Do NOT respray it unless you really, really think you have to. To have it respray correctly, meaning so it looks nice and not terrible, is not cheap. AND, the original finish looks fine.

Use a little auto rubbing compound (VERY lightly) and then some wax. You'll be surprised how pretty it can be. Same with metal polish, although be sure to use the right metal polish on the right metals. (Watch for aluminum parts, for example.)

Cleaning out the bottom-bracket bearings, the headset bearings and hub bearings will be the hardest labor, but also the labor that will make the bike the most pleasant to ride. New tires, too.

Because of the rear hub width, be careful about changing that rear hub too quickly. You might do fine with this hub.

I'll let the derailleur experts here comment on the drive train questions.

Have Fun!!!!

Owen

mikkla

High!

Thanks for the reply Owen!

I will follow the opinion of the pro's here concerning the respray idea Laughing

Thanks for the tips, I always use "Unipol" very nice product.
Last night I took the bike apart for the most part.
And next week I will start my cleaning haha
Can't wait to see how it looks after that.

The reason I thought about respraying it was because we have a proffesional spraypaint place at my work. Cool

And my colleague is really good at it!
But off course aware of the originallity issue here...

Concerning the bearings I don't think it will be the worst job (I hope).
We also have a thing like this at work

Don't know what its called, but it's bought for cleaning bearings etc.
Have used it before and that works really well.

Greetings
Michael
Netherlands