gitaneusa.com :: View topic - 71-72 super corsa direction

martinman

I need to know some opinions on what this bike needs, what is right, what is wrong. Should I restore -preserve and of course what this is worth as it sets or if it was restored I have original wheels

scozim

Restore and ride - that's a beautiful bike loaded with Campy components.

martinman

should I do a repaint?

scozim

I'm one of the ones here who believes in leaving the bike paint as original. I have a pretty banged up late 60's Gitane that I thought about repainting and then realized all those scratches and chips are part of the bike's history so I've just waxed it up and let it be.

It's a personal choice for you since it's your bike.

martinman

I have decided to preserve and ride Like chas has posted it is only original one time. what is a safe way to clean campy components

sandranian · Site Admin

No need to repaint. Looks great! You have a very nice bike there.

Kinst VonSterga

In my opinion ... repaint it. Strip it down, cut off that annoying derailleur hanger. Do one of the rainbow color fade effects and top is off with some confusion, a good set of Schwinn varsity decals will throw off the thieves off from stealing your French gem. That campy stuff has to go. Better to swap it for a good set of weinmann brakes, steel rigida rims and pot-iron cranks, stem and suicide levers. A good set of 38mm wide tires, plastic fenders + Bernard Hinault saddle will set it a part from the rest. I guess the other lesser option is to keep it just the way it is, beautiful vintage with badges of chips & honor. But that wouldn't be fitting of this bikes potential Wink

martinman

Its to late to do all for I have traded it for a HUFFY to some a**munch from oregon only kidding you so funny Wink

verktyg

Good Choice! Wink

An Engineering student was walking across campus when a friend rode up on a shinny new bike.

1st Engineering student: "Nice bike, where did you get it?"

2nd Engineering student: "I was walking across campus and a cute coed rode up to me, threw the bike down, ripped off her clothes and said 'Take what you want!' so I took the bike!"

1st Engineering student: "Good choice, the clothes probably wouldn't have fit!" Laughing

I was saving my nastygram until after Christmas. Evil or Very Mad

Your initial question would be like going onto an antique collector's web site and asking if it would be OK to refinish some piece antique furniture. Mad

First question, have you had a chance to ride th bike much?

That's a question that most long time bike painters will ask you before painting a frame. The reason being is that frequently people will spend a lot of money restoring a bike and then discover that they don't like the way it rides or handles or maybe it doesn't even fit them!

I've been following frame and bike sales on eBay and Craigslist for the past 4 1/2 years. With the exception of few rare high end bikes or frames that have been completely restored by a well known professional, most repainted bikes and frames have rarely brought what similar ones in original condition with decent paint, decals and chrome usually bring.

Point in case, about a year ago I sold a fairly uncommon 1974 Gitane Champion du Monde frame to someone in the forum. The paint and decals were in good condition for a 35 year old bike plus the chrome was perfect. It had intact original Reynolds 531 decals too!

I would have kept it for myself except that it was too big. The buyer was a neophyte to the hobby and had previously took a Gitane Gran Sport in very nice condition, stripped it, rattle can repainted it and put on a lot of upgraded components. The finished job looked very nice but...

Shortly afterwards, he parted it out.

Knowing his short term history I extracted a promise that he wouldn't do the same with this frame before I sold it to him. I spent a number of hours prepping the frame, including reinstalling the headset and bottom bracket and perfectly adjusting them. I also checked the alignment and polished the paint.

As soon as he received the frame he stripped and repainted it. He wanted a bike that looked like the one-off show bike on the front and back covers of the 1974 French Gitane catalog. He probably invested well over $1000 in the bike.

He got a lot of ooos and ahs when he posted the finished pictures in the Forum but he never showed before and after pictures of the frame.

For starters, many resprays use metallic paint. Between the mid 60s and the late 70s, except for silver Gitane never used metallic paint on their frames. They were painted with "flamboyant" "candy apple" transparent colored lacquer. This kind of paint is very difficult to apply on a bike frame without getting runs and sags. That's why most repainters use metallic colors instead.

Another thing, new paint with old chrome and components stands out like a sore thumb! Silk stockings on a rooster!

Several months after posting the pictures in the forum the owner had to sell the bike. He ended up parting it out, most likely because he couldn't get much money as a complete "restored" bike. I doubt that he got what he paid for the frame and I gave him a good deal! Mad

So the moral of the story, unless the frame is a total rust bucket and or you've had it for years, don't repaint it unless you never plan on ever recovering any money selling it.

As an aside, I have about a 1972 gold Super Champion frame that I bought a few years ago from someone on the Forum. I took it to a local painter to see if he could match up the paint where it had come off in several 2" x 1" areas. Gold flamboyant is very hard to match and he started doing all of the chips instead of just the 2 spots.

Turns out that the bike had been repainted gold at the factory. It was originally turquoise blue flamboyant and the overcoat was not very good.

So, I'm having him repaint the whole frame in Gitane orange. The chrome is decent so it will look very good. I had a hard time convincing him that this was a Gitane and the paint SHOULD look bad, orange peel finish and all! Cool

GOOD CHOICE!

martinman

can any one tell me what the correct top tube cable clamps are for my 72 sc

verktyg · Last edited by verktyg on Sun Dec 26, 2010 11:04 pm; edited 1 time in total

Most of the ones that I've seen on SC bikes were Huret. Many TdFs had Simplex brake cable clamps. I've seen very few with Campy clamps.

I don't think there was any correct answer because these bikes were made during the Bike Boom era and Gitane used whatever they had on the shelf! Shocked

One thing to be aware of, the clamps or clips have to me metric size to fit the 26mm diameter top tube. Many of them being sold on eBay are for 1" size (25.4mm) top tubes and may not fit the larger size tube.

Numerous folks have claimed that their Super Corsa came from the factory with Campagnolo brakes. The brakes were listed as an option (very expensive option in the early 70s - $123-$150 extra if and when available).

I never saw a SC with factory equipped Campy brakes. Recently I got the same response from a number of others on the Classic Rendezvous list who also worked at shops that sold Gitanes during that era.

Campy brakes may have been installed by the importer or distributor or the shop that sold the bike (or even after the initial sale).

But consider this, Campy brakes went on the market in 1969 but were never readily available until about mid 1975, a year after the bike boom ended.

Back then, Campy gruppos without brakes were selling wholesale for around $300. All Campy (except for the brakes) Gitane Super Corsa bikes along with Campy equipped Italian made Altalas and Bottecchias could be purchased for around $300 wholesale.

Many bike shops bought those models just to part out for their Campy components... which they sold individually or used to build up fancy Italian or British frames.

So why would you want to spend an extra $125 to $175 to put Campy brakes on what was viewed by many bikies as a donor bike?

Turns out that the all Campy including brakes 1970 Super Corsa that I bought two weeks back originally had MAFAC Racer brakes. The Campy brakes on the bike were made in the mid 70s or later!

I'm going to pull them off to use on another bike and put on a set of MAFAC Racers so that it will be almost all original.

verktyg

The handle bar tape on your bike looks the the original heavy white plastic tape that Gitane used on SC and TdF bikes in the early 70s. Later they came with cloth tape that had to be applied by the bike shop.

Original tape and rubber bar plus from my 1971 TdF.

Secondly, the stem looks about 1/2" too high. Stems and seat posts should be inserted at least 2 3/4" to 3" (70mm to 75mm).

trials guy

What size is your frame? Great looking bike!

martinman