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J Carter

http://cgi.ebay.com/GITANE-SERVICE-COURSE-58CM-FRAME-SET-LUGGED-ROAD-BIKE_W0QQitemZ270093212735QQihZ017QQcategoryZ98084QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item270093212735
Has the foil decals, 531 decal, chrome forks and stays, but what are these dropouts? Did Gitane use these in the early 70's or before?

Paul Wiseman

Yeah, I dunno...... Confused

That first number looks more like a 3 than a 5 to me. Remember, reynolds made lots of different tubesets back then. My '85 Defi is made from reynolds "453". I wonder if this is a budget reynolds tubeset? The stamped simplex drops with no derailleur hanger would seem to indicate that this is a cheaper model. Not sure what the 'custom made' decal means though. Did gitane do customs? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

verktyg

Paul,

I question the seller's knowledge of older bikes.

As far as I know there was no 541 tubing; 531 were the only numbers used by Reynolds for labeling bicycle tubing from the mid 1930s until they brought out 753 in 1976.

Through the end of the 1960s Reynolds had an "A" grade tubing that had a black sticker with yellow lettering and perhaps a "B" grade too. I remember seeing a few old Zeus bikes made of Reynolds A tubing.

In the 1980s Reynolds started making additional types of steel bicycle tubing with different numbers. There is even a number for tubing made to Reynolds' specs by another company but I can't remember which one it is (555?).

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/British_isles/Reynolds_gallery.htm

The TdF in question looks like it could be from the late 1960s. I've only seen those thin style Simplex dropouts without an integral derailleur hanger on one or two other bikes.

The US bike boom era (1972-1974) TdFs had Simplex dropouts with the integral hanger for Simplex derailleurs. Super Corsa bikes had Campy dropouts and all of the cheaper models had stamped steel dropouts.

All of the Gitanes that I remember used Bocama lugs, even my 1984 Super Corsa. These look like Prugnat lugs on this frame. By 1972, TdFs and Super Corsas used a simpler fork crown too.

My 1972/73 Grand Sport had the red and black "Custom Made*" sticker, so did many other Gitanes from that period.

The dark metallic blue was not a standard color used in the early 1970s. It didn't appear in the lineup until the 1976 model TdF with the honeycomb dropouts.

Hope this helps.

Chas.

sandranian · Site Admin

The "Custom Made" sticker was put on all of the higher end production bikes. I guess "Custom Made" means something different in French!