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rustlover

hello there over the deep blue sea,
at first sorry about my bad english and mistakes i will do by using this forum.
i need some help by a softly restauration of an 1983 ? team pro.
2 weeks ago i owned an old Gitane bike from a little bike dealer around my house who was just rebuilding the parts from the frame to give the frame and the parts to the mtallrecycling as i visit him. i bought the bike for 30 euros and rescued it. After research at this site it seems to be a 1983 team pro with a columbus steel frame. All the parts are like the specification in the 1984 catalogue: Stronglight 107, Stronglight A9 b.Hinault, Modolo Master Pro, Cinelli Bar,Stem, Turbo saddle b. Hinault, Simplex slj 6600, Spidel professionell with Gp4 rims. The Frame Colour is original the first one in Gitane blue and the frame has the numberholder and the brake cable in the top tube.
Different were some decals: The Gitane letters are silver on a blue ground and some of them have a earthball with the world championchip coloured stripes - front tube and bottum tube. the fork got only the columbus decal - may be the rest is lost.

The framenumber is shorter then the numbers i read in this forum - at the cinelli bb is market 57 for the frame size (either the fork) and then beneith only 040 383, reading your forum i thought gitane numbers were crazy - for me this looks like march 83.

Questions for my renovation / retsauration, parts: original as can!
- what kind of bartape
- Colour for the fork (need to be new colour, frame is ok)
- brake lever hoods
- brake cables
- front derelleur slj 522
- chain
maybe some small parts later i dont new the correct name.
Are there people from germany in this forum?

The next days i will give here some photos of the bike.
Waiting for any messages and with friendly regards

trois tubes

Greetings!

Sounds like you found a "diamond in the rough" as they say. I will let the senior members of this site guide you along regarding specifics.

I do have a few visual references of the overall "look" of the bike and have always had a great interest in that particular model and year. Gitane spec'd the Team Pro this way for only one year being indeed 1983. The first run of these bikes had translucent paint over a fully chromed frame. Unfortunately the paint had nothing to bond too and subsequently would flake off. Production quickly reverted to primed frames with signature opaque blue paint. I'm curious to know which finish yours has. Please keep us posted with your progress.

Hope these help...

sandranian · Site Admin

Welcome to the forum. Always love more Germans here...and a bonus if they are Bundesliga fans (mein lieblingsmannschaft ist SGE (Eintr. Frankfurt).

Anyhow...to the questions:

- what kind of bartape - Benotto (yellow)
- Colour for the fork (need to be new colour, frame is ok) - French Racing Blue
- brake lever hoods - If you are using Modolo...then Modolo (gum)!
- brake cables - Anything you want from your local bike shop.
- front derelleur slj 522 - Depends on the frame...if it is clamp or braze-on
- chain - Sedisport Silver. Very hard to find...so in the mean time, just purchase a SRAM 6/7/8 speed chain.

trois tubes

1983 Team Pros had braze-on front derailleurs. Here are a few more references...

rustlover

The frame is not fully chromed, only the backstay and the fork are fully chromed, and the front derrailleur is a braze on - there is a hole in the frame
like the hole for bottle holders.
In my first post i described and asked about the decals - what is original
or are they changing in 1983 or changing in which land they were send?
I saw my decals in the beach described as early gitane decals - silver gitane letters on blue ground and the earth ball with worldmaster colours -
but i didnt see this decals in your catalogs on this site - not before 1983 and not later.

friendly greetings from germany

verktyg

Greetings,

Can you show us some pictures please.

Können Sie uns zeigen, die einige Abbildungen gefallen. Wink

rustlover

Now here are the pictures of the Frame:

Please lett me know are the decals original ones or are they later put on?
If not which are the right ones?
Is it possible that the frame is build March 1983?
Can someone give me the colourcode in Ral or cmyk, rgb

Thanks for your help[/img]

rustlover

Now here are more pictures - the parts which were mounted at the frame

The Bottom Bracket was a Fks - which is original?
It was used a 6 speed freewheel helicomatic - original 7 speed?
I am searching for a front dereilleur slj 522a braze on

trois tubes

Definitely a 1983 Team Pro. Decals are 1970's vintage you can get 1983-85 repros on ebay from

http://cgi.ebay.com/Gitane-set-decals-vintage-/300369374582?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45ef68ed76#ht_924wt_907

Base color is correct and original based on condition of Columbus tubing decals. If you look at previous references I have posted you will see correct placement for decals. NOTE: There is only ONE VERTICAL "Gitane" decal (like one's used on fork blades) on seat tube for 1983. If you order replacements you may want to request an additional set used on forks for this purpose.

Wheels should be Maillard 700 Pro hubs laced to Mavic GEL330 or GP4 rims. The Renault team used mostly the infamous "Paris-Roubaix" SSC rims if you can get your hands on a pair at a reasonable price. I have a pair of "blues" that I bought several years ago - I'm still waiting for my right arm to grow back!!!

Hope all this helps

rustlover

Does nobody knows the right colour code? rgb, cmyk, ral?
Nobody got a slj 522 braze on?
Whats about the other owner of a 1983 team pro - is there a system by the
framenumbers?
Can someone send me detail pictures of the to tube where brake cable come in and out?
Got someone a team pro with the original decals and send me some pictures
for getting the right place when i put new ones on my frame?

With best regards from germany

sandranian · Site Admin

I believe that the 1983 frames have the manufacture date and size stamped on the bb shell.

Regarding the color, are you thinking of painting that bike? Doesn't appear to need painting, only proper decals!

Check in the "owner gallery" forum regarding pics of a 1983/1984 for cable routing. Identical on those models. You can do a search for "1983" and 1984 and it will show you all of the posts discussing these bikes.

http://www.gitaneusa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=849&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=stephans

rustlover

Thanks for the infos sandranian, you are right the colour of the frame is quite fine, but the fork got a lot of big scratches and some rust and needs a repaint.
Normally i try to keep old things in the original condition bur the fork is too bad.

greetings from germany

bowser

hi
my frame number reads 406060 then underneath stamped 11 - 83
not sure how sequence works

sandranian · Site Admin

11-83 may be the production date. Also, there might be another number there indicating the frame size. Most of the 1984's-1988's had the size stamped in the BB shell along with the date of manufacture.

verktyg