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Gitane Olympic? 
PostPosted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 10:57 pm Reply with quote
inforest
Joined: 21 Oct 2010
Posts: 23
Location: Turku, Finland
Hi all. I've been stalking this forum since I got this beautiful bike under "construction". But here goes my first post.

I'm from Finland and Gitane has never been very popular here. I think no one ever imported Gitane. For some reason Peugeot and for example Rossin + other italian bikes have been much more popular. Because I've always been in to french bicycles and wanted to have something more special than a very common Peugeot, I bought this Gitane from the internet.

I'm not quite sure about the model but I'll give it a good guess. It's made of reynolds 531 (inc. forks) and has this "tunnel" inside top tube for rear brake cable. The decals are from 80-83 era. Fork and chain stay are chromed and the frame color is bronze (Which was an option at least in 80-82). So according to my Sherlock skills I'm pretty sure its an Olympic.

I've tried to restore it to it's past glory but it's quite hard to find right components in Finland. This is not actually a cycling country. Bike is almost done by now but the "cockpit" is still missing. So I'm looking for a 3ttt stem and 3ttt drop bars. Hoping to find them soon before the winter falls upon us.

Follow the link for tasties: (Sorry for the finnish titles in the pics.)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/inforest/sets/72157624698636938/


Last edited by inforest on Mon Oct 25, 2010 11:10 am; edited 1 time in total

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Track -85?, Olympic -82
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Olympic? 
PostPosted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 11:55 pm Reply with quote
verktyg
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 2814
Location: SF Bay Area
Welcome to the Forum (welcome is the same in Finnish as English)

Looks like you found a great bike. Keep sending updates.

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Chas.
SF Bay Area, CA USA
==============
1984 Criterium
1969 TdF
1971 TdF
1974 TdF
1984 TdF x 2 Bikes
1970 SC
1971 SC
1972 SC
1984 SC
1984 Team Pro
1985 Professional
1990s Team Replica
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 22, 2010 1:24 am Reply with quote
mikkla
Joined: 23 Aug 2010
Posts: 87
Location: The Netherlands
hello hello!

Looks like really nice bike you got there.
Very nice pictures, thank you.
Good luck with the futher works!

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Greetings from the Netherlands!!
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 22, 2010 5:17 am Reply with quote
scozim
Joined: 26 Sep 2008
Posts: 629
Location: Ellensburg, WA
Beautiful bike - love the gold color and the Campy components. It looks even to be my size. Very Happy Should be a fantastic riding bike.

Off topic a little - what's the blue bike in the background in a couple of those photos?

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1984 Gitane Sprint
1984 Gitane Tour de France
mid-1970's Gitane Olympic
Plus many more
http://eburgcycling.blogspot.com
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 22, 2010 6:11 am Reply with quote
lofter
Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 1162
hmmmm french threaded bb and vitus drops.....interesting definately a racing bike and no fender eyelets. and chromed chain stay.
serial # on the bb?

and welcome to the website too Smile
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 23, 2010 8:47 am Reply with quote
trois tubes
Joined: 16 Apr 2010
Posts: 136
Hi There,

Great job with the build!

Looks like an '82 based on the internal rear brake cable routing with those graphics. Could have been an Olympic if it was originally built with full campy NR. Seems like that's what you want to make it into. I'd try to put a cinelli bar/stem combo wrapped-up in Benotto tape. I can get some light blue or grey if needed.

Looking forward to seeing pics of the completed project!
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 24, 2010 10:28 pm Reply with quote
inforest
Joined: 21 Oct 2010
Posts: 23
Location: Turku, Finland
Thanks!

The blue one is a Gitane Track from around -85. It's updated with new components. Made with columbus tubes (just the three main tubes)

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Track -85?, Olympic -82
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 25, 2010 6:45 am Reply with quote
inforest
Joined: 21 Oct 2010
Posts: 23
Location: Turku, Finland
I have really nice NOS NR levers for this Olympic(you can see them in the pictures). The rubber hoods look just fine but they feel a little dried. Would you recommend treating them some way before I mount them on. I'm a little worried if they will drop off in small pieces after a while in use.

Wax, oil, strawberry jam?

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PostPosted: Mon Oct 25, 2010 9:59 am Reply with quote
verktyg
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 2814
Location: SF Bay Area
inforest wrote:
I have really nice NOS NR levers for this Olympic(you can see them in the pictures). The rubber hoods look just fine but they feel a little dried. Would you recommend treating them some way before I mount them on. I'm a little worried if they will drop off in small pieces after a while in use.

Wax, oil, strawberry jam?


Glycerin! It will protect and soften the rubber.

Avoid all petroleum based products as they will quickly destroy the old rubber. Crying or Very sad

_________________
Chas.
SF Bay Area, CA USA
==============
1984 Criterium
1969 TdF
1971 TdF
1974 TdF
1984 TdF x 2 Bikes
1970 SC
1971 SC
1972 SC
1984 SC
1984 Team Pro
1985 Professional
1990s Team Replica
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 25, 2010 11:37 am Reply with quote
scozim
Joined: 26 Sep 2008
Posts: 629
Location: Ellensburg, WA
inforest wrote:
Thanks!

The blue one is a Gitane Track from around -85. It's updated with new components. Made with columbus tubes (just the three main tubes)


Time for a new thread with photos of that track bike! Wink

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1984 Gitane Sprint
1984 Gitane Tour de France
mid-1970's Gitane Olympic
Plus many more
http://eburgcycling.blogspot.com
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 3:40 am Reply with quote
inforest
Joined: 21 Oct 2010
Posts: 23
Location: Turku, Finland
lofter wrote:
hmmmm french threaded bb and vitus drops.....interesting definately a racing bike and no fender eyelets. and chromed chain stay.
serial # on the bb?

and welcome to the website too Smile


Serial number is B151304

Doesn't tell me anything...

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Track -85?, Olympic -82
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 12:27 pm Reply with quote
Wisey
Joined: 19 May 2009
Posts: 631
Location: Brisbane, Australia
inforest wrote:
lofter wrote:
hmmmm french threaded bb and vitus drops.....interesting definately a racing bike and no fender eyelets. and chromed chain stay.
serial # on the bb?

and welcome to the website too Smile


Serial number is B151304

Doesn't tell me anything...


Buy a lotto ticket and mark in those numbers, cross your fingers, and see what happens...... Wink

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Wisey

Delta Dreamin'
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 3:08 pm Reply with quote
inforest
Joined: 21 Oct 2010
Posts: 23
Location: Turku, Finland
As the dollar is pretty low right now (no offence) I would be very interested in this tool set which have been on the eBay for a while already. Shipping in side US is free but 32$ to Finland. Would you think it's a little bit over priced? If I transferred some money for the toolkit + reasonable shipping costs to some of you guys could some one order this for me and ship it to Finland?

I tried this USPS calculator for international shipping and it gave me 13.45$ as a result. I think it should fit in a "Priority Mail International Small Flat Rate Box" (8 5/8" x 5 3/8" x 1 5/8", if I converted the inches to centimeters correctly. I'm not very good with these)

Just let me know if it's too much to ask.

-Jyri

edit. Problem solved. Thanks greyhundguy!

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Track -85?, Olympic -82
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 11:15 pm Reply with quote
inforest
Joined: 21 Oct 2010
Posts: 23
Location: Turku, Finland
Here's my new cockpit. Stem and bars are almost like the originals. 3ttt products from 80's. Bar "tape" is not as in the catalogs but it's real leather which feels and looks better to me.



The rubber hoods are swimming in glyserin just as I was advised to treat them. Thanks for all the tips and help.

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 11:25 am Reply with quote
inforest
Joined: 21 Oct 2010
Posts: 23
Location: Turku, Finland
Today I had some time to mount the bars and set up the rear brake. (unfortunately I could not find a cable for front brake)

Still I must reveal something that's not quite complete yet:


-Jyri

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Gitane Olympic? 
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