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Zephyrs

Hello!
I recently picked up an old Gitane mixte and want to fix it up. It's my first project bike, so any help is appreciated.

Here is what I know the bike needs: cleaned, new jockey pulleys, new brake cables and housing, brake adjustment.

Here are some things I'd like to do: new hand brake levers (the ones it has are too big for my hands), new handlebar tape, and new paint.

Do you all have any suggestions or revelations about fixing up this type of Gitane?
Is there a particular repair and maintenance book you'd recommend? I hear Zinn and The Big Blue Book 2 are the most in depth.
Do you have any thoughts about painting this bike? As you can tell its original paint has faded quite a bit, and I've read a lot of mixed results on DIY paint jobs. (I love the idea of getting new decals for it. At the moment it's missing its seat tube decal.)

Thank you for reading and for your suggestions! This forum is great!

Jessica Zephyrs
Missoula, MT

scozim

Welcome. I love Missoula - almost became a Griz back in the mid-80's. It was a definite toss up.

Just some thoughts:

Inspect the plastic parts on the rear derailleur carefully to make sure they're not cracked. For the jockey wheels I've been successful in using the wheels from an early model Shimano Tourney derailleur. If you have a shop in Missoula that's been around for a long time ask if they have old parts in a box that you can look through.

You'll want to go through all the bearings and re-grease. To get to the bottom bracket bearings you'll need to have the cotter pin removed from the crankset. You can get a Bike Smith cotter press for around $50, hammer it out which risks mushrooming the head of the cotter pin (been there, not fun) or, again, check and see if a shop has a cotter press. The shop in our town has had the same owner since 1982 and he's got a huge old press that he said I can use anytime.

Paint - is up to you. Many here would say leave it alone. If you decide to re-paint you could consider powdercoating. I think reproduction decals are available.

There are several good books out there - I've got ones by Edward Sloane (I think that's the name) and reference it quite a bit.

gman309905

decals are available at http://cyclomondo.net/page35.htm
or you can look on Ebay, just search Gitane decals, you'll probably come up with the same seller. He ships out of Australia. Whatever else you do to the bike is up to you, most people here would not repaint, if you choose to refinish I would do as scozim suggested and have it powder coated. large variety of colors and more durable than a standard paint job. If your looking for parts, Harris cyclery has parts for old french bikes http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/index.html
and if your interested in updating your bottom bracket Velo Orange has sealed bearing bottom brackets with french thread http://store.velo-orange.com/index.php/

Zephyrs

Thanks so much!

Powder coating looks as though it'd cost more than the bike is worth (though "worth" is a squishy word here).

The links are extremely appreciated!

A couple more questions:
Did Gitane ever make shims for brake levers? For those with small hands? Or is there a brand of shims that would work with the brakes on my bike, which I believe are original?

Also, below I've posted a picture of a certain type of brake lever. It has two types of levers in one, but I can't for the life of me figure out what this type is called. Any ideas?

Thanks again!

gman309905

I might be incorrect, but I believe this type of lever was called a " safety lever" because you could use the brakes from the top position of your handlebars. when you say that your levers are too large for your hands, are you referring to the length of the lever handle or the height of the body , the distance that the body of the lever holds the handle itself away from the bars ? The only suggestion I can offer in either case is to search on ebay for a smaller set of levers for your road bike. they also have levers called "cross top levers " which I believe are used mostly in cyclo-cross but I installed them on my bike because I feel they work better than the old style "safety lever "

gman309905

check out item number 271172808799 on ebay. These are cane creek aero brake levers for small hands, might work for you. and about the powder coat, price depends on what type of coating is used, single coat which will give just basic colors usually runs around $100 to $150. Its when you start getting into the metallic and two coat finish's that it can start to get kinda expensive. The do-it-yourself paint job can have a wide variety of results depending on how much time. effort and experience you wish to devote to it. For me, experience has taught me thats it's a lot easier to have the powder coater sand blast the old finish off and apply the powder coat. But of course it all depends on how much your willing to spend.

Frenchbuilt

Hi you might get the levers a bit closer by moving them down on the bars where they would be less "up in the air". Weinmann, Dia compe, Mafac ClB all made these safety levers and were on tons of Schwinn Varsitys. Here everyone hates them but I like them since they act like a "brake trim device"
meaning that you can just touch them to brake a bit or trim your speed.
If you plan to go down hill at 60mph then you will die with these levers but if you use it like the french did for just hauling around, then they are great.

The problem is that they flex and eventually touch the bars before full power gets to the calipers. New and tight cables help. Your bike looks great like a classic car that has been polished right down to the primer/metal but this color red always fades and the paint was never ment to last half a life time.

So wax it up and show it off as a sleek classic.

Frenchbuilt

http://www.ebay.fr/itm/Poignees-de-frein-CLB-doule-levier-/261189081762?pt=FR_JG_Sports_Cyclisme_&hash=item3cd0151aa2

Zephyrs

Great advice! Thank you.

When I say the brakes are too big for my hands, I mean "the height of the body, the distance that the body of the lever holds the handle itself away from the bars." In comparison to my road bike, these brakes are very far away from the bars.

I think I'll look into the cross top levers, since I probably won't use this bike's drops. This bike is just for mozying around town, because it's adorable, but I live in Montana where there are occasionally hills, and I don't want to get confused between my safety brakes and regular breaks while going down a hill. Surprised

And I think I'll take everyone's advice and not paint it.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I'm sure there will be more.

gman309905

just one small detail about the cross top levers, they apply the brakes by moving the housing, not the cable. so they can only be used in conjunction with a regular set of aero brake levers to anchor the cable. I suppose they could be used with vintage levers but the point is they can't be used by themselves. feel free to ask as many questions as you like, always happy to help.

Zephyrs

Good point, Gman. I can see from the pic of your bike how you've got it set up. The brake cable runs from the aero brake levers under the handlebar tape to the cross bar levers. So you must have newer, not original, aero brakes? Are your aero brakes still functional with this set up? With my set up (with the vintage brakes) it might be harder to run the cable under the handlebar tape.

gman309905

the drop bar levers on my bike are vintage campy, the frame is from the early 70's. The levers I believe are from the 80's, the entire set-up is fully functional. if I'm mistaken about the time period, my apologies. I've never seen cross top levers used with vintage non-aero levers but I don't think you could run the housing under your bar tape on such a set-up. you may have to acquire a set of aero levers to use the cross tops in a similar set-up to mine.

Frenchbuilt

I had these Mafac "Safety" levers and they worked great.

This was a well made design that worked fine if you know how to use them.

They are $$ now but turn up now and then.

There are CLB levers are on ebay for 15$. I might have a new pair somewhere that came from old store stock.