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kedurrant

I am an American living in southern France and I recently acquired this bike. It was in rough shape and I plan on getting it back in a roadworthy state. A lot of the parts were original or replaced early on, I am not sure. I certainly learned a lot taking this bike apart with all the odd sizes and unique construction features.

I dont know if I am going to stay true to the era and find parts from the era to replace. Finding these parts is difficult, even in France. I am thinking I am going to bring the frame back down to bare metal and reconstruct it keeping some of the unique features but adding modern Campagnolo components.

I would certainly appreciate any details anyone can provide me concerning the bike though.

Thanks,

Kyle
Toulon France[/img]

kedurrant

I forgot to add, can anyone tell me what the little tab on the 5th photo is on the rear triangle?

lofter

Hello , welcome . the tab is for a generator to power lights . more than likely an randoneer or light touring model . it should have come with fenders with light on front and tail light on back. I'll check the catalog section for year. Were missing 1981 which is where this might fall.

lofter

Looks like this bike
http://www.gitaneusa.com/images/catalog/1980/french/Gitane_1980_Page_27.jpg
Anybody else want to chime in?

vanhelmont

Kyle,

If you strip it to the metal and fit it out with either period correct or new Campy components, you should end up with a nice bike, but from my experience, painting is either a lot of work and hard to get it right, or expensive if it's done professionally. With a rattlecan it's hard to avoid the paint that misses one tube getting on the other, I think it's called overspray, making a rough surface.
Gman got good result with powder coating his bike, which isn't too expensive.

Little bits and pieces also add up. Hate to damp your enthusiasm, but unless the bike's something special to you, or you enjoy the restoring process, you are probably better off getting a better bike to start with, which may not be too hard in France.

Does it have any tubing sticker, or even the remains of one that somebody knowledgeable can identify?

A bike like this can, I think, be practical to just touch up the paint, and use whatever parts are cheaply available, to ride to the store, etc.

Dave

verktyg

verktyg

The photos weren't working properly yesterday. After looking at them closely today, it appears that you have a bike that was assembled with a lot of mismatched parts thrown together.

As I said above, I wouldn't spend a lot of money on upgrading this bike. I recommend that you get everything working properly and have fun riding it.

Do a search on Frenchbuilt and see some of the bikes he's picked up at bargain prices in France... Wink

Also if you do go shopping for another bike, make sure that you find a frame that fits you properly.

BTW, the rear wheel has a steel rim and plus wing nuts that were abandoned in the early 70s in favor of hex nuts or hubs with quick releases.

Think of you bike as a Citroen 2cv Deux Chevaux or a Renault Dauphine... very practical but not something that you would want to put a Ferrari engine into (Campagnolo components).

The French were VERY proud of their bicycles and their domestically made components. They never copied anyone... and no one copied them! Laughing

Think of Italian made components as "The French celebration of the Italian wine harvest". Twisted Evil

Is it wrong, or just French!

Frenchbuilt

Its true! France is full of 100 to 120 euro bikes. Some brand new. Unless
a bit special or a known specific model, most light weight racing bikes fall into this price range and its hard to find buyers above this range. I did pay around 300 euros once for a brand new Tour de France but later resold it for the same and this took some time. All reynolds TDF's can be found from 50 to 120 euros and my best was for around 45 euros but a bit far away for pick up, but its often interesting to find nice bikes off the beaten path.

Once on the way to Sochaux France on business to the Peugeot Scooter factory, I picked up 3 bikes in one day. I got a Beautifully built Peugeot Triathlon road bike (Reynolds 501, Stronglight etc) for 55 euros and from the original owner and the whole family came out to see the bike go as if a part of the family was leaving forever. Later in the day, I picked up a beautifully
built Motobecane Mirage in never used condition for 60 euros and this included a Shimano AX water bottle worth twice the price.
This bike was just sitting in a guys car since he was moving and then he said I have another bike, a Peugeot , you can have for 45 euros. After about 15 minutes he came back with a Peugeot PSN something or other but full Reynolds, Simplex SLJ and of course new but sitting around for a long time condition. So we came back with 3 full bikes on our 500 kilometer road trip.

Finally, I hit the road a long while back following up on a ad for an orange Gitane for 120 euros (my first Gitane buy in France since 1984). The photo looked good so off to the coast on a winter sunday and a young guy wheels out a in new condition all original Tour de France that his neighbor had sitting in his basement for 33 years. The story was that the neighbor was dying and gave the bike to the guy to keep and sell to good home.

Good luck there are tons.

Dan

Here is the Peugeot Triathlon which I really almost felt bad taking away from this family I mentioned (its OK, nothing wrong with these well crafted bikes and today Peugeot and Gitanes are built in the same factory!)