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sandranian · Site Admin

An interesting Gitane is available on French ebay...for quite a reasonable amount of money as well. It appears to be a late 1960's Gitane, but I am not entirely sure and am only basing that on the decals and the painted seat stay "slants" (what do they call the part of the seat stay that attaches to the seat post lug?). The interesting part about the bike is the tubing used. I have never heard of "Tubes Flash", but that is what the decal says. Any information?

Here is a link to the listing: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=230167240235&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=013

Here are some pictures:

Paul Wiseman

Sounds pretty cool, huh?

The seat stays have been crimped at the tops where they join the seat lug. This was done on the less expensive models in the late 60's and early 70's. Check out the catalogues pages.

The rear tips on this frame look like cheap stamped ones too, with no rear dreailleur hanger.

Guess: A lower end frame. Maybe they sourced some less expensive tubing, rather than pay premium prices to reynolds?

Say what you like about their frames, gitane had a good business model going.

sandranian · Site Admin

I agree with you regarding the dropouts: They certainly appear stamped. But the odd thing is that the fork at least appears to have a "TDF" sticker on it. It doesn't have any chrome, which would also lead one to believe it was a lower-end frame. But again, the stay tips appear to be painted with the French tricolor, which Gitane did in the 1960's. I don't think they are merely crimped.