gitaneusa.com :: View topic - New-to-me Gitane Tour de France- help pinpoint year?

tobydeemer

Hi all-

I recently purchased this TdF from the original owner, who said he bought it new sometime around 65, 66... something like that. I was wondering what you guys think, if you have any input, resources, etc. I started taking parts off the frame in order to give it a good cleanup, rust proof the inside of the tubes, etc. (Which explains why it looks like a track bike with derailleurs...)

The saddle is not original, but it's a similar style. It's made by Middlemore of England, if anyones knows of that company. (I'd never heard of them. Assumed a Brooks knockoff.)

It has Simplex derailleurs, friction shifters, and dropouts; Campy hubs and QR levers; Mavic "Championnat Du Monde" sew-up rims; Reynolds 531 of course; a Huret derailleur cable stop on the seat tube; Pivo stem; Stronglight (I think Super 93 or 94?) crankset; and Mafac Competition brakes.

In theory, I want to strip the frame, and possibly save the decals (right...) and repaint it the original color, re-apply the decals (original or repro's) and then clear coat it even though that's "not original". I need that extra durability as I want to ride the mess out of it when it's done.

Please let me know what you think, and any input would be greatly appreciated. (And forgive me that this thread is also posted on BikeForums.net.......)

smilingroadrunner

This should be a fun restore project. I'm sure you'll hear more from more of the folks here, I'd say this is most likely a model from possibly 1970-thru-1973 given the foil type decals and components, definetly not from the middle 60's. The saddlebar post also appears to have been replace with a more recent alloy type.

verktyg

It's a "bigun" 25"/ 64cm frame. It's probably a 1970 to 1973 vintage judging by the components and the particular Simplex rear dropouts.

Gitane started off equiping the TdFs in the early 1970s with all French components: Normandy Luxe HF hubs and Stronglight 93 crank sets and so on. Norrmandy Luxe hubs got scarce (they were used on Peugeot PX-10s too) Gitane switched to Campagnolo Nuovo Tipo hups.

Same thing happened with the Stronglight 93 cranks around 1973 (they too were used on Peugeot PX-10s). Gitane switched to Sugino Mighty Compe cranks which were early Campy knockoffs.

I guess Peugeot had more sway with the French component makers.

TdFs from this era had Simplex Criterium derailleurs, Mafac Competition brakes, a Stronglight P3 or V4 Competition headset, Pivo stem and bars and Lyotard 460D alloy pedals. They had either a light steel tubing seat post or one made of aluminum tubing. The seats were real round top plastic ass hatchets. Yours has a Laprade seat post from the late 1970s early 1980s and a generic leather saddle.

The paint and chrome on this bike looks pretty good. The normal wear and tear is called patina in the antiques business. I think that doing a total restore on most French bikes of this era is like putting silk stockings on a rooster. I saw bikes that looked worse than yours when we took them out of the shipping boxes. Wheels rolled around loose in the boxes, the bars and stem were not secured and everything got scratched up.

Add to those considerations, getting accurate replacement decals my be near well impossible at this point. Custom decals can be made up but they might cost more than the bike is worth. There are outfits like CycleArt that specialize in these kinds of restorations but I can usually spot one of their jobs from at least 10 feet away. They take a lot of artistic licesnse.

So you have to ask yourself was that 5 or 6 bullets? Well do you feel lucky? .... Wink

Do you want a hanger queen that's the equivalent of a 1947 Studabaker or do you want a nice classy riding bike that shows some patina and use?

Chas.