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Gear Junky

This is my first post to this website. I've been riding on the road for a little over 4 years and have recently gotten into the vintage steel bikes. I love the elegance of these classic bikes. Anyway, a friend of mine surprised me by purchasing this Gitane frame for me off of Ebay. I don't have the bike in my possesion yet, so I don't know a whole lot about it. From the picture does anyone know what model this is and the approximate age? I'll give more info(serial number etc...) when I pick it up. Thanks for your help, and I look forward to sharing my experience while building this up.

verktyg

This frame is probably from an early 1974 Gitane Interclub bike. The Interclub was Gitane's amateur or club racing model. The Interclub frame geometry was more sporty than standard 10 speeds of that time.

The frame has 16mm seat stays that are swagged over at the top like all of the other Gitane racing models from that era. Standard 10 speed models like the Gran Sport had 14mm seat stays plus more fork rake and longer chainstays resulting in a longer wheelbase.

The fork paint doesn't match the frame. It's probably a replacement but it looks like the correct fork. It could have been a pieced together bike.

The Interclub pictured at the top of the page in the link below is a French model from the 1974 Gitane English language catalog. It has different components than would have been found on a US bike:

http://www.gitaneusa.com/images/catalog/1974_pg2.jpg

Pre 1974 Interclubs came with sewups. They had alloy bars and from ~mid 1972 on, a Sugino Maxi "Melt Forged" (read cast aluminum) crankset. The Maxi chainrings were swagged onto the crank arm and the cranks were held onto the bottom bracket spindle with nuts rather than bolts that were used on better quality alloy cranks.

The Sugino Maxi bottom bracket spindle will work with other brands of less expensive alloy cranks from the mid 1970s. You will have to experiment around. "Sutherland's Handbook For Bicycle Mechanics" has a whole page on this.

This model Interclub probably had 27" alloy clinchers instead of sewups. It came with Mafac Racer centerpull brakes and either Simplex Prestige or Suntour derailleurs.

The frame is made of a lighter gage tubing than the "gas pipe" used on most 10 speeds from the early 1970s. It could be Durifort tubing???

The seatpost is ~25mm - 25.8mm in diameter. The seat was designed by Torquemada! The stem is an old Pivo cast aluminum model with a history of failing; the Pivo bars have also been known to fail unexpectedly.

I don't recommend doing any kind of serious riding with these bars and stem. Here's a picture of a crack developing in a Pivo stem the same as yours. Trying to control a bike with the bars in your hands is no fun! Confused

The stem in your frame it sticking pretty far out. I recommend removing the fork and inspecting the threads for any sign of cracking or having someone who's competent at bike repairs do it for you.

The old metric 22.0mm or 21.9mm metric stems are a little hard to find and most of them used 25mm French diameter handlebars. This link to the late Sheldon Brown's web site tells you how to work around the problem:

http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/french.html#stems

Read this section also for some good pointers:

http://sheldonbrown.com/velos.html#table

When you get a new stem, get a new 25.4mm or 26mm diameter bar to match. Here's some pointers from Rivendell's web site.

http://www.rivbike.com/products/list/22?page=2#product=16-182

Nitto makes some nice 25.4mm and 26mm classic looking bars.

With alloy wheels and reasonable components this should make a nice riding 24-25 Lb. bike. I had several Interclubs that I used for training/beater bikes. I wouldn't go overboard on upgrading, remember the concept "Silk stockings on a rooster" Laughing

Have fun,

Chas.

Gear Junky

Chas,
Thanks for all the great information. I went to Sheldon's sight and read about the challenges of finding and/or replacing the french threaded parts. Per the previous owner, the bottom bracket needs to be replaced so I have my work cut out for me. Thanks again, and more info & pics coming soon.

lofter

just go to ebay and look around and not just usa ebay look at france ebay religously there always french stuff that comes up .bookmark stronglight and campy catagories , it helps quicken the process.