gitaneusa.com Forum Index » Vintage Gitane » Vintage Gitane racer Goto page 1, 2  Next    View previous topic :: View next topic  Vintage Gitane racer   Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 4:07 am twokeelya Joined: 10 Mar 2009 Posts: 8 Hi everyone I have a vintage early 70's gitane super coursa that I raced when I was a child. I raced against Greg Lemond, our first race was together. I used it to train with the US olympic team, won State Championships ect. Anyway, over the years, I repainted it, now I would like to restore it to it's former glory. I have all the original equipment. adodised campy cranks, campy derailleur, shifters, Cinelli bars ect. Where should I start?   Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 5:55 am sandranian Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 2701 Location: Southern California Wow. That's some story.Some day you are going to have to elaborate on that! Regarding a starting place... The bike has already been refinished at least once, so perhaps a new paint job to restore it to the original color? Decals can be ordered from "Cyclomondo" on Ebay. They are pretty darned good, and several of the list members here helped him to develop them. So the decals are available.... The original components are also listed in the catalogues section of the GitaneUSA website, so there is plenty of info there for you. If you have specific questions, there are people here who can help. Are you looking for a painter? _________________ Stephan Andranian Costa Mesa, CA www.gitaneusa.com Send it to me!   Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 6:12 am verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area twokeelya Welcome to the Forum. Chas. Last edited by verktyg on Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:14 pm; edited 1 time in total   Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 6:30 am twokeelya Joined: 10 Mar 2009 Posts: 8 Yes, I'm looking for a painter that can match the original color and perhaps re-chrome. even though the chrome is not in bad shape, I would like to spare no expense to restore it. I will elaborate briefly. Greg and I were 12 years old, his family owned a sporting goods store in Reno, his team was the Reno Wheel man. I belonged to the Nevada City Wheelman, sponsored by "Tour of Nevada City bicycle Shop owned by the Miller family in Nevada City. Back then, Ron Miller was building frames even at a young age. He built the first mountain bike frame long before Gary Fisher did. When Greg wasn't at a race, I always won, when he was there, I could stay with him for most of the race and usually placed second. He made the most intimidating sound when he rode, kinda like a machine, sucked the energy right out of you. My older brother was in the next class up, I started racing with Greg, He was so good, that he was promoted up to the next class after 1/2 season. The next season he was promoted again and was the youngest Senior racer in the ABLA. We had many many other bikes, but the gitane fit my sprinting style better than most. One bike was the Teledyne Titan, the first titanium frame produced. It was light as hell, but like spegehetti when you sprinted on it. We also had a Windsor Pro, Masi Gran Crit, Botechettia (sp) and so many other ones. I saved the Gitane and vowed to never sell it.   Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:07 am greyhundguy Joined: 09 Apr 2008 Posts: 678 Location: South-Central VIRGINIA twokeelya, Sounds like we don't need to tell you where to start but you need to tell us how to finish Kindly post photos for us to drool over. Jay _________________ Dance like nobody is watching.   Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:33 am twokeelya Joined: 10 Mar 2009 Posts: 8 I removed all the components from the frame and it's not sexy at all. Over the years we painted it two or three times with a rattle can. I remember the day when my parents bought the shiny new bike and brought it home. The candy red color with chrome lugs stands out vividly. The little red hand and 531 sticker are indelibly etched into my memory. I also remember a checkered flag with "super coursa" on the top tube. So many races and miles on that bike. Never crashed it, never left it out in the rain.   Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:44 am greyhundguy Joined: 09 Apr 2008 Posts: 678 Location: South-Central VIRGINIA Was it origianally fitted with Campagnolo SP Brakes or Mafac CP's? Jay _________________ Dance like nobody is watching.   Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 9:09 am twokeelya Joined: 10 Mar 2009 Posts: 8 greyhundguy wrote: Was it origianally fitted with Campagnolo SP Brakes or Mafac CP's? Jay Mafac's, still have them. I just went down to the garage and looked the Gitane over, and it's not in bad shape at all. Turns out it is nearly complete, I'm bringing it up tonight, dust it off and will photograph it, posts the pics here. The only thing is the components are mostly anodized Campy, not original equipment, but definitely period correct for racing. I remember getting those black anno campy goodies and putting them on it, 35 years ago. what do you think the value of it is?   Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 10:35 am Gtane Joined: 14 Sep 2007 Posts: 681 Location: UK Twokeelya, Welcome from me too. Super stories from your time racing and thank you for sharing. It must have been quite something to have raced against Greg Lemond, and to have come second, that means that you were a classy rider too. I really like the list of bikes you owned but of course it's great that you retained the Gitane. Looking forward to the photos. Thanks Tim _________________ Everything has a cycle   Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:04 am DP Joined: 26 Mar 2008 Posts: 28 Location: Montagna lunga Colorado USA If you are in the SF Bay Area look up Ed Linton in the East Bay. If you are in the Pacific Northwest look up Ed Freeman in Sea Tac area. These guys are likely the best to restore your bike frame to "as-new" condition, I'd suggest some of the (pricier) SoCal guys but many are a bit snobbish, "busy", expensive, and tend to over-restore bikes. For one of our Gitanes, baby-butt-smooth paint with deep clearcoat just doesn't look right (my opinion only)   Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:47 am twokeelya Joined: 10 Mar 2009 Posts: 8 DP wrote: If you are in the SF Bay Area look up Ed Linton in the East Bay. If you are in the Pacific Northwest look up Ed Freeman in Sea Tac area. These guys are likely the best to restore your bike frame to "as-new" condition, I'd suggest some of the (pricier) SoCal guys but many are a bit snobbish, "busy", expensive, and tend to over-restore bikes. For one of our Gitanes, baby-butt-smooth paint with deep clearcoat just doesn't look right (my opinion only) Thank you so much for the lead. Just got off the phone with ED and I'm bringing the frame up to him next week. He realy sounds like he knows what he's doing and I agree, the smooth paint deep and shiny clear isn't what I want to see either.   Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:09 pm verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area DP wrote: If you are in the SF Bay Area look up Ed Linton in the East Bay. These guys are likely the best to restore your bike frame to "as-new" condition, I'd suggest some of the (pricier) SoCal guys but many are a bit snobbish, "busy", expensive, and tend to over-restore bikes. For one of our Gitanes, baby-butt-smooth paint with deep clearcoat just doesn't look right (my opinion only) I agree about the excess clearcoat on a Gitane. Even on custom built frames too much clearcoat hides the the fine details in the lugwork. ~$400 seems to be the going price to strip and repaint a frame plus re-apply the decals. Decals and chrome are extra. I suggest that you get a set of decals for you frame from Cyclomondo on eBay ahead of time. I have several sets that I'm going to put on some Gitanes when I get them repainted. I'm not sure whether I want the foil decals clearcoated or not. http://tinyurl.com/bq29oa Ed Litton takes in work from all over the country and even from overseas customers. I think that his restorations look very close to the original finish. He's well respected in the business. http://www.classicrendezvous.com/USA/Ed_Litton.htm Andy Gilmore of Gilmore Cycles down in Tucson, AZ is a little less expensive for a repaint job. I've never used him but I've seen some of his frames and they looked OK. http://www.gilmourbicycles.us/ Beware, many folks who repaint bikes have an "artistic" bent and they'll get around to doing your work when the spirit moves them (myself included). Good luck. BTW, nice racing history... Chas.   Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 4:50 pm twokeelya Joined: 10 Mar 2009 Posts: 8 uncleaned, I have the rest of the parts downstairs and I will clean her up, put it together and shoot som more shots   Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2009 1:12 pm sandranian Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 2701 Location: Southern California "Chrome lugs"??? I am unaware of any production Gitane ever being produced with chromed lugs.... _________________ Stephan Andranian Costa Mesa, CA www.gitaneusa.com   Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2009 3:35 pm twokeelya Joined: 10 Mar 2009 Posts: 8 sandranian wrote: "Chrome lugs"??? I am unaware of any production Gitane ever being produced with chromed lugs.... Not exactly sure which lug you refer to, but in the late 70's, when I stripped the paint , to my surprise the chrome was underneath and I decided to show as much as possible. However, some of the original paint still remained, as shown in the photo on the Lugs. When I spoke with Ed Litton, he asked me what kinda shape the chrome was in. I'm assuming he restored enough of them to know that they came with Nickel plate and chrome over, then painted. Perhaps if you strip the paint off your Gitane you might be surprised to find chrome under there. [/img] Vintage Gitane racer     gitaneusa.com Forum Index » Vintage Gitane You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum All times are GMT - 8 Hours   Page 1 of 2   Goto page 1, 2  Next All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First  Select a forum Gitane USA----------------Vintage GitaneGitane RacingModern GitanePro Racing - Classics/Giro/Tour....Owner Gallery   Powered by phpBB © 2001-2004 phpBB Group Designed for Trushkin.net | Themes Database.