gitaneusa.com :: View topic

SilentGTboy · Last edited by SilentGTboy on Sat May 12, 2007 9:39 pm; edited 2 times in total

I work at a bike shop out in Tampa, Fl and a man brought this bike in as a donation. The paint was covered in black grease and everything chrome was covered in a brown tar, derailleur, cranks and everything was covered. He was the original owner, with all the original components. I've been cycling for 3 years and racing for 1.5 years and being 19 and a new cyclist, any bike 5+ years old seemed junkie and outdated. I was excited to clean this bike mainly because of all the campy, but it was a pleasant surprise how little actually changed over the years. What? The bike has cartridge brake pads, replaceable chain rings, tubular tires, and these hubs spin nicer than my own race wheels?! This bike was truly an amazing eye opener for me!

Such a beautiful bike!

MAFAC "COMPETITION" Brakes & Cartridge Pads (Italian replacement tires)

Hutchinson SuperSprint Tubular Tires MADE IN ITALY. Hutchinson tires are made in France

Campagnolo Record Nuovo (Patent 1972)

Fork right side sticker

Mavic Montlery Made in France stamped on the tubular rim

Downtube Decal

Top Tube Decal

Pivo Stem which should clean up nice & shiney. The half thats in the frame is a nice silver color.

Headtube Decal

Now does this bike come with a pump or could that be an accessory at the time of purchase?

Freccia D'oro Plastic Saddle with an tension nut under the nose.

Bottom bracket: Stronglight cranks, Campagnolo front derailluer and cable guide.

Campagnolo shifters, MAFAC brakes, Stronglight headset, Campagnolo hubs, Mavic rims

This derailleur hanger is held on by the quick release.

Campagnolo Hubs

Beautiful white brake cable housing.

Clean brake hoods and black cloth tape.

This bike is amazing to me and it's been real fun going through and cleaning it so far. I have relaced the front wheel with new spokes and the back wheel will get the same. The hubs are amazingly light! I will eventually strip the whole bike. There are small rust flakes that come off with ease when you scratch it. I am looking forward to deep cleaning everything and making it look like new!

verktyg

Looks great. I'm looking for an early 70s orange TdF or Super Corsa myself.

My first Gitane a 1972 Gran Sport was that color. As soon as I walked into the bike shop I said "I want that one....".

Yours is probably a 1971 to 1973 Tour de France that looks like it has the all the original components except for the Simplex Criterium derailleurs.

Some of the earlier models had Normandy Luxe hubs and later TdFs came with Sugino cranks because of a shortage of Stronglight cranks at the height of the bike boom in 1973.

It's too bad that the clumsy butcher that installed the Campy derailleurs cut off the Simplex gear hanger. We modified a lot of these to take Campy rear derailleurs. We had to do a little filing on the dropout and thread the hanger hole. Simple job, 20 minutes!

These bikes had the classic 72° parallel road racing frame geometry and medium length wheel base that made them stable and comfortable to ride all day long.

Chas.

verktyg

One other thing that I forgot to mention, if you plan on doing any serious riding, get a new stem and bars. The Pivo stems and other French cast aluminum stems from that era were notorious for breaking.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/velos.html#stem

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

Chas.

the70sbike

Very nice find! I am glad you appreciate it for what it is. It is a shame that someone cut off the bottom of the drop out, but with an adapter claw you can use pretty much any derailleur you want.

I used to have a Gran Sport De Luxe in that color, at least before the rust took it over.

If you don't know, be aware that the Stronglight crank requires its own special puller. The puller for the TA crank looks like it will work, but won't. Please make sure you have the right one before you remove the crank set!

Here is quote from Sheldon Brown's site: "Older French cotterless cranks used different threading for the crank extractor. In particular, older TA and Stronglight cranks each had their own unique thread for this purpose, and you will need to get the correct puller for the crank you are working on. TA used a 23 mm extractor, Stronglight used 23.35 mm until 1982, when they converted to the standard 22mm diameter."

Best of luck with your ride and enjoy it!

SilentGTboy

Blah! Well, how hard would it be to find that 23.35 mm thread crank puller?

the70sbike

SilentGTboy

The chrome on the bike is perfect, rubbed it down with some aluminum foil and any little specs of rust came right off. I'll have a decal set for the bike in a month, and a redo of the Orange Corsa/ Sport Orange paint job and gold trim around the lugs. The only hard part is going to be sitting for a couple hours with each wheel scraping off 35 year old glue.

verktyg

SherryB

*Ack* Now I'm really having pangs of nostalgia. My TdF was originally orange. I bought it new in 1977. I eventually grew bored of the orange, and repainted it blue in about 1996. Now I kinda wish I hadn't. I guess the older I get, the more I value originality in vintage bikes; when I look at this lovely orange TdF, it takes me right back to the day I bought mine. I love the colour my TdF is now, but a large part of me wants to have the orange back. It's going to be a tough decision.

Schecky

Very nice. Donated vintage Campy. I'm sure there are a few drools of jealousy out there.
Orange bikes rule. http://www.gitaneusa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=73

Are you guys sure that the dropout was cut?

verktyg

c.vanscoyk

Hey, nice bike. Looks like it got very few miles over the decades. I thought there would be Reynolds 531 on it somewhere.

sandranian · Site Admin

{I thought there would be Reynolds 531 on it somewhere.}

There appears to be one under the pump peg on the seat tube. The 531 decals are notoriously fragile and don't stand up well over time. You can see that the one on this bike is in bad shape. Otherwise, a beautiful orange bike....

How well does that derailleur hanger work? I wouldn't be that comfortable with it being held on by a quick release - but then I guess it can hold the wheel under pressure from the drivetrain, so why wouldn't it be able to hold a derailleur???

SilentGTboy

The rear derailluer hanger was missing a bolt and brace which keeps it in place.

I spy two bikes with record in that picture.

SilentGTboy

If I were to replace the pivo stem on that bike with a safer French size stem from '72, what are my options?