gitaneusa.com Forum Index » Owner Gallery » 1969 TDF photos    View previous topic :: View next topic  1969 TDF photos   Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 5:44 pm trials guy Joined: 30 Jan 2009 Posts: 75 Location: Woodacre Calif Here are some photos of the 1969ish Tour de France that I bought last summer. Currently running one of Chas's 38t inner chainrings to help these 54 year old legs. Thank you, Chas for the help with identifying the year of the bike. Full foil headtube decal and Campy dropouts make it a bit of an unusual TDF.   Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 11:56 am Kinst VonSterga Joined: 26 May 2008 Posts: 153 Location: Hillsboro, Oregon USA That is a beautiful bicycle and I'm sure it rides just as nice Did you have to replace any of the older parts with new old stock and most look in very fine condition, including the paint and chrome as there's no evidence of any chain-slap marks on your chain stay. I have to admit, the leaf/capped seat stays were always a cool touch with these frames. You may want to scoot down your front derailleur as it would be a bit safer to run it with 1/16 in. to 1/8 in. (or 2-4 mm) clearance from large chain ring. Other than that, you have a gem on your hands. Happy riding! 1969 TDF   Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 1:55 pm trials guy Joined: 30 Jan 2009 Posts: 75 Location: Woodacre Calif Thanks for the comments on the bike. I honestly don't think that it was ridden much at all prior to my purchase. You are right- no mark from chainslap or scrape on the drive side chain stay. I don't have a full history on the bike, but assume tat it came set up with all of the Campy bits from either The Gitane factory or the bike shop that sold it. The only changes I've made have been to change out the original 52/42 chainrings to the current 48/38 set on there now. Re: 1969 TDF   Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 3:45 pm verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area trials guy wrote: I don't have a full history on the bike, but assume tat it came set up with all of the Campy bits from either The Gitane factory or the bike shop that sold it. Nope! Only the Super Corsa (and Olympic and Super Olympic models in Europe) came with Campy components. For starters, think "The French celebration of the Italian wine harvest"! During the bike boom era in the US, there was also a smaller boom going on in France and the UK. Back then ALL derailleur bikes sold in the US were being marketed as 10 Speed Racing Bikes (even gas pipe US made department store models). Just about every European bike maker exporting to the US (except Peugeot) made a few all Campy bikes. These were intended to be wall hangers at bike shops to promote the racing image! Unfortunately there wasn't much of a bike racing tradition in the US at that time. Add to that, Campagnolo components were in short supply back then. It wasn't until after the bike boom ended in 1974 that Campy stuff became more readily available in the US and Europe! Full Campagnolo equipped bikes never amounted to more than a few percent of all of the bikes sold in the US in the early 70s. Those bikes usually started at ~$400 to $500 retail - when you could get them! Back then "All Campy" meant everything but the brakes which were either MAFAC or Universal center pull depending on the bike maker. Many bike shops dealing with better quality bikes discovered that they could buy All Campy Atala and Bottecchia bikes for ~$300 wholesale and part them out for the Campy gruppos. That happened to lots of Super Corsas too! Back then, motor freight rates were regulated and the cost to ship a boxed bike from the east coast to the west was about $8.00 each! The Super Corsa was a US only model that was only sold between 1968 and 1973. In 1974 Gitane Pacific took over US importation and distribution of Gitane. Super Corsas were no more. Prior to that Mel Pinto Imports had that position. I suspect that most of the Super Corsas that Mel Pinto imported were brought into the US before 1973. That's why the prices in the price sheets were so low. Mel Pinto had a few of the less popular sized TdFs and SCs in stock until at least early 1976 (50cm, 62cm and 64cm). One other thing, in the mid 60s Charles de Gaulle embarked on a program to remove ALL non French words from the language, also to promote French products and Gallic culture. The French invested a lot of pride in the Delrin plastic Simplex derailleurs! There were high tarrifs on goods imported to France so Campagnolo products sold for a premium. Getting back to trials guy's bike, as I've mentioned before, one of the first things that most new TdF owners did was replace the plastic Freccia D'Oro saddle with a Brooks Pro, Brooks B17 or Ideale leather saddle. The next thing was to change the derailleurs from Simplex Criterium to Suntour or if they could afford them Campy derailleurs. From the early 70s on Campy rear derailleurs had a date code stamped into the bodies. A bike that early would have had no date code or one from the early 70s. I have several all Campy Super Corsas that were probably parted out at one time and re-equipped with Campy components at a later date. So in summation, it's highly unlikely that this bike came from the Gitane factory with Campy derailleurs. The Campy dropouts for whatever reason are a fluke. Mel pinto was known to do a few quirky things and perhaps they may have put on the Campy derailleurs but that's a long shot. Most likely the Campy derailleurs were installed by a bike shop either before or after the bike was purchased. Beautiful TdF BTW! So now you have the rest of the story! _________________ Chas. SF Bay Area, CA USA ============== 1984 Criterium 1969 TdF 1971 TdF 1974 TdF 1984 TdF x 2 Bikes 1970 SC 1971 SC 1972 SC 1984 SC 1984 Team Pro 1985 Professional 1990s Team Replica TDF   Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 4:17 pm trials guy Joined: 30 Jan 2009 Posts: 75 Location: Woodacre Calif I checked the date code on the rear derailleur and it is stamped "1971". I'm sure that Chas is right in that the Campy parts were bike shop replacements. The "Freccia de Oro" is on a shelf at this point...   Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 11:36 am scozim Joined: 26 Sep 2008 Posts: 629 Location: Ellensburg, WA Great looking bike. I also am running a 38t chainring on one of my bikes and like it a lot. I'm assuming the camera angle but the front derailleur looks like it could be lowered a little. _________________ 1984 Gitane Sprint 1984 Gitane Tour de France mid-1970's Gitane Olympic Plus many more http://eburgcycling.blogspot.com 1969 TDF   Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 6:07 pm trials guy Joined: 30 Jan 2009 Posts: 75 Location: Woodacre Calif Good eye on the front derailleur issue; I haven't lowered it since replacing the 52 tooth chainring with a 48. Is the proximity to the chainring just an issue of leverage during shifts, or something else? Thanks, John   Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 2:56 pm ozbike Joined: 20 Nov 2010 Posts: 47 Location: Australia You have a beautiful bike! The older bikes have a grace about them the newer stuff can't compare with. Enjoy it as I would, if I were lucky enough to own one the same. Rob.... _________________ Old is good 1969 TDF photos     gitaneusa.com Forum Index » Owner Gallery 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 1   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.