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poufthecascadeur

One of my dream bikes is the 1983/84 team Pro.
So when i met one of my friends playing bike polo with a gitane frame with vitus rear drop out and a number tab similar to a team Pro ,i realized that my dream could be finally true.
He finally accepted to give it to me last week-end.
Here a picture of the bike before my friends puts a lot of stickers on all the tubes

I worked 2 hours to put off all these sitckers

To my mind the colors of this frame was a limited edition "série spéciale" but i had to resolved to look for the right model when i discovered the reynolds 501 stickers Crying or Very sad

It was a 1988 Gitane Triomphe.

poufthecascadeur

I was disappointed ! how could a middle range bike have a number tab?!
It was one of the mystery of the Cycles Gitane!
So i decided to put all the components i had of a team Pro (modolo brakes,Cinelli stem,stronglight crankset,maillard pedals.....)
except the saddle (i going to buy a white turbo ), the rear dérailleur ( i have the good simplex one but i love the mavic !),the seat post (i have to install simplex one) and the wheels (i have just the front one with maillard hub)
It's now a Team Pro Replica Laughing

Not perfect but so frenchie!

trois tubes

Le Team Pro de l'année 1983 est un de mes vélos favori.

Congratulations and Bravo!

http://flavors.me/velovault#_

Wisey

That is a great looking bike! Thank you for sharing. Very Happy

verktyg

The frame is made of Reynolds 501 tubing. It was introduced to compete against some of the less expensive Columbus and Vitus tubes.

501 is no slouch but it has the same wall thickness - 7/10 (.07mm x 1.0mm) as used in most Reynolds 531 frames.

It probably has the same frame geometry as the 1984 and later top line Gitanes so it should be a nice riding bike.

poufthecascadeur

First ride yesterday with my daughter :a climb of 8kms.
It was really a great pleasure,the frame is stiff,it doesn't bend under the effort .
The geometry is just perfect,the fork filters well the imperfections of the road.
And for the components,the mavic derailleur works perfectly in silence , the modolo brakes are for me more powerfull than the campagnolo record.
To sum up i was surprised by this middle range frame!

sandranian · Site Admin

Glad to hear you liked the bike.

I am always jealous of the pics you post here and on FB. Some day, I'll make it out there to ride with you!

sandranian · Site Admin

Oh...and thanks for rescuing this Gitane!

poufthecascadeur

Thank You Stephan!
may be one day i could show you the beautiful road of South of France la cote d'Azur/Le Mont Faron/Le Mont Ventoux ...and share our passion for cycling around a table with some glasses of french Vine!