gitaneusa.com Forum Index » Vintage Gitane » 'Renault Gitane' Mavic SSC Goto page 1, 2  Next    View previous topic :: View next topic  'Renault Gitane' Mavic SSC   Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2014 5:49 pm CurtEgerer Joined: 14 Sep 2013 Posts: 39 Location: United States I've seen a few pics of these rims from the team bikes. A few different variations. One set of wheels recently sold on eBay. Re: 'Renault Gitane' Mavic SSC   Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2014 10:54 pm verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area CurtEgerer wrote: I've seen a few pics of these rims from the team bikes. A few different variations. One set of wheels recently sold on eBay. They're probably the real ting - Gitane Team wheels. I've seen lots of Mavic SCC rims but none ever badged to a specific team. Mavic provided "Neutral Team Support" cars with spare wheels and a few spare bikes for all of the major races, The Gitane stickers would have insured that they got there flatted wheels back. Standard Mavic SSC rims. _________________ 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 Re: 'Renault Gitane' Mavic SSC   Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2014 8:51 am logarto Joined: 18 Feb 2008 Posts: 56 CurtEgerer wrote: I've seen a few pics of these rims from the team bikes. A few different variations. One set of wheels recently sold on eBay. For what it's worth the black Mavic SSC tubular rims were just a little bit wider and heavier than the "Bleu" and Silver SSC tubular rims. I'm pretty certain that "Paris-Roubaix" only applies to the black one as well. Advertised weight was a less than svelte 410 grams vs 390. Certainly all of them were on the sturdy side back there when an Ambrosio Montreal was 360 grams and the everyday "po boy" Super Champion Arc-en-ciel was just 330. I have owned all three of them but only my two 36 hole SSC Silvers survived the divorce. In my opinion enhancing the value of a "collectable" bike is the ONLY reason to ever use any of these bad boys on a front wheel unless perhaps you are talking about 28 hole which is also the first drilling that I ever saw a Mavic SSC Bleu in way back around 1978. There was also a MA-50 that was alleged to use SSC metallurgy on the MA-40/MA-2 clincher extrusion. I had just about convinced someone to let me rebuild his front wheel with one of the more pedestrian models so that I could get myself a single MA-50 to run on the rear when he ran over the mother of all roofing nails and it came through the tire, tube and both the inner and outer rim wall.   Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2014 5:49 am sandranian Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 2701 Location: Southern California The "Renault - Gitane" stickers are available from Cyclomondo.... _________________ Stephan Andranian Costa Mesa, CA www.gitaneusa.com   Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 8:29 am CurtEgerer Joined: 14 Sep 2013 Posts: 39 Location: United States sandranian wrote: The "Renault - Gitane" stickers are available from Cyclomondo.... Darn. Wish I would have checked there first. I made my own .... and now I have an entire pack of gold foil printer paper Re: 'Renault Gitane' Mavic SSC   Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 8:35 am CurtEgerer Joined: 14 Sep 2013 Posts: 39 Location: United States logarto wrote: For what it's worth the black Mavic SSC tubular rims were just a little bit wider and heavier than the "Bleu" and Silver SSC tubular rims. I'm pretty certain that "Paris-Roubaix" only applies to the black one as well. Advertised weight was a less than svelte 410 grams vs 390. Certainly all of them were on the sturdy side back there when an Ambrosio Montreal was 360 grams and the everyday "po boy" Super Champion Arc-en-ciel was just 330. I have owned all three of them but only my two 36 hole SSC Silvers survived the divorce. In my opinion enhancing the value of a "collectable" bike is the ONLY reason to ever use any of these bad boys on a front wheel unless perhaps you are talking about 28 hole which is also the first drilling that I ever saw a Mavic SSC Bleu in way back around 1978. So are the black versions actually black, or a just darker gray? The set I have on my Team Pro are gray, but with the front rim a darker gray than the rear. Both are 32-hole and identical width. Are these referred to as 'bleu'?   Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 8:49 am CurtEgerer Joined: 14 Sep 2013 Posts: 39 Location: United States Also noticed this Mavic SSC Bic wheel while doing some research for my current project (1986 Vitus Kas-Mavic Carbone 3). This is on a genuine 1988 Vitus Kas Carbone 9 - but it is a current photo from somebody's collection so certainly not original to this bike. SSC Paris-Roubaix Rims are gray   Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 2:08 pm verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area I have an NOS pair of Mavic Paris-Roubaix SSC Grey rims and they are gray. I built the rear wheel about a year or so ago. I haven't gotten around to the front wheel. I'm using NOS Maillard 700 hubs. They're going on my 1984 Team Pro. I have seen some SSC rims that were black - maybe that's what they called blue? The 400gm rims were made for the Paris-Roubaix and other Hell Of The North early season mud races. They were 21.5mm wide vs. the standard 20mm. _________________ 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 Re: 'Renault Gitane' Mavic SSC   Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2015 3:33 pm logarto Joined: 18 Feb 2008 Posts: 56 Quote: So are the black versions actually black, or a just darker gray? The set I have on my Team Pro are gray, but with the front rim a darker gray than the rear. Both are 32-hole and identical width. Are these referred to as 'bleu'? The Bleus are dark blue and polished just like the silvers. http://www.equusbicycle.com/bike/mavic/images/15and16.jpg Note the published width difference. I suspect that you have two different SSC "blacks" (my term) they were actually called "Grise" and they are indeed "darker grey." They should be marginally wider than GP4/SSC Bleu/SSC silver. They seem to be implying a surface hardening treatment that is absent with the bleu and silver in the attached catalog sheets. It's been a while but I think I have about 5 GP-4 rims left down there and some of them are much lighter than the others? And apparently all these years my Silvers were also called "Argent 12" which is cool because I used Argent 10 take-offs from clincher conversions on early 1980s SuperCorsas as the matching front wheel most of the time. According to this guy (post number 10) I did the right thing selling my single Bleu http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=33908 and I never noticed the stainless vs non stainless ferrules aspect but that's what happens when you live in Colorado. The only Mavic ferrules I ever had rust was on a very early production Open 4 CD clincher. The rim still lasted 25 years and was the other casualty when I broke a Huret New Success crankarm within 300 yards of my house. I was already looking for an excuse to replace it at the time anyway.   Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 4:17 pm CurtEgerer Joined: 14 Sep 2013 Posts: 39 Location: United States Thanks for the clarification. Much appreciated. Both front and rear rims measure 21.5mm on my bike. Re: 'Renault Gitane' Mavic SSC "Flipper"   Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 7:31 pm verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area CurtEgerer wrote: I've seen a few pics of these rims from the team bikes. A few different variations. One set of wheels recently sold on eBay. It looks the wheel set listed on eBay for ~$300 a few weeks back were picked up by a "Flipper" They're now listed for $1000... Greed....! http://tinyurl.com/pxsucng From what I gather, there were 3 styles of Mavic rims with the SSC decals: Argent 12 SSC which were silver anodized and 20mm wide. Bleu SSC which were supposedly "blue" anodized and 20mm wide. Paris-Roubaix SSC Grey which were grey anodized and 21.5mm wide. They probably made some variations on these rims over the years. Ive never seen any blue colored Mavic SSC rims but I have seen black ones which may have been what they called "bleu". Logarto said: "... I never noticed the stainless vs non stainless ferrules aspect but that's what happens when you live in Colorado". I have at least 30 sets of classic wheels with Mavic rims from the mid 60s to the late 80s in both clincher and sewup styles. At least 75% of them have corroded ferrules. It appears that Mavic used ferrules made of nickel plated stamped steel most of the time and they were prone to rusting around the spoke hole. But... at the same time, I have some older Mavic rims that appear to have stainless ferrules??? _________________ 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   Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 12:53 pm CurtEgerer Joined: 14 Sep 2013 Posts: 39 Location: United States Nice little profit if they sell. And I'm pretty sure only one of the wheels has the 'Renault Gitane' sticker. Re: 'Renault Gitane' Mavic SSC "Flipper"   Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 3:02 pm logarto Joined: 18 Feb 2008 Posts: 56 verktyg wrote: I have at least 30 sets of classic wheels with Mavic rims from the mid 60s to the late 80s in both clincher and sewup styles. At least 75% of them have corroded ferrules. It appears that Mavic used ferrules made of nickel plated stamped steel most of the time and they were prone to rusting around the spoke hole. But... at the same time, I have some older Mavic rims that appear to have stainless ferrules??? Chas probably remembers this but those pictured MA-2s of his were deemed by Jobst Brandt on rec.bicycles.tech to be the finest clincher that Mavic ever made and as the story goes they were squeezed off the market in the late 1990s just because they were too cheap. Superior to the MA-40 and to anything afterward with a machined sidewall, they said. Part of this ideology was that machining the sidewalls limited their thickness and ultimate service life and that you were better off letting the brake shoes do that for you instead. So a rim where the anodizing starts to get worn through near each spoke hole was thought to be better than the "new improved" ones where they had machined the sidewall to a uniform surface. Because now it was only uniform on the side that got machined, the other change was that it was also thinner. (Plus MA-2s should have cost a third as much when you could get your hands on one at all.) I went through a period when I was trashing every 32 hole rear clincher rim I tried like clockwork including MA-40s, MA-3 (before Peter at Vecchios realized pretty quickly that the MA-3 was a POS, ) usually in less than a single season. (Standard seven speed spacing & 126mm over locknut.) Finally got my mitts in a single MA-2 (again a front wheel takeoff, this time because someone left a nice low mileage pro bike outside and the front wheel ended up in a two inch deep puddle, so no polish left on maybe a sixth of the rim circumference,) and it lasted a little better than MA-40 but certainly not enough to justify all the late 1990s Usenet hype, IMO. Definitely didn't meet my expectations anyway. When I broke it there was a full fracturing of the inner rim wall next to a pulling drive side spoke just like all the MA 40s had done. So the bottom line here is that even this one that had been in standing water for quite a while still didn't rust at the ferrules in Colorado, Chas! (Just kidding, they probably were genuine stainless examples, of course...) If this whole story sounds familiar to some other Clydesdales here, I'm using the Sun Mistral (M-19?) with that same ERD, usually running 28C tires and going onto four years this spring. (Mavic 530 rear hub that I'm very fond of but their seven speed spacing is about 2 mm more generous than I would prefer, same DT 14/15/14 spokes that have survived all these older rims, brass nipples.) This bike has become my vintage version of a dedicated gravel road bike since then and doesn't quite see the overall usage that all those "rental" MA-40s etc. did ten years ago. I'm a lot lighter myself now as well. Mavic Open Pro with eight speed spacing is working for me so far on my most "modern" bike these days and even outlived the Campy Veloce rear cassette hub that it came with. When I wasn't so light I built 36 hole rear rims with threaded hubs "six speed dished for five," and that will give you more wheel strength and service life than anything that a rim manufacturers' marketing department or Internet Bike God might be touting that year, again in my opinion.   Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 4:10 pm logarto Joined: 18 Feb 2008 Posts: 56 Another very arcane observation on recycling old wheel parts for those still reading. When I rebuilt the aforementioned eight speed rear wheel, (I've had terrible luck with the "modern" downmarket Campy stuff purchased used, a 32 hole Chorus or Veloce front hub really didn't do much better,) I used old DT alloy nipples on the non-drive side only. Done this quite a few times before with no serious consequences. "Old" as in pre-1988 date of manufacture and likely recycled from a tubular wheelset that itself didn't get raced on very much.) Last summer I was trying to stick with two guys in time trial bikes going north with a monster tailwind, they gapped me on a little hill and I broke the first alloy nipple trying to catch back on. No problem so far, I was still able to ride home which is not always a given when you break a spoke or nipple on an old style 32 spoke wheel. Even at my heavier weights this was traditionally a once every other year phenomenon. Replaced it and then another alloy nipple broke within 30 miles or so. Replaced the second one and then two more break on the next ride. Carrying spare nipples and a spoke wrench in the patch kit by now. The good news is now I know it's always the nipple and not the spoke and I can change nipples out on the road! Decided that I like riding bikes more than repairing them and went to replace all the remaining first generation DT alloy nipples at that point. (All but one because I did that operation watching TV.) Looking at the last remaining one as I was tensioning up the wheel and it looked a little dull to be brass and with just another quarter turn of the spoke wrench IT broke to confirm that it was indeed the last alloy nip! I built at least 300 pair of wheels commercially back in the day and don't exactly fall right off the turnip truck when it comes to this kind of stuff. I don't think this was fatigue but something more like a material failure related to aging with these ancient alloy nipples. YMMV but if you suddenly start breaking alloy nipples of this vintage in the same manner,, let me know about it? Re: 'Renault Gitane' Mavic SSC   Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 8:17 am verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area [quote="logarto"] Quote: And apparently all these years my Silvers were also called "Argent 12" which is cool because I used Argent 10 take-offs from clincher conversions on early 1980s SuperCorsas as the matching front wheel most of the time. logarto, I did a little checking on the Argent 10 and Argent 12 rims... Very different! The Argent 10 rims were 20mm wide with a 1mm wall thickness and weighed 310g. They also came in gold anodized called the OR 10. The Argent 12 rims were actually the Argent 12 SSC rims and were also 20mm wide but had a 1.2mm wall thickness and weighed 395g. BITD, the 330g Super Champion Arc En Ciel rims were my favorites for sewups too. _________________ 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 'Renault Gitane' Mavic SSC     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.