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Gitane TdF on ebay? 
PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 5:43 am Reply with quote
J Carter
Joined: 04 Jul 2006
Posts: 21
Location: Birmingham, AL
http://cgi.ebay.com/GITANE-SERVICE-COURSE-58CM-FRAME-SET-LUGGED-ROAD-BIKE_W0QQitemZ270093212735QQihZ017QQcategoryZ98084QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item270093212735
Has the foil decals, 531 decal, chrome forks and stays, but what are these dropouts? Did Gitane use these in the early 70's or before?
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531? 
PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 2:27 pm Reply with quote
Paul Wiseman
Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 584
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Yeah, I dunno...... Confused
That first number looks more like a 3 than a 5 to me. Remember, reynolds made lots of different tubesets back then. My '85 Defi is made from reynolds "453". I wonder if this is a budget reynolds tubeset? The stamped simplex drops with no derailleur hanger would seem to indicate that this is a cheaper model. Not sure what the 'custom made' decal means though. Did gitane do customs? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

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Brisbane, Australia
1974 Paris - Nice
1985 Defi
1985 Victoire
1985 Victoire (yes, another one!)
1985 Professionnel
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 1:35 am Reply with quote
verktyg
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 2814
Location: SF Bay Area
Paul,

I question the seller's knowledge of older bikes.

As far as I know there was no 541 tubing; 531 were the only numbers used by Reynolds for labeling bicycle tubing from the mid 1930s until they brought out 753 in 1976.

Through the end of the 1960s Reynolds had an "A" grade tubing that had a black sticker with yellow lettering and perhaps a "B" grade too. I remember seeing a few old Zeus bikes made of Reynolds A tubing.

In the 1980s Reynolds started making additional types of steel bicycle tubing with different numbers. There is even a number for tubing made to Reynolds' specs by another company but I can't remember which one it is (555?).

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/British_isles/Reynolds_gallery.htm

The TdF in question looks like it could be from the late 1960s. I've only seen those thin style Simplex dropouts without an integral derailleur hanger on one or two other bikes.

The US bike boom era (1972-1974) TdFs had Simplex dropouts with the integral hanger for Simplex derailleurs. Super Corsa bikes had Campy dropouts and all of the cheaper models had stamped steel dropouts.

All of the Gitanes that I remember used Bocama lugs, even my 1984 Super Corsa. These look like Prugnat lugs on this frame. By 1972, TdFs and Super Corsas used a simpler fork crown too.

My 1972/73 Grand Sport had the red and black "Custom Made*" sticker, so did many other Gitanes from that period.

The dark metallic blue was not a standard color used in the early 1970s. It didn't appear in the lineup until the 1976 model TdF with the honeycomb dropouts.

Hope this helps.

Chas.
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 7:20 am Reply with quote
sandranian
Site Admin
Joined: 27 Feb 2006
Posts: 2701
Location: Southern California
The "Custom Made" sticker was put on all of the higher end production bikes. I guess "Custom Made" means something different in French!

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Costa Mesa, CA
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Gitane TdF on ebay? 
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