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Frenchbuilt

Good Evening,

The decal is the bike shop/Gitane dealer. The 1978 catalogue that came with the bike has the same dealer logo stamped on it. The original owner is going to send me the receipt for the bike when bought "new" so I will know more (someday) I believe that the bike was built up or modified from a bike the shop had in stock. The rims probably came later along with the Sach/Maillard 6 sprocket freewheel.

The cable clips are Simplex.

The pedals are real Campy.

The rear brake support tube has some nice details; slightly different from my orange TDF. (cut out vs. solid)

The rims are Rigida.

I am doing the bike "all" French with 93 cranks and some Simplex Super Lj derailleurs that I have laying around. I like the look of the Philippe stem.

The rest I will just clean up and ride.

Dan

sandranian · Site Admin

Very nice. Also great to finally have an idea as to what the "J * A" stood for on the bike pictured on the cover of the catalogue.

PJK

Dan:

I am living here in Lyon France and would enjoy being introduced to guy from Peugeot as I am collecting Peugeots as well. Plus, I am contemplating building a website dedicated to Peugeot Pro Cycling focused on the bikes.

As for your Gitane I have two similar bikes. I will post pictures of these two bikes which have the same frame. But, the components are different on both bikes. One is completely original (according to previous owner). However, you are right about the frames. These are full Reynolds 531 frames without the Campy Nuovo Record component set that should have come with a Super Olympic. For the Olympic it used Mafac Competition brakes with everything else the same. I think Gitane must have been selling these bikes in different configurations than they put in the catalogs.

Regards,

Patrick

PJK

Stephan:

Could you take a closer picture of the Super Olympic in the 1975 catalogue. As Chas indicates the devil is in the details. There are just very small differences in these years. I can't tell by looking at it on the site.

Its it possible to upgrade one of my bikes to "Super Olympic" status? I have nearly all the Campy components for it.

Regards,

Patrick

sandranian · Site Admin

PJK

Stephan:

Yes, you are right!

Thank you.

Patrick

PJK

Stephan:

My interest related to a better image was the Super Olympic in the 1975 catalogue posted on the site. What does the seatstay cap on this bike have on it? Is it "J.A." (probably for Jacque Anquetil) and the Gitane symbol or is it just the Gitane symbol with one dot on each side?

Thanks for your help! This will probably confirm whether or not my bike is a 1975 Super Olympic or Olympic

Regards,

Patrick

sandranian · Site Admin

The "J*A" is for a shop which customized the bike...

Frenchbuilt

Hi, Patrick, I came to France in 1983 and since there was a Gitane dealer on my street, my girl friend surprised my one day with a new Gitane. I had several in the US in the early '70s and basically lived on my TDF hitting about every mountain or hilly area in the SF bay area. Our "kick" was fast down hill and since very few people really rode pro bikes at that time we were alone on beautiful roads through the Santa Cruz mountains and up over the Hamilton Range into the California central valley. Sometimes we got a little stupid with hot rims and poorly glued tires and over the rails we went (its true, once took half hour to find my friend on his missing PX10 off of Skyline drive). I still have my one original TDF in CA and just started to rebuild it the last time I was back "home" for a visit.

I have two Gitanes now in France both Olympic type bikes and both pretty much unused. In the '80's everyone in France drove cars like suicide maniacs and having come from nice California with large roads and deserted back roads, riding in France was an unconfortable experience with cars passing at road race speeds. . I spent years only off-road since France is blessed with thousands of ancient dirt roads.

Now that things are a bit more organised in France, I started riding on the street again with my "new" old Gitanes. So far OK.

The Peugeot Design Director is not really a super Bike fan but since he works with everything Peugeot and the Peugeot name is trying to make
some sort of comeback, I gave the bike away and he may keep it or give it to the Peugeot museum.

Thanks, Dan

PJK

Dan:

Thanks for the update. I spent nearly 12 years in San Francisco before moving to Europe in 1998. Did you see the new design Peugeot came out with for a concept bike? Peugeot also came out with a nice book on their cycles by Lucien Hilger. You can buy it at some Peugeot dealer selling bikes or online.

My wife and I are living here in Lyon. If you are interested, I am planning on a ride up Alpe D'Huez in June.

Regards

Patrick

Frenchbuilt

Hi Patrick, thanks for offer. Unfortunately, I have to work a lot during the month of june and cannot make it.

I can try to get you the name/contact this coming week of the person that runs the Peugeot museum (including bikes)

Just a question, I posted this link yesterday:
http://www.leboncoin.fr/sports_hobbies/101031604.htm?ca=7_s

Is this an interesting bike for anyone? Probably already gone but is this just too much $.

Dan

sandranian · Site Admin

Very unique...the precursor to the "Delta" TT bike, which remains so elusive! I thinkit might be priced a little high, but not completely unreasonable. The condition is the main concern.

PJK

Dan:

No problem! Will do it with some friends.

I think this bike may be a vintage Super Olympic. But, I couldn't confirm with the owner selling it whether or not these Campy components were originals. He has replaced some components. For 150 EUROs it's probably a good value. But, from the looks of it he has put alot of miles on the bike and components.

http://www.leboncoin.fr/sports_hobbies/113127566.htm?ca=22_s

Regards,

Patrick

Frenchbuilt

Patrick, here is another one:

http://www.leboncoin.fr/sports_hobbies/114395877.htm?ca=7_s

This one just came up this morning. Also an Olympic type frame but rather small for me and a little beat.

Like you said, these nicer Gitanes can be found quite often and pretty cheap.

But it is close by and might take a look.

Thanks, Dan

Frenchbuilt

And another blue bike special. This one nicer and cheaper.

http://www.leboncoin.fr/sports_hobbies/114408839.htm?ca=22_s