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flyingporkpies

I slapped the first parts on it that came to hand and haven't been able to stop riding it since. In fact, if it wasn't dark I'd stop this in mid sentence and go and ride it now. It rides, as so many of you said, just so damned nice. I can see my Raleigh, Gazelle and Flandria gathering dust. It's not as light and certainly not as pretty as my other bikes, but somehow it just suits me.
I got back into bikes by picking up junk from the side of the road. We do this 'curbside clearance' twice a year in Australia and before the council comes and gathers it all up there's plenty of time to trawl the streets looking for old bikes. Ebay deals with the parts I don't use and the money keeps my hobby fueled. I started with a beat up fixie - an Indy 300 - covered up its blemishes with stickers as was the vogue and I loved that bike. It suited me. But, supposing the grass is always greener I sold it. I graduated to friction, tried index, tried frames as exotic as Merckx Corsa Extra's and Raleigh Team Pro's and even a 10 speed Campagnolo Record groupset, but then I went back to the 70s of my youth and dumped the modern gear for my favourite 6 speed friction. I have bought and sold a number of 70s race bikes and I was looking for another when I saw this. Being a big fan of Le Blaireau I had always wanted a Gitane. It didn't matter to me that this wasn't the team bike, I was just fascinated by those dropouts. This frame was purchased to do the next Paris Brest Paris on. Now I want to do every ride on it.
There are some beautiful bikes in this gallery and this one has the potential to join them, but it wouldn't ride better with a nice coat of new paint and it might lose something of it's character in the process. I'm not going to risk it, I'm going to ride it.
Cheers,
John Eden
Perth, Australia

scozim

Great story. Love the "character" of the bike. Gitane's are great riders and usually the first I grab out of the stable to go out for awhile.

trois tubes

I'm with you 100%!!!

I've got one more project planned and then I'm devoting all my play time to riding only. I have a few other french marques but, like you, Gitane's have a special place in my heart!