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Please help me identify this Gitane 
PostPosted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 7:31 am Reply with quote
vinsend
Joined: 06 Mar 2016
Posts: 2
Hi,

Last week I've bought this red Gitane, but after hours of searching I can't find what exact model and year it is. I'm pretty sure it's pre-1974 because of the decals, but some details seem to rule out Supercorsa, TdF and most others I've encountered.

I keep thinking it might be a TdF, but the rear dropouts are Campagnolo, there is no Tour de France-decal (and no blue map of France on the fork) and the crown is different from TdF-crowns.

Do any of you guys know?

Thanks in advance for the effort!

Greets,

Vincent, The Netherlands





















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Late 1960's Gitane with mixed components 
PostPosted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 2:12 pm Reply with quote
verktyg
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 2814
Location: SF Bay Area
Welcome to the forum.

It looks like you have a high end late 1960's Gitane European model frame with a mishmash of components.

Gitane sometimes sold their top models as bare frames or else someone could have stripped all of the original parts off of the bike... Later a mix of different quality parts were put on the frame to make it usable.

That's why you haven't been able to find any information on the bike. It was probably a European Olympic model with all Campagnolo parts except for MAFAC brakes or a Champion du Monde model with French components.

The frame is made of Reynolds 531 tubing with butted main tubes which is good. Wink

Your frame has 12mm or 14mm seat stays. Around 1968 Gitane switched to 16mm seat stays on all of their top performance models.






The components don't match - some are good quality: the bars, stem and crankset. The derailleurs, headset, front wheel, seatpost, pedals and brakes are OK. The plastic Simplex shift levers and rear wheel are junk.

The seat is an unknown. Overly padded seats may feel comfortable for the first few km but after awhile they cause pressure in areas where you don't want it because you sink into the padding! Crying or Very sad


The frame probably had a silver foil sticker on the seat tube. Gitane used them on all of their performance models. They got damaged easily and replacements were unavailable from Gitane.



Someone put on standard Gitane seat tube stickers that were readily available but they didn't know what they were doing. The "palmares" bands with a list of Gitane's racing successes are missing and the bottom chevron sticker is too.

They should look like this:





Palmares bands:




If it were my bike, I'd change the rear wheel to get rid of the steel rim, the shift levers and maybe the seat. Then you have a nice bike to ride.


Last question... does the bike fit you?

_________________
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
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 2:53 am Reply with quote
vinsend
Joined: 06 Mar 2016
Posts: 2
Hi Chas,

Thank you very much for your elaborate reply!

The bike fits me well.

I will take your advise and will start looking for a decent rear wheel, shift levers and saddle. Though I am on a budget, so I'm not in a rush. The bike rides nicely as is and it's mainly a commuting bike.

Also thanks for the clarification on the decals, that explains a lot. I'm happy to be riding an old high end bike and will post photo's of do any upgrades!
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Please help me identify this Gitane 
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