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70s Tandem -show off and advice? 
PostPosted: Fri May 06, 2016 1:05 pm Reply with quote
not_so_impossible
Joined: 06 May 2016
Posts: 3
Location: Ohio
Hi! My husband surprised me with this Gitane tandem as a birthday present. I've always wanted a tandem (this is our first) and my favorite color is yellow, so it was perfect. Plus it fits us both perfectly- me being 5'3" and him 6'2".

He paid $150 for it, which seems like a fair price as far as I know.

I had never even heard of Gitane before, but this website and forum have been quite helpful.

Here's a picture:



My guess, from looking at the catalogs, is that it's from 1973-75.

My low-ish budget planned upgrades:
-Aero brake levers (hubby wants the option to brake from the hoods) + a friction shift lever to control the drum brake (right now both rear brakes are hooked up to one lever, which has 2 cable slots in it).
-Kool-stop salmon brake pads
-New cables and housing on everything
-New bar tape and stoker grips
-Polish the rust out of all chrome parts.
-LBS to re-pack all bearings
-Possibly a new front rack? There was definitely one originally, I'm a little sad it's gone missing.

I'd love to replace the rims with alloy, but the budget isn't going to allow that right now. Realistically I don't see us riding in the rain anyway, I see this being used for short fun rides around town.

With that use in mind, is there anything else I should consider doing to it? The frame is rusty in places, but short of re-painting it (which we don't want to do), can anything really be done about that?

Finally, there is a oblong eyelet-type thing on the left rear seat-stay (none on the right). Any idea what the purpose of it is/was?



Thanks for reading!
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Sweet Deal !! 
PostPosted: Fri May 06, 2016 8:31 pm Reply with quote
smilingroadrunner
Joined: 10 Aug 2007
Posts: 278
Location: Salina, Ks.
Congratulations, Welcome to the site---lots of great folks and information to share.

I think you made a great score and the tandem appears to be well cared.

I like your bullet list. I'm not sure about the use of a friction lever for control of the rear drum. I suspect it needs more power. ( It seems in an emergency that leaving the handlebars to activate rear hub while trying to activate the other brakes-steer w one hand would be risky ) What kind of downhill gradients will you encounter??? I suspect I would trust the original engineering---BUT I've never ridden a tandem w rear caliper and drum brake so I don't know how they react together.

I believe the bracket on left rear stay is for mounting a dynamo (wheel operated generator) for lighting.

Looks like a fun ride. I've tried to convince my wife for years that I ( oops We ) need a tandem. Her response has always been "no way buddy you ride too fast" Enjoy your rides with your spouse !!! Be Safe.

I Like Steel !!!!
_________________
C.A.
Salina Ks

'70 TdeF
'71 Interclub
'72 Interclub x2
'72 TdeF
'73 TdeF
'72 possibly '73 Super Corsa
'86 Performance
'87 Victoire
& hopefully an '85 Professionel in the near future
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Mikkla's Tandem Project 
PostPosted: Fri May 06, 2016 9:40 pm Reply with quote
smilingroadrunner
Joined: 10 Aug 2007
Posts: 278
Location: Salina, Ks.
P.S.

Here is a link to Forum Member Mikkla's post on the Owners Gallery from 2010. Lots of information and great - before & after images of his '69 Tandem.


http://www.gitaneusa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1702&highlight=rear+drum+brake

P.P.S. As Charles would remind members----Be sure that your LBS has the experience--"age of mechanic might be helpful" and /or knowledge of working on these older vintage bicycles ----your post sounds like you have knowledge and you and your spouse can do a lot of the service work on your bicycles----BUT that rear brake hub and the bearing mechanism is unique.

See the additional link from Mikkla---it is in the last 2 or 3 posts of the above owners forum post ----linking to his experience and images that are in the Vintage Gitane forum posts. It shares some of his troubles as he was refurbishing this beautiful tandem. Rolling Eyes (It is a longer series of posts ---3 pages in total)

Sorry---I am trying to find the additional images ---I remember seeing some photo images of the internal parts - mechanism engineering for the rear drum brake hub. I thought it was related to his wonderful work, but I have searched thru his posts and can't locate those photos. He even comments that he was going to put up some images of the mechanism. Possibly I'm mistaken and the images were put up by another tandem owner.

This will be a great project also-----We Like Pictures !!!

I Like Steel !!!!!
_________________
C.A.
Salina, Ks.
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Ha, found it 
PostPosted: Fri May 06, 2016 10:21 pm Reply with quote
smilingroadrunner
Joined: 10 Aug 2007
Posts: 278
Location: Salina, Ks.
Final Post Script of the morning:

Mikkla did have a post with images of the Brake Drum and Hub assembly, including some information about the tires Very Happy

the following link:

http://www.gitaneusa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1693&highlight=

hopefully just a little bit of a short-cut for you to become more informed about the rear hub assembly. I assume from my readings and other tandem members posts that the dual cable brake handle normally activates both calipers simultaneously, and the other brake handle operates the rear hub brake---independently or for additional braking power together with the calipers.

Say good night CA.---Guten Nacht !

I Like Steel !!!
_______________
C.A.
Salina, Ks.
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PostPosted: Sun May 08, 2016 7:19 pm Reply with quote
not_so_impossible
Joined: 06 May 2016
Posts: 3
Location: Ohio
smilingroadrunner, thanks for all the helpful information! I will definitely look into those posts.

I have experience doing some work on bikes, mostly simple things like swapping out brakes or tires or replacing cables/housing. I think right now servicing a hub or bottom bracket is outside of my comfort level (and current set of tools) so I'll be letting a LBS handle that. I'll make sure they have some experience with older bikes before I hand it over.

In terms of the braking, I was going off of what I read here from Sheldon Brown, and a friction shift device is what he recommends:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tandem-brakes.html (Scroll down to "Control Setup...3 X 2")

My understanding is that the hub brake isn't really for emergency stopping situations, it's just for long downhill descents to keep the rim brakes from overheating. Since we definitely want aero brake levers, and I'm not aware of any that accommodate dual cables, keeping the current set-up isn't going to work, so this seemed like the best option. However, that's purely based on what I've read, so if anyone out there with tandem experience wants to chime in, that would be welcome Smile
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70s Tandem -show off and advice? 
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