gitaneusa.com Forum Index » Owner Gallery » 1960's Gitane - New Project Goto page 1, 2  Next    View previous topic :: View next topic  1960's Gitane - New Project   Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 8:36 am sandranian Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 2701 Location: Southern California OK...many questions...many pictures. What do I have here? Just received it from France. What type of brakes? The bell? The cranks? What about the lights? Any idea as to the brands? What about that saddle? What the heck is "VeryBest"??? I know the back wheel is backwards. It isn't original either. What type of derailleur, and how many gears do you think it had? OK....GO!!! Original Listing picture: Last edited by sandranian on Fri Apr 24, 2009 8:10 am; edited 2 times in total _________________ Stephan Andranian Costa Mesa, CA www.gitaneusa.com   Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 8:40 am sandranian Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 2701 Location: Southern California _________________ Stephan Andranian Costa Mesa, CA www.gitaneusa.com   Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 8:45 am sandranian Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 2701 Location: Southern California _________________ Stephan Andranian Costa Mesa, CA www.gitaneusa.com   Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 8:47 am sandranian Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 2701 Location: Southern California I have more pictures...but am tired of uploading them at the moment! _________________ Stephan Andranian Costa Mesa, CA www.gitaneusa.com   Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 10:10 am greyhundguy Joined: 09 Apr 2008 Posts: 678 Location: South-Central VIRGINIA Stephan, KEWL project!!! My only advice would be to TAKE YOUR TIME!!! I originally wanted to finish my TdF project quickly but found that research and patience paid off in the end. It took me exactly a Year from joining the GitaneUSA site to getting my vision of the finished Bike that I just posted. All the best with your efforts to do the same. Jay _________________ Dance like nobody is watching.   Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:01 am sandranian Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 2701 Location: Southern California I am definitely looking at this as a long term project. It may go in stages...with it rideable in between, but I won't call it complete for some time. It appears that rechroming may be too expensive, and I am looking for options to stop the rust on the chromed parts. I hate to paint them...but if that is the only option, then so be it. I would almost rather clear-coat over the oxidized areas...is that a possibility? Any ideas??? _________________ Stephan Andranian Costa Mesa, CA www.gitaneusa.com   Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:48 am greyhundguy Joined: 09 Apr 2008 Posts: 678 Location: South-Central VIRGINIA Stephan wrote: ["What about that saddle? What the heck is "VeryBest"???"] Interesting question. It would depend, do you want to ride the 'VeryBest' saddle or do want to ride the 'Ideale' saddle? Hummmmm??? Jay _________________ Dance like nobody is watching.   Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:20 pm vanhelmont Joined: 11 Dec 2007 Posts: 242 Location: Florida Quote: It appears that rechroming may be too expensive, and I am looking for options to stop the rust on the chromed parts. My congresswoman can supply GARP funds in exchange for convertible preferred shares in your bike. Quote: I hate to paint them...but if that is the only option, then so be it. I would almost rather clear-coat over the oxidized areas...is that a possibility? Any ideas??? I wouldn't just clear coat over rust. You could use rust converter, from the auto parts store, which will turn the exposed rusted steel black, and won't do much of anything to the chrome. Then clean off the residue with fine steel wool. The oxide, after treatment with the rust converter, protects from oxidation, but rust deposits tend to cause more oxidation. Then you can clear coat or just leave it as it is. Try it on a junk part first, but I have used the stuff on my frame, including the chromed stays, and several small parts. Don't use it on galvanized or alloy stuff, it's acidic. Maybe I can take a before and after picture on something. Dave   Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:22 pm sandranian Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 2701 Location: Southern California Just received this from my "source" in France who is very knowledgeable about old bikes such as this...no reason so far to doubt him, but maybe there is more information out there: ********************** Looks 40's more likely early fifties. derailleur Cylo 3 speed with "endless cable", that's why you have a braze on for two little cables (the same cable going to the RD and returning, it's a pulley type plunger, rotating the shifter lever turns a barrel on the RD. A real bugger to set up. Very Best was a brand of saddles, they may have made other components. The setup as a roadster seems comptible, I guess it's not too far from original config. Those brakes are known as "Jeay" type. many brans existed. The brazeons say that those brales are original. Mafacs won't fit. *********************** I'll leave him for the time being as "anonymous"! Its more fun that way anyhow. I have to make sure that you folks don't know all of my secrets, and prove that I have sources away from here. For all of you on the CR list, you probably know who it is. Did I just give away my mysterious source? DOH! _________________ Stephan Andranian Costa Mesa, CA www.gitaneusa.com   Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:29 pm greyhundguy Joined: 09 Apr 2008 Posts: 678 Location: South-Central VIRGINIA Stephan, He must be French because he doesn't know how to spell. Jay _________________ Dance like nobody is watching.   Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:40 pm sandranian Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 2701 Location: Southern California Just found this tidbit of information: Elsy Jacobs (LUX) used to ride for Gitane. I wasn't aware of this, but she held the woman's hour record in 1958, according to Wikipedia (which is never wrong). This from another website: "Elsy Jacobs is the best women cyclist in history thus far. Elsy was born on 4 March 1933 and passed away on 28 February 1998. She was the youngest in a family of seven children. Her brothers Roger, Edmond and Raymond were a cyclist too. In 1955 Elsy got her first license and three years later she became Road World Champion. Later on that year (1958) she also broke the world hour record. She completed 41,347 km in one hour which was almost 2 km/h faster than Millie Robinson (39,718 km). From 1959 to 1974 she was always the national road champion of her country." If this is what the decal was referring to (on the downtube, it refers to Gitane as having "champions du monde" and the woman's hour record), it would put the bike as a late 1950's model, which is what I would probably tend to thing (as opposed to late 1940's).... Elsy Jacobs also was World Champion in 1958. Gitane had not, at that point, won a Tour de France...so it would make sense that they would put some other accomplishment. BTW, Elsy Jacobs was pretty popular in Europe at the time. _________________ Stephan Andranian Costa Mesa, CA www.gitaneusa.com   Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 7:15 pm PBR Streetgang Joined: 11 Dec 2008 Posts: 39 Location: SF Neat bike. I've been following the the saga. Regarding the chromed steel parts, click and be amazed: http://www.vintagebmx.com/community/index.php?showtopic=4004702 I've done it myself, so I can answer any questions. Some of the parts may be too far gone, but some can be saved. Evapo-Rust   Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 8:40 pm verktyg Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 2814 Location: SF Bay Area Evapo-Rust works great and wont damage paint, aluminum or chrome plating. Here's some more results: http://www.ece.ubc.ca/~gillies/raleigh/international/Carlton77.html I've taken cotton or Q-tips soaked in the Evapo-Rust and applied it to frames etc. that were too big to soak in the stuff. Cover the area with a plastic bag and re-wet the cotton from time to time and in a day or so Voilà! It leaves a black film which is the carbon that was in the steel before it rusted. The black stuff can easily be washed off with water and a rag. A friend of mine is a rep for Evapo-Rust so I get free samples. Chas.   Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 12:46 am Gtane Joined: 14 Sep 2007 Posts: 681 Location: UK What a lovely classic French bike, Stephan. Well done on the purchase and thanks for posting the shots. Wire wool here and there then an oily rag wipe, and voila! The bike looks to be in superb condition. I agree about the Cyclo 3 speed. It would be worth buying further old machines for spares. Enjoy the project. Do keep us posted. Tim _________________ Everything has a cycle   Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 5:37 am PBR Streetgang Joined: 11 Dec 2008 Posts: 39 Location: SF Gtane wrote: *** Wire wool here and there then an oily rag wipe *** My two cents. Be careful with steel or other wool on chrome, as the chrome layer is very thin. Often, people think they have polished the chrome with steel wool, but have instead worn through to the nickel layer and lost the benefits of chrome. Best to avoid abrasives on chrome. 1960's Gitane - New Project     gitaneusa.com Forum Index » Owner Gallery You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum All times are GMT - 8 Hours   Page 1 of 2   Goto page 1, 2  Next All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First  Select a forum Gitane USA----------------Vintage GitaneGitane RacingModern GitanePro Racing - Classics/Giro/Tour....Owner Gallery   Powered by phpBB © 2001-2004 phpBB Group Designed for Trushkin.net | Themes Database.