Gitane mixte chainring choices
- Thread starter cchaven
- Start date
non-fixie
Senior Retro Guru
Re: Re:
Who am I to argue with that?
This is one of my favorite rides, an early seventies Gitane Tour de France with cottered Stronglight 55 cranks and Nervar steel 50/36 chainrings. Combined with a 14-28 freewheel this bike has a very useful gear range for credit card touring (34-94 gear inches), while most vintage short cage derailleurs can handle this combination as well.
Pictured in the Camargue during a cycling vacation in southern France:
cchaven":1oye4x81 said:
Who am I to argue with that?
This is one of my favorite rides, an early seventies Gitane Tour de France with cottered Stronglight 55 cranks and Nervar steel 50/36 chainrings. Combined with a 14-28 freewheel this bike has a very useful gear range for credit card touring (34-94 gear inches), while most vintage short cage derailleurs can handle this combination as well.
Pictured in the Camargue during a cycling vacation in southern France:
non-fixie
Senior Retro Guru
Re: Re:
Thank you. It's very scruffy and the "3 tubes renforces" is the only decal left, but it proves to me that Gitane's reputation for handling and ride quality is well-deserved.
And a low end Gitane is nothing to sneeze at. Peugeot may be the better-known and more popular brand stateside, but Gitanes' ride qualities are generally rated higher by those who own both.
Paint and decals were not their strong suit in those days, though, but yours seem to be in exceptional shape. Looking forward to the result of your efforts and more pics!
cchaven":218ucxdb said:
Thank you. It's very scruffy and the "3 tubes renforces" is the only decal left, but it proves to me that Gitane's reputation for handling and ride quality is well-deserved.
And a low end Gitane is nothing to sneeze at. Peugeot may be the better-known and more popular brand stateside, but Gitanes' ride qualities are generally rated higher by those who own both.
Paint and decals were not their strong suit in those days, though, but yours seem to be in exceptional shape. Looking forward to the result of your efforts and more pics!
cchaven
Dirt Disciple
Re: Re:
I wasn't familiar with the reputation of Gitane's specifically, just that French bikes in general were supposed to ride a bit differently. At this point in the 70's I was still on a kid's muscle bike. It wasn't until about 1978 that I got 10 speed road bike.
Nice to know. I picked this up as it 'spoke' to me. It seems well built though there are big enough gaps in places between the lug points and the tubes that it'd be easy enough to catch something on it, so it seems the finishing did leave a little to be desired.
Thanks for the encouragement. The paint is a deep candy apple red has chips thru out but isn't in bad shape. The decals are all there but nearly all are damaged in some way. The upper seat tube decals look like a clamp had been used over them. My goal is basically to clean it up and make it ridable again and my skills don't warrant an all out build thread like others here have done.
non-fixie":387z2qs2 said:
I wasn't familiar with the reputation of Gitane's specifically, just that French bikes in general were supposed to ride a bit differently. At this point in the 70's I was still on a kid's muscle bike. It wasn't until about 1978 that I got 10 speed road bike.
non-fixie":387z2qs2 said:
Nice to know. I picked this up as it 'spoke' to me. It seems well built though there are big enough gaps in places between the lug points and the tubes that it'd be easy enough to catch something on it, so it seems the finishing did leave a little to be desired.
non-fixie":387z2qs2 said:
Thanks for the encouragement. The paint is a deep candy apple red has chips thru out but isn't in bad shape. The decals are all there but nearly all are damaged in some way. The upper seat tube decals look like a clamp had been used over them. My goal is basically to clean it up and make it ridable again and my skills don't warrant an all out build thread like others here have done.
cchaven
Dirt Disciple
Re:
A small update on the Gitane mite. I've been cleaning it up more and getting some of it cabled. I still have the brakes to cable but they now have new Kool Stop pads and I've re-mounted the mudguards/fenders. The fenders I imagine are original to the bike as they are an exact color match with a chrome tape stripe down the center. They are also made out of steel. The spoke protector and what appears to be Hunt Wilde textured handlebar tape both cleaned up nicely.
Here's an updated picture...not too much left to do. A little sorting of the fender position and putting the chain on along with finishing the cabling and it will be ready
A small update on the Gitane mite. I've been cleaning it up more and getting some of it cabled. I still have the brakes to cable but they now have new Kool Stop pads and I've re-mounted the mudguards/fenders. The fenders I imagine are original to the bike as they are an exact color match with a chrome tape stripe down the center. They are also made out of steel. The spoke protector and what appears to be Hunt Wilde textured handlebar tape both cleaned up nicely.
Here's an updated picture...not too much left to do. A little sorting of the fender position and putting the chain on along with finishing the cabling and it will be ready
Attachments
cchaven
Dirt Disciple
Re:
Thanks. Like the rest of the bike they do have a few chips and dings but are in pretty good shape overall. The original chrome stripe was falling off, so I finished peeling it off and picked up some new 12mm wide chrome pin striping tape and replaced it. It came out looking pretty nice.
One dealer reference I found that lists the fenders lists them as aluminum but these are definitely steel. A small magnet sticks to them.
Thanks. Like the rest of the bike they do have a few chips and dings but are in pretty good shape overall. The original chrome stripe was falling off, so I finished peeling it off and picked up some new 12mm wide chrome pin striping tape and replaced it. It came out looking pretty nice.
One dealer reference I found that lists the fenders lists them as aluminum but these are definitely steel. A small magnet sticks to them.
cchaven
Dirt Disciple
Re:
Here's a price sheet from the Gitane USA website that says it's from 1971. It shows an 'image' of the Gran Sport DeLuxe with fenders that seem to have the chrome center stripe, but lists them as duaraluminum. The price sheet shows it as 'Gran Sport Deluxe" while the decal on mine is "Grand Sport De Luxe".
http://www.gitaneusa.com/images/catalog ... et-001.jpg
Here's a price sheet from the Gitane USA website that says it's from 1971. It shows an 'image' of the Gran Sport DeLuxe with fenders that seem to have the chrome center stripe, but lists them as duaraluminum. The price sheet shows it as 'Gran Sport Deluxe" while the decal on mine is "Grand Sport De Luxe".
http://www.gitaneusa.com/images/catalog ... et-001.jpg
