Classic & Vintage - A Gitane ordinary (high-wheeler)?

This one came across on my daily searches for interesting Gitanes. Has anyone ever seen one of these?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3ASS%3AMOTORS%3A1123&viewitem=&item=140184956307

Nope. That's pretty much the weirdest thing ever.

Nope. That's pretty much the weirdest thing ever.
Hahaha, short and sweet!

It was on eBay a couple of months ago at $100 opening bid, and attracted no bids. Now it's back with a $1 starting bid, and has attracted some attention. Still, at a $400 buy it now price, I suspect the reserve price is higher than anybody will pay for it....

Maybe somebody collects them, but I can't see anyone spending much time riding that around, either.

It's hard to tell from the photos what leg length that would fit, too.

Just by chance, saw this today on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7515013@N06/2003511922/

ive seen one before . awhile back on ebay .its like a mini penny farthing. so you look for interesting gitanes eh? im a avid gitane collector.what kinds do you have ? do you have a delta wing?i collect high end gitanes.team pros and 80's stuff.renault elf and systeme u gear.cant get enough .u a member over at gitaneusa?

here's another one for y'all-

from the same folks that make Coppi bikes and it's a current model-

http://www.masciaghi.it/catalogo/masciaghi/incredibici/biciclo.jpg

^^^ what you posted is a regular (albiet new) pennyfarthing and while it still wierd its not as strange as the OP

and for the lazy
http://i9.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/c8/4c/33b8_1.JPG

^^^ what you posted is a regular (albiet new) pennyfarthing and while it still wierd its not as strange as the OP

gee... sorry... i didn't realise that it was a contest for the most weird bike. I just ran into the masciaghi the other nite while looking over the coppi website and was amused that such a bike would be in current production by one of the larger european manufacturers. I mistakenly assumed that this might be an approppo thread to share it as it didn't strike me as justifying one on its own. oh well. looks like my intent was lost on you,eh, sport?

A customer at my shop brought in a modern ordinary several months ago. He asked us to fix it up as well as we could. We were stoked and got to work on it.
It had a freewheel with brakes and offroad(!) balloon tires (36" in front and 10" in back). We replaced the brake pads, rear tire and tube, and even found the company that made the 36" tire to get a replacement tube. The bummer came when I was working on the front wheel. I wanted to repack the bearings. They felt crunchy and the wheel had a wobble. When I removed the casing that covered the hubs I found out how the freewheel mech was set up; it had two BMX cogs welded to the hub. They were shot. The hub therefore was shot. The wheel was shot. This effectively made the whole thing a big piece of shot.
The guy comes back and pays us for the repairs, then leaves it there.
We lock it up on the porch for display.
The end.

I meant to ask you about that one that last time I was in. Thanks for the story.

ive seen one before . awhile back on ebay .its like a mini penny farthing. so you look for interesting gitanes eh? im a avid gitane collector.what kinds do you have ? do you have a delta wing?i collect high end gitanes.team pros and 80's stuff.renault elf and systeme u gear.cant get enough .u a member over at gitaneusa?

Actually, my collection consists of one bike: A 70-73 Tour de France. I'm always looking for another. High on my priorities is a white Super Corsa (I owned one back in 71-73) and a modern French-made frame (to replace my Fuji Finest).

I've got a lot of wonderful memories of Gitanes from my days working in the business. They were huge in Erie.

gee... sorry... i didn't realise that it was a contest for the most weird bike. I just ran into the masciaghi the other nite while looking over the coppi website and was amused that such a bike would be in current production by one of the larger european manufacturers. I mistakenly assumed that this might be an approppo thread to share it as it didn't strike me as justifying one on its own. oh well. looks like my intent was lost on you,eh, sport?

Hey I didn't mean any disrespect. I was really just making a comment on both bikes. I'm sorry.