Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - First Post: Revamping old Gitane Tour de France

I bought an old Gitane TdF frame, BB, and Fork for $65. Since it didn't have any other parts, I figured it'd make a good single speed bike. Any suggestions on parts would be great, and maybe somewhere to buy vintage decals. This is my first rebuild and so I'm looking for a little help.

I have some photos of the frame. I'm in the process of re-painting it now.

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I have alot more of the painting process and whatnot (trying to keep track as I go).

Any help would be appreciated!

Decals http://www.velocals.com/servlet/Categories (http://www.velocals.com/servlet/StoreFront)

Why repaint? Just build it and ride it.

The paint on that appears to be great, so leave as is.

Looks like a fairly large frame. Sell it to me. I've been wanting to build a fully French townie for a while. Maxicar hubs, guidonnet levers, and whatnot. Yeah...

Edit: Oh no, you already started painting it?! That sucks. Heretic.

The paint looks great in the photo but up close, many spots had been worn to the frame, chipping, and the decals were faded, peeling or torn off. I'm all for salvaging what is salvageable but it really wouldn't have been worth the money put into it to restore in the long run.

The paint looks great in the photo but up close, many spots had been worn to the frame, chipping, and the decals were faded, peeling or torn off.

Which are all things that usually make vintage frames look cool.

Well that's really the main reason I didn't post this in classic/vintage. I just wanted a nice frame to start my own build. I'm a student with some free time and would like to just have a bit of a project. So really, I'm just more interested in what parts would be best for this kind of build. I'm not looking for something top of the line, but I'm open to suggestions.

You have more than one option on paint. On this frame, matching a touch up paint is best. The original paint does not look bad, and some paint wear is typical on a vintage frame. Just touch up the bad spots. Testors or nail polish work well.

Rattlecan paint jobs are pretty much total disasters. They look good for a bit, but rarely adhere well and look like crap in a short time. Avoid. Rarely worth the effort and time.

You can get the frame powdercoated. This is one of the most durable paint jobs you can get. Cost usually around 150$. Good for beaters, etc.

For a higher end vintage frame, a decent professional refurbish is the way to go, but you will not get your money back on resale. I recently had the below Viner redone and I probably spent more than the bike is worth, but I like the bike and the respray is respectfull. This can be costly, from 300-1,000 and up.

You have a french bike and at that vintage, it will require french parts in the headset and bottom bracket. Looks like your frame has them, so problem out of the way, but matching spindles and cranks on these can be an issue you should be aware of. It can get tricky, or you can get the Velo Orange bottom brackets...

http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab285/1967PeugeotPX10/Viner/P4290009.jpg