ironchefchris

I was on here quite a lot about a year ago when I first got my Gitane gran Sport Deluxe and I was trying to rebuild it and get it rideable. It's all original...1972. It's in amazing shape...but the parts are old and I'd like to get the bike to have a better ride, better gear changes, speed, etc.

Problem 1: The brakes are loud...the brakes don't work well. It has MAFAC Racers on it, and I put new pads on them but they still squeel and work poorly. Could it be the rims? They have old Rigida steel rims on them. This would probably need to be the first thing I need to replace. What should I look for on ebay? I want to do it myself, but I don't know much about these old bikes and what to look for...suggestions?

Problem 2: The gears change...sometimes...and the chain falls off quite a bit. The deraileurs are old and lousy...one is new and kind of sucks...the cranks seem ok I guess. Should these be updated, and what should I look for?

degan

As far as shifting goes, a lot of your problems could probably be fixed by giving it a good cleaning and adjustment. If the high and low adjustment screws are at the correct position, the chain should never fall off.

Heatherbikes

I have a gitane that has been waiting around to be rebuilt for a long time. Yours looks to be in good shape compared to mine. I got it set up enough to ride for awhile and it was a wonderful ride! But I had to replace the cottered crank and put the wrong size on so the derailleurs didn't work and back it went into it's sad corner. I found the mafac racers to be fine, but those rigida rims are scary. Have you done some research on simplex parts and other parts that would have been on say the higher end gitanes of the time? I have a better simplex rear derailleur and might get a better front one as well.
FRench bikes as you may have discovered have their own sizing which makes finding parts difficult. Velo orange has everything you need to make this gitane ridable again.
To get rid of the cottered cranks you can get a french sealed bottom bracket from them and be able to put modern cranks on. You should replace the wheels with something modern an aluminum. If you don't care about remaining true to the original frenchness, just get some nice parts and rebuild the bike. If you have a bike coop in your area you can find amazing stuff like shimano 600 or golden arrow to keep the parts sort of vintage relative to the frame.
If i had the money I would get new rims/tires, the velo orange french sealed bottom bracket and their grand cru cranks which look vintage. I found a set of those beautiful simplex shifters, but not sure my gitane deserves them.

Heatherbikes

Oh and maybe a quick visit to a lbs to sort out the chain and stuff would help too.

Chris Chicago

Tires look new, but replace the rims like heather says with an aluminum set. that might be enough to solve your braking issue.

does the chain only fall off when shifting or does it happen while just pedaling as well? if it happens while pedaling it could be you need a new chain and freewheel. you can learn how to measure chain wear here https://www.sheldonbrown.com/chains.html

new cables and housing might help the shifting inconsistency. as far as new derailleurs, look for a rear derailleur with a hanger bc your frame requires it. there are some decent parts for sale in the c&v sales section of this forum. suntours is a good choice, my gitane has a suntour rd though it came equipped with something french that didnt last.

You could try posting specific problems in the mechanic section, if you haven already. there are some very helpful people just waiting to help over there.

ironchefchris

hmm....well i don't know what any of the numbers and threads and all that means so i'll just end up paying some store to do it i guess

rootboy 

Can't quite tell from your pics but it looks like the rear derailleur is not original Simplex Prestige. If someone changed it out, take a look and see if they made any modifications to the derailleur hanger. If it's original, those old plastic Simplex derailleurs were not known for their longevity. Serviceable, but a lot of folks think they're crap. I'm not among them. My bike still has the original derailleurs on it and while not great, they work OK. I have a 72 Tour de France and when I found it, it too had those funky old steel Rigida rims on it. They squeal, with those serrations on the braking surfaces. Kool Stop pads help some. Or, look for aluminum 27 x 1 1/4 inch rims on ebay or, Sun and Velocity make some new replacements.

rootboy 

Are you a fairly competent mechanic? Did you take it all apart, clean it and put it back together? Nah...don't take it to a shop if you're able to do the work yourself. It's very rewarding if you have the time, a few tools and the desire. You'll enjoy your bike a lot more if you've rebuilt it yourself. That's a neat bike. Study up some on the net...and work on it a bit. And if you run into trouble, come here. There's lots of good folks here willing to help.

jimmuller 

This. Plus you are more likely to have work done well. Local Bike Shops generally aren't interested in old bikes and their mechanics, while well-meaning, aren't much more knowledgeable than you. Really.

Those MAFAC Racer brakes are quite good, though known for being noisy. Against the serrated rims any brake will sing, so that will go away with alloy rims. The other kind of noise, a loud squeal, is usually fixed by making sure that the mounting post for each shoe is pushed all the way in against the brake arm, and the pads hit flat and evenly against the rim surface.

That's a cool bike, very representative of that era. It should be a good rider. It is stylish and will attach interest in any group of cyclists. It's worth the time for you to work on it, and then you'll know how to maintain it (which in the long run you or a bike shop will need to do anyway). You don't need to learn much about the threads and stuff unless you are upgrading something. Swapping the BB isn't too hard either but for that you can always ask here.

Chris Chicago

It seems overwhelming bc it's a lot of detail but the concepts are simple, plenty of peeps here will explain away any confusion you have, and you dont even need to worry about that threading issue right away. Get some aluminum wheels on there first. you wont run into any insurmountable problems with that upgrade and it will be significant. Plus you'll gain confidence by achieving the improvement on your own. Trust me, it's fun and totally worth undertaking.

check around to see if there is a bike co-op in your area or call lbs's to see if they have used 27in alloy wheels. shouldnt cost much at all.

auchencrow

+1 Derailleur adjustment is the cause almost all the time.

+1 Good advice. Though if you are a newbie, I'll concede you MAY need to have the cottered crank re-lubed by the shop, only because the cotter tool is expensive, and fitting cotters the first time can be hit or miss.
Also I recommend against replacing the crank: It's heavier, but that cottered crank is beautiful, functional, and will last forever.

+1 And/or place a WTB /ISO on your local Craigslist.

+1 Don't worry about French threads or replacing stuff if it isn't broken. (Some people feel compelled to replace perfectly good French parts that fit with Japanese parts that don't fit, and that spells TROUBLE. Just don't go there, and you'll be fine. )

sykerocker 

A bit of follow-up to some of Auchen's comments.

Mafac brakes are known for being noisy. It's part of the price you pay for what were probably the best stopping centerpulls ever made. Make sure your brake shoes are tight against the arms, then use a crescent wrench to give the brakes a little toe-in. What that means is to gently (repeat: gently) bend the brake arms below the pivot points so the front of the brake shoes touches the rims slightly before the rears. It's always worked for them when the brakes were embarrassingly noisy. This trick also works for CLB Racers, which are just as noisy.

I have a feeling you've got what we called back then in the business, a Grand Sport (as opposed to a Grand Sport Deluxe). From what I can make out from your pictures, you've got a Huret Allvit front derailleur and Huret levers. You also have a painted fork. The Schwinn/Gitane dealer who carried them only sold the Deluxe model which was Simplex Prestige derailleurs and levers, and chromed tips on the fork. The foil decal on the down tube probably doesn't differentiate - it was differentiated with the supplier, however. Your model is the first one I've seen - the chromed tips model was a LOT more common. Oh yeah, if the other derailleur parts are marked Huret, I can easily understand why the original owner swapped over to something Japanese. Back in the day, we loathed Allvit rear's. Felt they were the worst derailleur on the market at the time.

Yes, you have French threads. As long as you're keeping the crank and headset, it doesn't matter. If the pedals ever die and it turns out they're French threaded, too, they can be re-tapped to English very easily.

For what that bike is worth ($100-150), I wouldn't suggest doing any more modifications than swapping to better wheels. Which will make a world of difference. Keep the crank, it's classic, effective, yeah it's heavy but so what? Swapping over to something cotterless will either mean a good bit of money if you're going proper vintage equipment, or a few little dark tricks to make a cheap Japanese cotterless work - like using an Italian spindle with the original French cups to make the whole think work.

big chainring 

Great bike! I have one too. One of the nicest riding bikes I own. Biggest improvement will be getting some alloy rims. I find 27" alloy wheels on CL and ebay. A nice used set shouldnt set you back more than $50. And sometimes its worth it just to buy a whole used bike and swap out the wheels, perhaps derailleurs and cranks.

Heres mine -

rootboy 

Way cool Bigchainring ! Orange bike. Yes.

Heres mine -
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raverson

+1
Watch CL for a deal on replacement wheels and wait for a bargain.
In the meantime, do check the toe-in on the pads to minimize squeal.

And I love the orange on the Sport. I have had mine for years but have never gotten around to putting it on the road.

Rabid Koala

Back in the early 90's, I picked up a used orange Grand Sport De Luxe, with full chrome fork, for $15 at a swap meet. I rode it quite a bit, it was a very nice ride. Mine came from the factory with a steel SunTour derailleur, it shifted quite well.

We used to sell a lot of Grand Sport De Luxes when I worked at the bike shop in the 70's.