thank you for the info! I fixed up my first bike a year ago for a daily commuter, it's a Univega Maxima Uno (mid-80's i'm guessing by picture comparisons) and i love it. It's fairly similar to this Gitane as far as class-type goes, and I'm looking forward to working on this next one as i got them both for free (both previously collecting dust hanging on hooks in relatives' garages). Do you really think this Gitane is early 70's? It seems that these French-made bikes are harder to peg with IDs for serial numbers being so tough to find on the web.