Originally Posted by
Phil_gretz
" Everything that it came with should be Original Production except the seat, which i swapped myself for one that was not torn up. Like i said the brakes and levers are made by Weinmann, the rear cluster is Sun Tour HONOR, as well as the derailleurs and shifters. The rims look nicer than plain steel ones with lots of tiny diamond-shaped depressions along the edge to grab the brake pads better when they clamp down. Those are made by Rigid and apparently are the supercromix model. I can find sizes later if that helps"
My friends and I all rode French bikes in the early 1970s. One had a Gitane, and it sounds similar to yours, down to the Rigida chrome rims. The SunTour derailleur is not likely original, as you would find European groups on these bikes, not Japanese. My friend's bike had Simplex shifters and derailleurs with an MM Atom freewheel, if I remember right. Same freewheel that my Mercier had.
I'm not an expert by any means, but we worked on our bikes together and rode everywhere through high school and even college. Gave my Mercier to thrift shop when we started having kids. Duh.
That is not entirely true about SunTour not being original...it is known that on the lower end Gitanes if the builder went to grab a Simplex Prestige and that box was empty he or she would grab a SunTour. This mostly happend to export bikes to the USA/Canada.
If you don't have Reynold's it isn't a TDF; sorry. And yes my Father's TDF weighs with new brake shoes and a 100g lighter seat, is 22.5lbs. Not far off from many of today's affordable roadies in Al.
I think this Gitane is actually a later 70's model due to the "modern" stickers that are on the bike. The big chrome and colourful GITANE stickers are from the early 70's...usually. If your BB is low to the ground and you get some good toe overlap with the wheel turned 45 degrees, keep it. That sort of design was abandoned and compromised in my opinion becauser of lawyer fears.
The stability of my low Gitane vs. my tall Bianchi is incomparable, a much better ride so maybe you don't get Campy derailleurs and "special" steel tubing but at the very least you get a strong, dependable bike that can be modernized or NOS'ed for Sunday cruises
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