Hi Guy...

The main reason why I thought that your green bike was a 1976 TdF was the 3 ring Gitane logo on the top of the seat stay caps. Gitane only used that feature for 1976 (and maybe 1977). Also your Gitane had the 1976 head tube decal which was slightly different than in 1974-75.

Do you remember the seat post size on that bike. Standard Reynolds 531 seat tubes took a 26.4mm seat post and the main tubes had wall thicknesses of 1.0mm in the butted ends and 0.7mm in the thin sections.

Lighter gauge Reynolds tube sets had seat tubes with 0.9mm x 0.6mm or even 0.8mm x 0.5mm. The thinner walled seat tubes used 26.6mm seatposts.

For 1974-75 Gitane cheapened the Tour de France by changing the frame from all Reynolds 531 to only the 3 main tubes like the European model TdFs. In 1974 Gitane importation and distribution changed from long time business partner Mel Pinto Imports to Gitane Pacific in located SoCal. The folks at Gitane Pacific didn't have a clue!

My impression from dealing with them back then was they were a group of folks who weren't knowledgeable about the bike business and were just out to turn a fast buck! They focused on entry level models including some cheap Japanese built bikes and even cheaper Taiwanese made models. All of this was going on in 1974 just as the US bike boom was coming to a screeching halt!

Mel Pinto on the other hand had the 1969 to 1973 US TdF models built differently with half chrome rear stays and all Reynolds 531 frames. He also standardized on Simplex Criterium derailleurs whereas some European TdFs from that era came with Huret Svelto derailleurs that mounted on proprietary Huret dropouts.

The Super Corsas were only made for the US market and the model was discontinued at the end of 1973. The French market equivalent of the Super Corsa was the all Campy Olympic and Super Olympic models.

From 1974 through 1976 most Gitane performance models came with Huret honeycomb rear dropouts. The US TdF was dumbed down while the Interclub was upgraded in a number of ways. I've seen a few Interclubs that even had TdF 3 main tube Reynolds frames that were found on 1974-75 TdFs.

The big problem was that in 1974-76 both TdFs and Interclubs were very hard to get from Gitane Pacific! In addition, they were drastically overpriced when compared to comparable models from Peugeot, Motobecane and Raleigh - the last large European makers with a nationwide presence in the US during those years. We brought in a few TdFs and Interclubs during those three years but ended up selling them at about our cost to clear them out.

So, back to auchencrow's bike, its a 1974 Champion du Monde model. I wasn't aware of the CdM model until I bought a 1974 bare frame a few years back.

The reason why its a 1974 is the old style Reynolds decals. At the end of 1973 Reynolds introduced new decals with a gold "address" block at the bottom of the frame decals and top of the fork decals. There were probably some of the old style decals left over a were used through maybe mid 1974. After that all of the French Reynolds bikes had he new decals.

I'd never seen any US listing or advertisements for the Olympic and Super Olympic models. Gitane Pacific may have brought a few into the country as special orders. Others could have been imported by individuals. Same goes for the Champion du Monde.

The Olympic (MAFAC brakes) and Super Olympic (Campy brakes) used lighter gage Reynolds tubing and 26.6mm seat posts. The Champion du Monde used the same frame except with a short stack 33mm Stronglight P3 headset. The Olympic models had 41mm high Campy headsets. The Campy headset on auchencrow's bike is missing the spacer/washer plus font brakes cable hanger. It also may be only locking on to a few turns of threads on the steerer.

BTW, auchencrow, nice job.... ;-)

Chas. verktyg

Addendum: Entry level bikes were still being sold after the bike boom ended in 1974 but not like the truck loads full during the boom. Shops couldn't put them together fast enough between 1970 and 73!

After 1974 the market changed. Many folks were buying their 2nd derailleur bike and were looking for better models. Also many US buyers had become more sophisticated due to the number of books and buyer's guides written during the bike boom. Mid range models in the $150-$250 range became more popular.

In addition by the mid 70s Japanese bikes were taking a bigger market share due to improved cosmetics and better components than comparable models from the big 4 - Raleigh, Peugeot, Motobecane and Gitane. This forced Raleigh and Motobecane to start supplying bikes for the US market with Japanese components.