Originally Posted by
rootboy
By the by, I've never seen an SC, but do have a TdF. Was there a marked difference in the frames of the two models?
Speaking of seat stay caps, this thread led me to take a close look at the stay ends on my bike. 71 or 72 .
Sheesh. Awful looking.
For the more complete history, either invite Chas to respond or go check his pieces in the archives of the GitaneUSA site. My knowledge is pretty complete for the '70-'73 window, but then I left the country.
During this window, there is very little difference between the frames, except for the drop-outs. Even the rear brake hanger-bridge was found present or absent on both. The TdF had Simplex, with a few Huret coming in late, while the SC had Campagnolo dropouts. In many cases, the fork column was cut short on the TdF because the Stronglight headset had a shallow stack height.
The seat stay caps on both of my bikes are utter crap.
But I love these bikes. I actually think my TdF runs more solid and true than does my SC, which is slightly more twitchy than the TdF. This is both subjective and rather subtle. But the TdF was my first. . .