Bike is a 1976 Gitane Interclub.



The head tube decals are the main way to date 1974-76 Gitane frames.

1974 Gitane head tube decal:



1975-76 Gitane head tube decal:



Gitane introduced the Interclub model in 1968. They were Gitane's amateur racing models. The frames ranged from the standard entry level Gran Sport carbon steel model with a racing fork to some made of lighter gage carbon steel to a few made with unlabeled Durifort tubing. Seat tube diameters are one way to tell the differences - 25.8mm, 26mm, and 26.2mm.

The pre 1974 Interclubs had tubular tires and alloy bars. They switched to cast aluminum Sugino Maxy cranks about 1972. Otherwise the components were the same as offered on the Gran Sport models.



In 1974 Gitane upgraded the Interclub model. The new models came with cast aluminum 3 arm Nevar cranks, a Pivo stem with a recessed Allen head expander bolt, plus Huret honeycomb rear dropouts. The wheels changed from sewups to 27" Clinchers with alloy rims.

In 1975 they changed to 27" Mavic Module E rims with Michelin Elan tires plus Huret Challenger derailleurs.

In 1974-75, the frames were made of who knows what kind of tubing. Some were made with unmarked Durifort tubing.

Some of the 1976 bikes came with frames made with the 3 main tubes butted Reynolds 531 tubing and seamed carbon steel forks and rear stays. These frames were the sames ones that the 1974-75 Tour de France bikes came with except for the fork crowns on some bikes. TdFs came with Stronglight P3 headsets - Interclubs used standard Gitane headsets.



Many Interclubs from that era used medium point Bocama lugs. Some later frames had long point Bocama lugs.



All of the 1974-76 Interclub frames that I've seen have Simplex forged fork ends.



The Huret Challenger derailleurs are highly underrated. They shift as well as any non-drop parallelogram derailleurs made. They can be adjusted to work with a 24T capacity or 28T capacity. They need a lot less trimming after shifting than Campy derailleurs.




Looks like someone may have been using your bike for XC or gravel crunching.


You can get replacement French 3 TUBES RENFORCE decals from cyclomondo on eBay. They come with fork decals but they would not have been used on an Interclub because they had carbon steel forks and stays.


One other thing, the stem is about an inch too high. It needs to be inserted 3" (~75mm).

verktyg

Chas.