Thanks All for this new info. I have some new information as well, thanks to a generous soul who spent two hours with me, the frameset, and a whole bunch of old bike components and bb`s in his shop.
The bb is definitively French and not Swiss.
The OD on the steer tube is 25.0 if that can somehow identify the tubing.
Now for the part that`s kinda sad: the stack height for the missing headset is 30.8 (huh?) Even with the top of the head tube looking filed down that`s incredibly short.
I mean what on earth was in this thing!? We tried to assemble something that would work from an old bin of french parts, mixing and matching and coudn`t come up with anything remotely that short.
Even a Stronglight P-3 would be too tall a stack.
I saw online that Gitane made a headset with a 30.0 stack for it`s low end models.
The frame is painted with enamel and when I scraped down a spot there was no color beneath. However when I look into the head tube it looks like some green spray is in there. The fact that there`s no pin striping or lug lining suggests it`s been repainted to me.
The sticker on the lower part of the seat tube is made of transparent plastic which is why it looks yellow in the photo. I can clearly read the words "Bike Shop" and the american style phone number is partially worn off as well as the bike shop name which starts with the word "The". The lettering is black.
My original plan was to set up an older eBay frame for light touring. Something old and relaxed, something with a nice rake in front that also had an aesthetic I could get attached to. Maybe try a 650b conversion and really create something I`d be happy to ride not just on short jaunts but all day long. Something to ramble on in the countryside for many hours at a time. But I really wanted something interesting that felt as handmade as I could get for not a lot of money.
So I`m kind of feeling like I really picked a doozy. And the bike shop in Pasadena sold it to me as "an old English touring frame"!! I even asked them to double check the threading.
It looks like I`ll need to get a new fork to solve the headset problem.
Even though this is proving to be a little more challenging than I expected, I`m getting pretty attached to this frame and it IS just my size., so no regrets : )
Juvela, that`s amazing you found the same frame in your racks!! So you think it`s a Urago? That U in the serial really seems to suggest so.