In early 1974, I was at my 1st bike shop job at not quite 18 years old. I noticed a disassembled bike hanging in the back, spray-bombed blue, a bare frame and fork with a bag of parts and two wheels. I asked, was told it was a 1961 Gitane taken in trade and had sat up there a while. I was intrigued and asked about buying it; took it home for $75. I rode it a lot for a few years after that. A decade later, as a newlywed with a new (old house), I resprayed it hanging from the clothesline - and then more or less forgot about it for a third of a century.

Well, I'm "retired" now, started riding again, and want to resurrect the sheaf of bikes I have in the basement. I want this to be a winter/spring project and get it looking rather nice, and ride it frequently. As I have little idea what it originally looked like, whatever components I hang on it will likely result in a Frankenbike - as I intend the bike to be made up of primarily if not exclusively French stuff, I guess it's a "Francenbike", if that's a term.

As I know no one seems to like a topic without photos, I finally decoded my rarely-used digital camera on how to make photos small enough to upload, so here are a couple (sorry, too cold to go outside so I took them in the kitchen, the brightest room in the house):