Originally Posted by
Addamsmith
From what I understand the top of the range Gitane did not change from 61 to 65 only had foil type decals from 64.
maybe someone could clarify this.
I'm sure my Gitane is identical to the Jacques bike of 64 65
I'm not convinced this is a production Gitane. I went and looked at Gitane catalogs on GitaneUSA as well as data I have collected for a few decades… DON'T trust the dates of catalogs on GitaneUSA!, the "1966" is more likely a 1964 as Anquetil did not race a Gitane in 1966 and since he also won TdF in 1964 that certainly would have been listed along with his other TdF wins if this was a catalog from a year or two later AND the "1967" is most likely 1965 as I have the EXACT same catalog except the bikes are branded as Geminiani instead of Gitane, both were made by MICMO until 1966 when Geminiani's were built by Cizerone. Anyway, in the first half of 60s all the top level Gitane production race bikes have Nervex Professional lugs with Campy dropouts and the race bikes a tier or two down use Prugnat lugs but with Simplex dropouts. Also, your bike clearly has Carre-style willow leaf seat stay caps, something found on production Gitanes (copies of Carre) but not until much later in 60s (and continuing off and on into 70s)...your bike sure looks like a Carre-built bike … top level team bike perhaps though the bike shop sticker throws me. Really neat piece.