Originally Posted by
Markeologist
I always find myself passing on the Gitanes with the swagged seat stay ends, nothing functionally wrong wit them but when compared with the much more elegant seat stay caps seen previously, whether they are the earlier fitted cap (seemingly always tri-color) or the Carre-style willow leaf that followed, the sagging just looks expedient and cheap.
It
was expedient and cheap. That was the point. For sure, the capped seat stays are beautiful. I had to buy a Lejeune frame last year because it had those caps (and because it was my size and a great frame in all other respects).
Whose face is that on the seat tube on those first two images? I don't think I've ever seen that on a Gitane.