Originally Posted by lotek
Here's a thought and a question,
Given the similarities to the Gitane TdF were the TdF frames
fully chromed and then painted ? If so this would be a possiblity,
and is it possible the fork is not original to the bike (Huret dropouts)?
I know I said constructeur but this has got me thinking.
Francophiles what say ye?
marty
I'm thinking the front fork is definately original...
"Huret" is stamped on both sides and that's not something they've done for many moons (at least not to my knowledge). Also, the chromes' patina(tint) exactly matches the patina everywhere else.... (but, I'm no expert on this type of analysis)
More importantly, here's a fun fact that a few of the great old timers from our local Velo club have taught me...
"Son, when the french shops had a busy day they would sometimes cut a few corners, especially at Gitane.... if they were backed up and didn't have time to heat-treat the frame AND paint it, they may simply have chromed it to get back on schedule, this process was looked down upon at that time but we are all very thankful for it now....Also, they grabbed whatever parts were on the shop floor that day...."
Let me ask you this, I'm thinking more and more that a small independent bike shop may have built this frame up from scratch....can we definately rule out a Super Corsa built for a shop customer from scratch and narrow the results to a TdF ???
Why would a small shop be stamping the frame though??
The main thing holding us up here: several guys from the Velo club say there is no way on earth that the serial # on the L rear dropout came from Gitane...???