DannyD

Our neighbor's husband passed away a few years ago. We helped the widow to go through and sell some of her husband's belongings. In the process she gave us his bike. She said it was a 'rare/specialty' bike made in France. I have held onto the bike, trying to figure out what to do with it. I have finally gotten around to taking some pictures of it and posting here to see if I can get a better idea of what the value of the bike. If I do end up selling it, I will offer the proceeds back to the widow. (She has since moved to another area of town, but I am still in contact with her.)

I tried to include pictures of the bike in this post, but received a message, saying "You are only allowed to post URLs to other sites and photos after you have made 10 posts or more."

There is an emblem on the front of the bike that says:
Cycles
Gitane
Nantes 44
Made in France

Another place on the bike it says, "Grand Sport Deluxe". On the gear mechanism of the rear tire, it says, "Simplex". On the brakes it says, "Weinmann 750, Vainqueur 999". Hopefully this is enough information to give a general idea about the bike. I would be grateful for any feedback users of this forum can give me to help me better understand more about this bike and it's approximate value.

Thanks!

3alarmer 

.
...there's one for sale on ebay right now link. A local sale will not get this sort of price. It's a pretty standard French bike for that era. IME they made and sold plenty of Gitanes that were similar, so not all that rare, but if you are into 70's French road bikes, Gitane rides as nicely as any of the others. I wouldn't hold out too much hope for a whole lot of money for this bicycle, but a lot of the sale depends on where you are, the marketplace in which you choose to sell it, and any buyers who are interested.

Try not to get involved in a sale that requires packing and shipping, which is painful.

wrk101

Only Gitane Nantes that SOLD on ebay in the last two years sold for between $135 to $150. The Nantes was a lower end model, best to sell locally as the fees and packing for ebay is not worth the hassle and will not yield more $$.

In the world of bicycles, rarity has little to no impact on value. What determines value is the quality level (components and frame) and the popularity/reputation of the model. So a Schwinn Paramount made in Chicago might sell for double what a similar bike with similar parts. Some bikes are rare because they were not popular back in the day. I use the Ford Mustang versus Rambler Marlin example. There were over 1,000,000 Mustangs made in the first two years, and less than 40,000 Marlins. Yet Mustangs will being 5 to 10 times the $$.

DannyD

3alarmer and wrk101 , thank you both for these helpful responses. I very much appreciate your time and input.

Gratefully,
Danny