bikemig 

I have this 1970s Gitane Tour de France project I would like to move on. The bike has the nice willow leaf seat stay caps. The paint is in pretty good shape. The bike is a 60 cm. The rear drop out has been threaded and has a stop so it can run pretty much any derailleur. The bike has a bottom bracket, stronglight 93 crank (English threaded), and headset. I also have a French bar and stem for the bike and a 120 OLD tubular wheelset with what I believe are Normandy high flange hubs and nice polished Mavic sport tubular rims with a corncob freewheel. Thoughts on value?

mrv 

in the greater Detroit area, that's a tough sell. If you wanted to find a buyer, I'm thinking like $100. Seems like lots of nice road bikes for sale in my area. Many even in my size!
https://detroit.craigslist.org/wyn/b...601703406.html
I'm sorely tempted by this one ^ But also thinking of a 650b project, something that can run a 2 in tire or so, for dirt roads and jumping on/off single track. Much like I do with my RockHopper now....
Does anyone else see the lovely classic road bike market as dried up?
At my LBS, the youngest / hippest employee is riding a mid-80s Peugeot set up fixed. It's great to see and maybe the classic - city speedster is set for a revival. Detroit is great for cycling, wide roads, people still moving out, congestion isn't so bad. And the farmland is getting developed out side of Detroit, so the dirt roads are getting less quiet. I better stop the post hijacking......

Take care.

zukahn1

As is a project bike local as said about $100-125. For value. You could get more parting it out say and selling here or on ebay say $75 for the crank and BB, $00-125 for the frame set with headset, $40 for the bars and stem and $75-100 for the wheel set with corncob and not so great tires. I really do like the look of the frame set and think it should move fairly quick by itself.

juvela

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you might also consider posting the query to the Gitane forum so as to receive additional enthusiast views


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Sedgemop 

I'm a little more optimistic. I sold a white TdF last year with about the same amount of components and way worse paint for $150. People like green. I'd say $150-200 if you go beyond selling locally.

cyclophilia 

$100-150, without the wheels, if you are willing to ship.

Please note that the photographs do not show a "willow leaf" seat stay design: the pictures depict the later fold-over/brazed seat stay caps.

Try the C&V sale forum and specify if your measurement is center-to-center or center-to-top for clarity.

Good luck with your sale.

Chombi1 

Gitane did not really build that many well known top line bikes until the 80's with their big success in the pro circuit with superstars like Hinault, LeMond and Fignon, thus, the lowish value (Compared to their Italian counterparts and maybe even Peugeot or Motobecane.) of many Gitanes from the seventies pulls down the market value of their pre-80's bike lines as a whole.I think Peugeots were slightly higher in perceived value because they were a better known brand outside of Europe, back then. It was only after the 80's when many people noticed some of the neat features that some older Gitanes had, like their unigue "snowflake" dropouts and good f4ame tubing from Vitus and Reynolds..
A frame like yours, if it has decent quality tubing and nice touches of chrome, can maybe fetch up to $250 bucks if it is near mint. One of rider quality though with less goodies might struggle to pull in $150, in the right market. This is one case where maybe a full Gitane bike with all its original components in very good, almost mint condition, might put it in the high $300s because it will provide instant gratification for a Gitane collector that wants to include a good example from the 70's in his stable.
JMOs.......

zukahn1

Being 60's 70's Hosteller model it's missing a huge part the matching painted rear and front rear and front racks.

bikemig 

It's not a Hosteller. It's a 70s Tour de France with Reynolds 531 double butted tubing.

TugaDude

FWIW, here's an ad from a few years ago. They asked $150.00 for this example, said to be 1972

https://offerup.com/item/detail/679545973





Every now and then I see a bike that by all accounts is a lower-end model but it just looks so cool and this is one.

bikemig 

What's not to love about this bike at $150? The parts have been muddied up but it's good stuff. Those are good looking wheels and likely clincher. The cable mounting is poor but that is an easy fix. That is a solid deal at $150. There have been only a handful of Gitane TdFs sold locally that I am aware of. They all were offered at a higher price than this and were in worse condition. We are talking about 50 year old bikes.

rustystrings61 

AHEM. The TdF was the next to top-of-the-line Gitane sold in those years in the U.S.; only the Professional Super Corsa, which was all Campagnolo (except for early ones with Mafac Competition brakes) was both pricer and heavier. The TdF was lighter and the Simplex Competition stuff worked well, especially compared to the Simplex Prestige stuff it superficially resembles.

If I were not in the process of trying to downsize my collection, I would be very tempted - I have this bike's twin built up as a road fixed-gear, and it is THE best handling, most-intuitive bike in the stable. Mine looks like home-made h3ll, and yet it seems to be the bike I reach for first.

zukahn1

For a mid level bike it does have some really nice lug work and paint.