I have a 72 gitane grand sport with the original rigida steel serrated rims on it and wanted to find some replacement pre-built wheels for it. Anyone have any tips on which I should look at? I haven't and don't feel like building my own at the moment and just need something lighter and safer than what's on it for light neighborhood riding, nothing fancy. I also am going to make it a 5 spd to simplify thing as well, not sure if that matters. Thanks in advance!

If you want a new set of wheels, Ben @ velomine.com has the best bang for the buck wheels on the internet.

Also you'll find good deals on wheelsets from time to time in the for sale subforum here. Are you planning on staying with 27" wheels or going down to 700c (provided your brake calipers allow it)? There are solid arguments going either way on that.

if bike made for export to north america it will have been constructed for 27" wheel, if an indigenous french example it will have been made for 700c.

your location in virginia is right in the homeland of Mel Pinto Imports (MPI), the importer/distributor for these bikes at this time.

Thinking I might stick with 27 and maybe go for something like WEINMANN LP18 SILVER 27 126mm ROAD 5/6/7 speed wheelset [72774716654] - $99.00 Velomine.com : Worldwide Bicycle Shop, fixed gear track bike wheelsets campagnolo super record vintage bike. Would these be a pretty good option from what I have? Then just use the stock flywheel and all. Not really sure what to look for, I'm not too swift with bike parts and brands...

One would be hard pressed to buy the parts for the whole wheel set price.
It should be suitable for your needs.
I assume you'll still have to buy rim tape.

What would be wrong with the original wheels? Which is to say, why do you need new ones? It might matter.

Velomine has great prices on wheels; so does bike island and bike island wheels often come with tires/tubes/rim tape but the choices are not as good as at velomine, IMO.

His rims are steel.

What is the rear spacing of your frame? Many 5 speeds were only 120mm, which are hard to find/expensive for new parts now. You can change out the spacer on the free wheel side, shorten the axle and re-dish the wheel. These wheels, probably need to be tensioned and stress relieved. They do appear to be part of a very good low cost solution for you.

I'm sure that the spacing is 120mm on a 1972 bike. I wouldn't mess with the hub. Just pry it open to get the wheel in or find Sheldon Brown's cold setting instructions.

im assuming most hubs that will come with these wheelsets are better than the old Normandy one that came stock or does it really matter?

basically what im looking for is a drop in replacement for both front and back, then remove the front derailer and make it a 5 speed with the original cranks and freewheel, maybe grab a new chain for the heck of it. just trying to simplify the bike for tooling around the neighborhood. also the huret front derailer is pretty terrible from my experience, I think its just in bad shape

stock spacing would have been 122mm for the rear and 96mm for the front.

How do you know that the rear spacing is 122mm?

Just curious.

having worked on a a great many Gitane Grand Sport Luxe and other French machines from this time. these dimensions correspond with Normandy Sport hubs of the day.

That would create a problem with the front.
The rear will probably spring 4mm OK, but front forks are far more rigid.

I built a set of wheels for an early 70's Japanese 10 speed that had similar front spacing.
I found an HB-M290 hub that happens to have a 2mm spacer on each side that I was able to remove.

I recall seeing somewhere that the French standard for the front was 98mm, close enough to the "normal" 100 as to not make much difference. But I could be misunderremembering. Maybe it was just a particular manufacturer.

If I check my spacing and its about 4mm different from the new wheels I'm looking at, can't I just wedge them in? What's the harm or rather, when is it too big a difference to be an issue? I feel like if my spacing is 122 rear and 96 front, a set that's 126 and 100 should fit with a bit of elbow grease, right? I'm going to take the bike apart today for a thorough cleaning and check measurements before Ilorder the wheelsets

I think you'll find the front fork is too rigid.
You could measure, then take the existing front wheel and add enough loose washers over the axle ends to reach 100mm and try it.
I think you'll see what I'm getting at.

As BK says, the fork may be too rigid. You can probably just wedge them in anyway but it can awkward and inconvenient. You have only two hands..

A spacing mismatch on the rear can present a different problem, maybe. For best grip of the QR skewer you would like the DOs parallel when you tighten it down. On a lower-price factory model they may not be especially parallel anyway but squeezing the rear stays together or stretching them apart can affect the alignment and maybe create or exacerbate the problem. If you have trouble with the drive side of the rear axle pulling forward when you mash the pedals hard, this could be the reason. A lot of noobies who have this problem will post note after note in BF about how their skewer sucks and they need another one and they have to overtighten it, when 5 minutes at a good bike shop and not too much money can fix it. Or they could even fix it themselves.

In any case, measure things with a decent caliper, don't just eyeball it. And be aware your current or original wheels may not be such a perfect fit to start with.

I took the old wheels off this morning and there's some play in the fork in front and rear spacing so I think the 126 rear and 100 front spacing should be ok with a bit of pressure. I was going to just remove the old freewheel and use it but apparently the French had a different size for threads so I think i'll just go with this rear wheel/hub Sun M13 REAR 27 inch silver 5,6,7 speed freewheel hubs wheel 32h [74547] - $49.00 Velomine.com : Worldwide Bicycle Shop, fixed gear track bike wheelsets campagnolo super record vintage bike and then get a new 5 speed freewheel and chain from amazon or somewhere. I'm assuming that I can still use the original cottered cranks (they look great after cleaning) and be good to go. I may ditch the derailer too, its a SunRace M2T and doesn't check out aesthetically with the bike so I may just look for a more plain silver or chrome one if I can. I'm still going to leave off the Huret front derailer and make it a 5 speed. Am I making sense? haha, this is new territory for me. I attempted to fix it up once before but got sidetracked. Trying to do it right this time

The French had different threads and diameters for many things. One was the freewheel. An English FW will seem to go on a French hub but it will be slightly loose; A French FW will not go on an English or Italian hub. (I think I got that right.) Italian and English are the same pitch and diameter but the thread shape is a bit different. They are nominally interchangeable but you shouldn't switch back and forth.

"Tooling around the neighborhood" bike.

I'd save yourself a lot of bother and keep both the original wheels, and the freewheel.