Mine has no top tube or chain stay stickers, but it may have had them at one time.

To much wine with lunch? Or... it's French.

Chas.

Probably.

If the bike is a '73 model TdF, it is the latest example I have seen with the rear brake cable bridge.

Has anyone ever seen a '74 model TdF (w/newer decal design) with the rear brake cable bridge?

It has been my understanding that this feature ended about '71.

Wow. I have a 1973 TdF in the same paint. I am the original owner. I had it completely restored 3 years back, including new paint. Mine had a Sugino crankset (better than Campy Nuovo Record) and Campy Nuovo Tipo hubs on tubular wheels. Seatpost is a tight 26.6. French BB and headset. Rides great, although I've known for years that it can go into violent speed wobble at around 40 mph - in certain conditions.

I replaced the crankset for a triple. Used the same Sugino BB cups, and just used a longer spindle. Fortunately English and French cups accept the same spindle dimensions. $2 of new balls of course.

I replaced the fork outright, as I had crashed the bike hard 30 years ago, and decided maybe I should not take my chances with a bent and then unbent fork. Replacing the fork allowed me to covert the headset over to a standard ISO 1" threaded.

I am using a Simplex SX630 rear derailleur, as I still have the unmodified Simplex dropouts. Do not let a mechanic work on your rear derailleur, as they will try and unwind the derailleur from the front, and they will break the spring on the top pivot. The Simplex derailleurs install from the back of the hanger.

Before the repaint, I had the stay spacing widened from 120 to 126mm. I have a lot of 7-speed wheels.

I regret changing out the tubular wheels to clinchers, as the bike now rides like a tank. Although the new wheels are high-end (Campy C-Record hubs on Campy clincher rims), the tubular wheels were so much lighter and responsive. But that is the nature of the clincher vs. tubular issue.

Chas, when those things first came out we called them elephant IUDs.

There was also a sudden rash of crumpled forks and bent frames from people crashing while using them. The switch from your body being sprung weight to unsprung weight on the front end made potholes deadly. Of course al of those mid-life crisis triathletes riding grillion dollar bikes with those bars, and little or no experience riding them didn't help.

We routinely removed the "Email Luxe Polymerize" decals as we assembled Gitanes out of the box. They frequently started to peel off by themselves plus in that condition they looked like crap on a new bike in the showroom!

The decals came on the right, left or sometimes both chain stays!

Email Luxe Polymerize translates into Luxury Polymerized Enamel.... NOT! Gitane used lacquer not enamel paint. They used a heavy white filler/primer to cover up the pits in the tubes from sandblasting before painting. The low end models were the worst. Typical Gran Sport dings. Gitane used finer grit sand on their better models.



BTW, just about every Gitanebuilt for the US market during the foil decal era - late 1967-1974 had those "Custom Made" stickers on the seat tube!


At the height of the bike boom, Gitane was shipping bikes out with thin brown paper wrapped around the frames. Many times the wheels were packed loose, rolling around in the boxes! Most of the paint scratches in bike boom Gitanes resulted from poor packing at the factory!

It was so bad that Gitane provided Mel Pinto with touch up paint kits that had little 2 oz. cans of all of the Gitane colors for bike shops to touch up the new bikes. We also received bundles of Gitane foil decals with red or blue seat and down tube panels. (Velocal set)



Replacement decals for the performance models were unavailable. (Cyclomondo set)




We wrote the poor packing off to Gallic disdain for "les Américains".... Of course, "Is it wrong or just French"?


The "Service Course" decals on the right side of the top tubes got chewed up from normal contact and riding. Those decals were only used on the Gitane performance/competition models.




verktyg

Chas.

Did you mean 1967 - 1974?

Tight 26.6? Could it be a 26.4 ? I think all of the early 70's TdFs I've heard of are 26.4.
I know mine is. Of course, if you are the original owner.

Did it come originally with a straight pipe seat post?

Mine is 26.4. They all came with a steel pipe post and a plastic ass hatchet.

I still want to know the span of the foil period. Just curious, and I thought 1973 was the last year. I hate the foil stickers, but I love the bikes.

Ah, you know what they say about wrestlin' with pigs!

When I posted images of my '71 TdF with 650B wheels, I expected reactions. Total silence. Re: these minor tweaks? I'm a little surprised.

Now, the taping and very slight grinding to allow for a stop is NOT the same as drewing off the hanger ala some SS hipster. The purity of Simplex dropouts is. . . pointless.

Pretty much everyone I knew did it, and I did it to my much beloved War Horse. It does not diminish the value, and opens up a world of better RD options. I am currently running a nice French Sach Quarz on my TDF now, but had a Campy NR on it for 30+ years. These were production bikes, and there's not a whole lot of reason to be forced into using only vintage Simplex. The Simplex RDs were adequate, but the synthetic bodies are old and brittle on most survivors. There are enough other old parts that break, why limit yourself to those?

My '71 Super Corsa, on the other hand, came with Campy dropouts, so no need to tap. Other than the components and dropouts, you cannot tell the difference between the two frames. Except that the SC does not have the rear brake bridge, either. It came with Campy brakes.

I still think Jon's is a '72, from what I see.

Anyway, ride it. And show us your photos of the progression.

Cheers!

FWIW my '71 Super Corsa has a brake bridge. I built it up with Mafacs:



Top

Good point...

I missed the brake cable bridge.... The OP's bike probably dates to early 1972.

Gitane discontinued the willow leaf seat stay caps around 1971. The brake cable bridge came next about 1972. Reason for eliminating both was cost savings. The Bike Boom was heating up and those features added 10 to 20 minutes to the time it took to braze a frame.




In 1974 Gitane Pacific took over importation and distribution for Gitane in the US.

Prior to that, Mel Pinto Imports had Tour de France model bikes built special for the US market with all Reynolds 531 frames and 1/2 chrome rear stays.



The TdF's that Gitane Pacific imported between 1974 to 1976, had the European frames with only the 3 main tubes Reynolds 531 plus painted rear triangles. They also came with Huret honeycomb rear dropouts.



verktyg

Chas.

For shame... For shame...

Back during the bike boom there weren't many options for upgrading the rear derailleurs on TdFs. The two main options were the "expensive" Campagnolo Nuovo Record at ~$29.00 USD and the Suntour V priced at $6.00 USD.

If you were flush you went with Campy. Both of them them were rated at 26T maximum freewheel sprocket size.

Both required modification of the Simplex dropouts. It wasn't a big deal then as TdFs (or PX-10s) were considered mid ranged models as compared to the high end all Campy Italian models and performance (or vanity) trumped originality.

Those who wanted to use a larger freewheel used a Suntour VGT with a long pulley cage.


The all metal Simplex Super LJ derailleurs first appeared in a 1972 catalog supplement but I never saw any until 1975. They were very expensive, maybe 30% more than Campy derailleurs.

Super LJ derailleurs were never popular back them because they suffered from guilt by association due to the poor reputation and image of the Delrin plastic models.

Today, Super LJ and the lower priced SX models are excellent choices for upgrading bikes with Simplex dropouts. Those derailleurs require no modifications.

verktyg

Chas.

Spell checker doesn't catch transposed numbers....

The earliest foil decals appeared in 1967 - I'm assuming late 1967.

This is about a 1967 European TdF - 3 main tubes Reynolds 531. Notice the foil on the head tube. That had to be a time consuming operation and was discontinued by 1969 or 70.



The US version TdFs weren't available until at least February, 1969 (Mel Pinto 1968 price list).



In 1974 Gitane Pacific became the primary importer/distributor for Gitane in the US. At the same time the models changed: paint and cosmetics improved (somewhat) and the decals changed to clear film with yellow green graphics. (Decal sets from Cyclomondo)



I had a 1974 foil decal TdF in almost new condition. It was probably one of the last US model bike made. It had Sugino Mighty Compe cranks. The Pivo stem had a recessed hex expander bolt. I would have kept it but the frame was a 60cm.



verktyg

Chas.

LeicaLad, thanks for not taking offense, since none was meant. I sometimes can't resist doing a little gratuitous chain-yanking, which is easily misinterpreted on the Internets....

By and large, I agree that the hysteria about modifying Simplex hangers is overdone. If the hanger on this frame had already been modified, I wouldn't have minded. As others have pointed out, a modified hanger can use either Simplex or Campagnolo-type derailleurs, and you can't even see the modified area once the derailleur is in place.

The thing is, I just don't want to be the guy who alters a hanger that has survived unmodified for 40+ years. That's sort of irrational, I realize.

A couple of years ago, I did some work on a friend's PX-10. He had taken it to his LBS to have the original Simplex Prestige derailleur replaced, which the mechanic did by drilling out a big whacking way-off-center hole in the hanger on the frame, inserting one of those modern Dropout Saver nuts, and rigidly bolting a cheap Shimano mountain bike derailleur to it.

I concluded that the cleanest--and maybe most merciful--solution would have been to saw the already-mangled hanger completely off, then file the area to match the non-drive side and smooth it off nicely. That would have let him use any derailleur he wanted--Huret, Simplex, Campagnolo--with the appropriate mounting claw.

The thing is, I just couldn't make myself do it. ("Yet each man kills the thing he loves...the coward does it with a kiss, the brave man with a sword!" You said it, Oscar Wilde.")

Coward that I am, I left the mangled hanger alone and mounted a Suntour VGT Luxe on a claw on top of it. As far as I know, it's still like that. Others are more courageous than I am. I salute them.

My TdF came with that same odd-looking Pivo stem, Campy fork ends and Simplex dropouts. The fork is unusually straight, but it appears to be original. The crank was a T.A. Pro 3 vis double, but I changed it to a Stronglight 93 in better shape.

Jon, I always wondered!

I see there's no snow in the Northeast Kingdom as well. 100 miles or so southeast in NH, we have the same conditions. Looks as if it will be my first non-white Christmas since moving from GA in 2001.



After last year's winter I can say that so far I don't mind. I've been able to ride more and make up miles lost due to injury and illness from earlier in the year.

The TdF is a real beauty and hardly a winter beater. If you need a frame that size to beat on through winter, I'll let you have my '80 Schwinn Traveler in HiTen. I've hung on to it too long for nostalgia reasons.

But, of course. This is amongst friends here.

If only for the gratuitous display, here are my 1971s.


1971 TdF on 650B 38mm wheels.


1971 Super Corsa



The 650B option was a spur-of-the-moment change, and it was written up in another thread. The only other change required was the calipers for the reach. Even those calipers wouldn't reach on two of my older frames.

I put a lot of Zeus bits on the TdF in the mid-to-late 70s. Zeus was the anti-Campy option. Avocet, too.

I just got back from a nice 20mile cruise on the TdF. This frame tracks absolutely true. Regardless of wheel set. It's a delight to ride. These fat tires are a bit of an eye-opener. Just a project for fun, but I'm not yet inclined to swap it back. . .

I like Grand Bois' upright build. Might get around to trying that some time, too.

Cheers!

It's great for cruising the neighborhood and the MUP, but I wouldn't want to ride it long distances. I wished I had drop bars the day I got caught in a 20 mph headwind.