Gitane TdF
 

I stumbled onto this fellow while looking for a cheap replacement frame for my trashed winter singlespeed.

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It seems to be a Gitane Tour de France from 1973 or so. Not too many original parts left but the frame and fork seem to be in good shape, the chrome is good, and the paint has some damage but is generally sound.

Winter project! For now I'm going to strip it to the frame, clean it up and maybe do some touch-up of the paint--although that's something that I have little experience with--then work on gradually building it back up with correct (or at least age-appropriate) components.

531 Gitane is my best ride (Super Corsa).

Top

This is a sweet find. Plus the paint and chrome look to be in decent shape.

Early 70's Gitane TdF is one of my all time favorites. Somebody on BF has a green one that is sensational.

Really nice, Jon. Match Blue, according to my catalog.

p.s. I have a few spare stickers. Will send PM.

As far as ride quality goes I think Gitane is tops in my book. Looks like you've got a perfect start for a nice restoration!

From the fork crown, I'd say '72. Chas may weigh in.

Note the hanger as a way to get around the simplex dropout. Taping the threading, and grinding a stop for, say, a Campy RD is easy, too.

I have two 1971 Gitane bikes, including my TdF bought new. They are simply great riders.

Great find!

Lots of folks here say it's a great-riding bike.

I like the clapboard on your house, too.

Yes, lots of people here say that. I'd like to hear more about the ride of the TDF's. What makes it so great? In my mind, I'm thinking that the geometry makes for a quick, but very comfortable ride. Is that something like the truth?

Very nice! Just put my TdF in another thread as the best riding bike I own. You're gonna like it. :)

Restoring a 1972-73 Gitane TdF
 

jonwvara, nice finds! :thumb:

You're right on the money on the year... 1972-73.

Here's several starting places for original components... Read my posts under "verktyg":

The Definitive Gitane Tour de France bikes: Late 1960s to 1974

gitaneusa.com :: View topic - How to identify my bike - read first

gitaneusa.com :: View topic - Gitane TdF or Super Corsa?


For starters, that "TriBar" setup in the front has to GO... Reminds me of a radar array on the nose of a WWII German Heinkel night fighter! :lol:

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I bought a 1987 Centurion Ironman Expert with one of those rigs... Could never figure out how to get the radar detector to work! :roflmao:


The paint is going to be tough to match. The 1970-73 US Gitane catalog calls it Champion Blue (I call it Turquoise Blue). Red, Champion Blue, Gold, Green and Violet were "Flamboyant" colors, also called Candy Apple Colors in the US. They're dyed transparent lacquers applied over top of a white, silver or gold base layer which gives depth to the color. They tend to fade over time in direct sunlight.

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Gitane used a darker blue up until ~1967 and then again after 1974. Some European models came in the dark blue during those years - what I call the foil decal era. The US models where "Champion Blue". In the late 70's Gitane switched from flamboyant to metallic colors. Match Blue was a light solid color that ranged all over the place.

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What kind of crank is that? Shimano?

I wont comment much on the kludged mounting of the bottom end Shimano rear derailleur.

Simplex Super LJ would look nice on your bike, Those rear derailleurs would look nice on your bike. The rear derailleur will fit with no modification.

They're getting quite "spendy" these days, so the SX410 or SX610 derailleurs are still reasonably priced and work very well. If you go that way, be sure to get one that's direct mount without a claw hanger.

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verktyg :50:

Chas.

What, you don't like those handlebars?

Okay, they are pretty hideous. The dirtdrop-style stem and stem shifters are another nice touch. Lots of signs of neglect--the hub cones are shockingly loose, and the bottom bracket turned like a coffee grinder, thanks to a teaspoon or so of shredded bearing race and rust mixed with the bearing balls.

I think the crankset is a Sugino. It had Sugino dust caps, but there are no manufacturer's markings on either the crankset itself or the 52-42 chainrings. Maybe Gitane ordered them without markings so as not to call attention to the non-Frenchness? The bottom bracket is stamped Sugino, and is French threaded.

The paint on the top tube, especially, is quite faded. I think I may not mess with a color match--I may just clean up the chipped areas and coat them with some kind of clear finish to prevent rust.

Thanks for the derailleur recommendation. I haven't had a bike with Simplex derailleurs since 1971, so I thought this would be a good excuse to give them another try. The claw-mounted Shimano rear derailleur was awkward, all right, but I give the previous owner credit for not cutting off or butchering the original hanger. Given its unlikely survival to this point, I'm certainly not going to fool with it now.

But getting the low gearing I prefer could be a challenge. Long-cage Simplex RDs seem to be scarce these days, and I've heard that they don't shift especially well. Or is that just because I've read too much of Michael Sweatman's jaundiced commentary about Simplex over at Disraeli Gears? I may be able to make do with a mid-cage model if I skew everything to the low end. I don't need much in the way of a high gear these days, anyway.

Thanks, Tom. It's 5" cedar novelty siding--there used to be a mill up here that made it.

That's our original "hippie house." It's a one-room 12x16 structure Vicky and I built when we first moved here in 1981. We doubled it in size after our son was born in 1984. That two-room complex is now connected to our much larger addition. The original hippie house is now my bike shop and the source of my business name, Little House Bicycle Repair.

I lust after a TDF. Better put yellow bar tape on it!

Look to ebay france for your period correct parts. Simplex is much cheaper there... damn, shhh, don't tell anyone either.

Sedgemop asked about the ride quality, and, yes, it IS both quick AND comfortable. Mine, a green '71 60cm TdF I acquired as a frameset, is set up as a fixed-gear for longer, but faster rides, and the ride quality is at least the equal of anything I have ever ridden, including custom Rivendells and Mercians. Over the last 20 years I've owned two Professional Super Corsas (both pretty much stripped, alas, and both too large for me at 63cm) and three TdFs, and kick myself for not keeping all of them. I wouldn't mind finding another one to keep as a geared bike to complement this one.

They handle much more crisply than the slack angled Peugeot PX-10s and dramatically more comfortably than the 70s PX-10s with the much more upright angles. They feel zippier to me than contemporary Raleighs (aside from the Professional - I've never ridden one of those).

I think it's a combination of well-thought-out, subtle changes in head and seat tube angles and a perfectly set fork rake and trail, coupled with the juju of metric-gauge Reynolds 531. I really love mine!

I stand corrected, by Chas, the Francomaniac, who has forgotten more about French bikes than I'll ever know.

Champion Blue.

Ah, I was wondering about that. Thanks!

Don't listen to LeicaLad said about tapping the hanger and grinding a stop in it. He's going to hell for even suggesting that!;)

And I too must part ways with the esteemed LeicaLad here, as much as I like and respect him. :)
Please don't grind on an original Simplex dropout. It forever alters, and ruins, in my opinion,
a classic French bike's raison d'être, not to mention its value.

Get a nice Simplex derailleur that fits , with no damage to the frame.

Pig pile on LeicaLad!

You have a Reynolds decal where a map of France is normally found.

Wow, thanks rustystrings61. Great to hear a more detailed riding experience. All that is what I was thinking was true, without having ridden one. I've been looking for a TDF or Super Corsa for myself for a while, but haven't come across one in my size, just yet.

Good eye, GB. On mine, the Reynolds decal is on the non-drive side, map-O-France on the drive side fork blade.

"NON!....your OTHER left!"

Mine is my all-time favorite ride, even though it's beat up and a bit small for me.

Yes, I noticed that. It's also missing the rectangular stickers on the down tube (just uphill of the foil Gitane sticker), and also has no stickers at all on the top tube. But looking at some other Internet photos of TdFs with the DuBois fork crown (which I understand was first used in 1972), it seems that others of them were decaled the same way. In other words, mine may be standard for that year.

Or maybe not. Who can tell with these kinds of things?

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.