Help ID this Gitane
 

I think this bike is a mid 70s Gitane Tour de France but the Gitane catalogs are not as complete as I might like and I was hoping to have some help. The bike is, as far as I can tell, unmolested. The 3 main tubes are Reynolds 531 DB. It's a big bike (too large for me) with a 63 cm seat tube and a 60 cm top tube. The crank is a nice first generation Stronglight 99 crank. The pedals are English threaded atom 700. The hubs are campy tipo laced to ambrosio alloy clincher rims (27 inch). The hubs are I believe English threaded (the freewheel is a pretty fresh looking shimano 5 speed). The brakes are weinmann center pulls. The bike has the huret honeycomb drop out. The rear derailleur is a suntour VGT, the FD is that weird suntour that works in reverse, and suntour barcons. The bike has a very cool pivo randonneur bar, a campy NR seatpost, and an ideale 80 saddle. Plus the bike even came with a steel TA water bottle cage (the best vintage water bottle cage IMHO). The paint and decals are in very nice condition; I'd say it's a 8.5 out of 10. All in all, this bike is very nicely appointed and the parts all look to be in fine condition.

I suspect not unmolested. French bikes of that vintage would not be likely to have so much Japanese stuff on them. Can't help you with the specific model, but this is a nice one and if I'd owned it back in the day I'd have put the same kind of parts on it. Did, actually, with a PX10.

Agreed about the derailleurs (although they are from the right period) and certainly about the freewheel. The other parts, however, look to be pretty much original. I wish it were my size; this bike is a keeper.

Don't forget the Japanese-looking centerpulls and levers, and I'd bet on the bars, too, and probably the stem. Gets more and more molested looking, doesn't it? Nothing wrong with it; just not original.

I'd even go so far as to guess the bike originally came with an older Stronglight crank, maybe a 49 at best.

Those are Weinman 610 brakes although I would have suspected mafacs. Still they're not Japanese. Pivo bar; the stem is Japanese SR but it's a 22.0. Wheels (tipo hubs laced to ambrosio rims), saddle (ideale 80), seatpost (campy NR), crank (stronglight 99), pedals (atom 600) were I thought original. Maybe the wheels were rebuilt since these are 27 inch ambrosio rims.

The freewheel and chain are pretty new and that the derailleurs may well have been replacements but they date roughly from the time period of the bike (suntour VGT luxe RD, Come V FD, and suntour barcons) and may have been an "upgrade."

Those honeycomb dropouts were used one (maybe 2) years only, 1975? And that would be the time the TdF was reduced to 3 tubes 531.
The components? Not too much original.

OK, no big deal one way or the other. So it looks like a mid 70s TdF that has a lot of pretty decent quality 70s era parts.

This is helpful since it helps me date the bike.

Useful thread for dating honeycomb Gitanes here, http://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...-get-here.html

Looks like the mid 70s TdF came with 27 inch clinchers.

Some mid-70s Interclub models also had 3-tubes 531 frames.

Most of the interclubs were "entry" level bikes and in most model years came with what appears hi tensile steel tubing.

Gitane USA - Interclub

Interesting. My bike has a pretty lugs with windows and gold pinstriping; the rear brake bridge has nice reinforcements. I also have a mid 70s Peugeot PR 10 which is a similar level of bike (reynolds 531 DB main frame) and the workmanship is more utilitarian than the Gitane.

What kind of headset is on the bike, is it a Stronglight P3 or a standard Gitane headset?

It's a 4 pin (earlier version) stronglight P3, VeloBase.com - Component: Stronglight P3 (earlier version, four pin round locknut), which is consistent with a mid 70s dating as are almost all the parts (other than the chain and freewheel).

During the mid/late 70s Gitane seemed to be reorganizing, and during this time some unusual bike combinations were produced.
I would guess your bike is not an Interclub.

Right and also it would not all have been unusual for a customer to spec different parts on a new bike. No one cared obviously whether the bike was according to specs back in the day and the parts that that were picked out are consistently high quality items from the 70s (first gen stronglight 99 crank, atom 700 pedals, nice ambrosio clincher rims laced to tipo high flange hubs, weinmann 610 centerpulls, ideale 80 saddle, campy NR seatpost, and the derailleur group consisting of a suntour VGT RD, suntour compe v FD, and barcons). Certainly the suntour derailleurs were likely the best available in the 70s. These are nice mods that a knowledgeable shop/consumer picked out (even if it is difficult to figure out which is a mod and which is original with some of the parts).

I think it's a '74-75 Tour de France; the Stronglight headset is original but not much else. It's from the years Gitane Pacific imported them. The Interclub frame from those years was pretty much identical - I owned 3-tube 531 Interclub for a while - but kitted out with lesser parts. The Stronglight P3 headset makes me think TdF.

Stock parts would have included Mafac brakes, Simplex derailleurs and Stronglight 93 cranks. From what I have read, the ride quality on a 3-tube 531 in this size should be indistinguishable from full 531.

Cool bike, good upgrades, would love one of those in my size!

If this bike were my size, I'd keep it. I'll move it on eventually.

I've owned two different 3 tube 531 bikes; they make fine riders and I agree that the ride quality is tough to distinguish from the full ticker 531.

I actually bought the Gitane for the parts for the Peugeot PR 10 I'm building (particularly the saddle and pedals). I may use the wheels as well.