1975 Gitane Olympic (?) and Specs (?)
 

From the family of the first owner... bought in France... or so the story goes... I've got this beautiful Gitane.
It's like made to measure for me and I'm fairly certain it is the Olympic model of my birth year 1975. Bingo.
I want to achieve two things:
A. double check that my research to this point is correct; and
B. get some specs on the few non-original items on the bike so I'll be able to make it perfect.

It doesn't have the willow leaf that was introduced in 1976 and the NR rear derailleur is stamped 75. Between those two a 1975 model appears highly likely.
The model is the Olympic with all Campa NR minus the brakes, which are MAFAC.
I've got a French poster for the 1975 year which has a Super Olympic and an Olympic Record (that former with MAFAC brakes, the latter all NR incl brakes).
But I think I have read elsewhere that the models were Olympic and Super Olympic (the latter all NR incl bakes).

The non-original items on the bike are the wheels, the brake callipers (got the MAFAC levers still on) and probably the saddle.

For wheels I assume I'll want to look for Campag high flange hubs with Mavic Monthlery extra legere rims?
For brake callipers the MAFAC 2000?
For a saddle an Ideale? And which one?

Apologies for involving higher authorities directly and shamelessly @verktyg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...dde1c779d6.jpg

This is sweet. This is the 4th high end Gitane to pop up on BF recently.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...y-rebuilt.html

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...eird-fork.html

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ly-1970-s.html

Great looking bike. My Olympic came off the wall a couple of weeks ago for a few rides. Agree, with [MENTION=302603]bikemig[/MENTION], it's nice to see these high end Gitanes popping up recently. They have a really nice ride quality.

That's beautiful. And "real" Gitanes from France even more appealing. Although their range of models for the French market at this time is bewildering and it got worse during the Renault era.

I assume you mean this poster catalogue:

https://labibleduvelocataloguesgitan...tane-1975.html

From the photos, it appears that these had Cinelli Unicanitor saddles and yes Mafac 2000 center pulls for the Olympic. Mavic Monthlery Extra Legere rims are the bomb... I think the nicest classic polished alloy rims ever made and actually not easy to find as they were soon superceded by the anodized models.

Peter Kohler
Washington, DC USA

Yes, I had that chopped up 1975 poster as my main reference... but I haven't had the 1974 catalogue before. Thanks. Interestingly, the 1974 catalogue talks about the Olympic vs Super Olympic where the 1975 catalogue talked about the Super Olympic vs Olympic Record. In 1974 we have mention of a Ideale 2002 saddle and MAFAC competition brakes - the 1975 poster makes no mention of either of those (and doesn't even mention MAFAC at all).
Is there a difference in the brake levers between competition and 2000? I still got them levers on the bike.

Edit addition: studying the catalogues, the rims went anodized from 1974.

Here is the Mafac catalogue c. 1976 from the same French catalogue site (which I find invaluable although apparently the chap who runs it is not well liked for "borrowing" material without credit)

https://labibleduvelocataloguesmafac...afac-1976.html

I think the Competition levers were used with 2000s; they had the full hoods while the older Racer pattern were half hoods.

Anodized rims from 1974 onwards sounds very early to me. I thought these kicked in c. 1976 and later. Usually OEM fittings on machines like this was, if anything, less current.

Here is the 1974 range of Mavic rims:

MAVIC flyer (1974)

The only anodised one was the Golden Monthlery but the Extra Legeres were certainly polished natural alloy... I have a pair. By 1976, yes there were the first SSC bleu and OR/AR models.

But yes.. just the differences in the Olympic models from 1974 and 1975 are enough to give one pause!

Peter Kohler
Washington DC USA