Ok so here is what I remember and maybe know.
I remember buying this baby in 1973, for a measley ten bucks, in bad shape over all but do-able to get me to work with a small investment.
When I bought this it had been repainted once, and the decals were then gone, but I was told this was a gitane tour de france.
Now what I know, which is almost nothing. THe ride was phenominal, ease in everything. The bike weighed in at 21 pounds with the original equipment. There is no serial number to be found on the frame. THe only markings are are on the headstock, letters B_M, Wheels are Rigada with Normandy hubs. Brakes are Mafac Racer, Stronglight Crank set, Simplex Derailleurs (red Labels), Hoyo cluster.... and ummm it was White. I did a frame paint job back then, replaced the Derailleur's with Shimano equipment, original seat was the square cross pattern vinyl, replaced with the velo gel racer.
Today I have stripped the bike down, to do a total restoration, or a revamp upgrade if this is not worth a restoration to as clost to factory as possible.
The Advice I seek is that maybe the guru's of the cycle world might recognize the frame marking, even help me place a birth year on this fine riding soul, and steer me in the right direction of how to proceed. I do not want to run to a bike shop and pick out a new ultra light with no history or memories for me. This bike may not be worth restoring, I wouldnt know, but is worth making road ready again for many miles of pleasure. I can upload pictures that would be worthwhile, and am going to make a web page for this project soon. I just think it would rather awesome to know the background of the bike, having some fun in this project, and sharing what I can that I might learn properly a bit of the bike world.
THanks for any help
HArlan

Harlan,

Harlan,

If you still have the original bits, it might be possible to determine the dates from them (hubs or crankset). Other than that, a picture might help - as some here might recognize the year from the frame design.

Thank you for the response Zorro.
I will review the guidelines for posting images here and place a couple up tomorrow morning. I wont have the stronglight crank ones, for a bit as they are buried in a storage shed, litterally buried. I will get hub pics and some of the rest of the original equipment that I can. Brakes Hubs cartridge, rims. I was incorrect though on the cassette as it is Cyclo and not hoyo. Had to clean it up to read it correctly.
Back to cleaning here.
Harlan

Hey If your looking to do a resto i sent you a pm about some parts

Everest:
Thank you and I tried to send you a PM ?? Hope it went and let me know if it didnt get out. YEs I am interested and thanks again.
Harlan

Didnt get the pm sorry I'll send you another pm and you can try to respond to that one and we can work something out.

Ok I sent another message this time it went through.
First thank you Everest and zorro for your responses here. I have placed pictures up now on the web.
If my pm doesnt get to you then I will do email next.
Thanks again gents
Harlan

I got it and sent you a response

Ok, so now I come to my many questions of course. What color to go, I believe original was white, but then I can not be certain. I ponder now what colors were offered when this bike was made, of which I am uncertain of the exact year really. So to all the gurus I ask is there a way to determine the year from the frame and parts, like what changes did gitane make over the years, style of fork etc. I am attaching a couple photos here and am hopeful I might stir interest in this, like a detective thing, research I do and very little to find, so turn to the knowledge data base... the people I will ask too if anyone has a gitane that could photo the decals for me to see as well, I can make decals and want to get as original as possible. Yup I am a pain in the neck haha but all this for fun.
Harlan

I wish that overall frame picture was a little bigger. Those look like stamped dropouts. The Gitane Tour de France normally came with forged Simplex dropouts having an integral derailleur hanger. And are those cable tunnels or stops braxed onto the top tube? I also see a couple brazed-on bits on the down tube that I can't make out.

What's the serial number? Gitane had a distinctive format during the bicycle boom.

Koolbikes sells replicas of the Gitane decals. https://www.koolbikes.com/newbikes/gitane.html

Gitane color chips for early 1970s attached.

Hey T-Mar:
thank you for the info here. In my profile I have listed my web page and you can a lot of good looks to the frame. The cable guides are brazed on and I have yet to find "any" serial number, even looked "inside" the crank sleeve.
Tim (Harlan)

hey ya gents: and ladies too:
Ok I spent th weekend working and then cleaning parts. I got the first coat of paint on the frame so far, cleaned up every bearing, inspected, spokes the whole shebang. I will be updating the web this week with new pics as well. I am now getting the excitement feeling of gettin on this one again. Can not wait. Patience is hard to maintain as I see the progress here. I am even remembering the ride in my head as I am cleaning. Put in a good movie and watched it with mom and duaghter, and sat and cleaned every spoke. The back wheel respoked up fine and balanced with almost no effort. The front is going to take a bit more finess to get a true round back. Rim has a flat spot to it.... another movie probably haha. IO tried to get as close to continental blue for my color, but the paint is a lot lighter than I expected. Thank you again T-Mar for the color guide. Thats my update. today
Tim