Roypercy

Hey folks:

I'm the happy owner of a 1987 Schwinn Super Sport but I have a hankering to get another French bike. I saw this one on Craigslist - advertised as a Grand Jubile, but I think in fact it's a 75-76 Grand Record with the decals worn off and a fair number of eccentric (let's say) replacement components. The guy is asking top dollar for it, and the location isn't terribly convenient, so I was iffy about even checking it out given how much I'd then put into upgrading the components, but I noticed something in the listing and wanted to see if I'm right to think it's a cause for concern.

If you look at the 10th picture in the listing, there's a very straight seam of rust right across the headtube; it lines up with the edges of the head lugs on either side. It looks rather deep. Anybody ever seen something like this? It's a weird place to have naturally worn a groove in the paint. I'm thinking an old repair that has started to rust out, any other thoughts?

Not a life and death situation, I'm just curious what people think this could be.

here's the link:

https://newyork.craigslist.org/que/b...310800104.html

Dylansbob 

That was most likely caused by a removable front basket. Similar to a Wald 3133. Some had a wire support that just nestled against the headtube. The upper of the basket is attached to the handlebars and the support just drags across the headtube.

thook

bike jousting battle scar??

droppedandlost 

I would guess it's 531 instead of Vitus

vintagebicycle

I think that headbadge started in 1976, I had a 75 Grand Jubilee and it has the older flat aluminum "M" headbadge.
The problem is that all the best parts are gone. That mark is likely just a wear mark from a bag bracket or basket but I did see a GJ crack around the top lug once, but the crack followed the outline of the lug and the bike had a ton of miles on it by the time it failed.
Price wise I think its way high, between the unknown of that rusty mark and the missing original parts, I'd say $200 tops if you really have to have it.
Someone probably sold off the original parts on fleabay years ago and sold what was left locally.

niliraga 

curious - what RD is installed there, that appears to work with the Huret pattern der mount?

FWIW, in NYC this month, $350 is the often the asking price of a hi-ten frame with stamped dropouts and fitted with stem shifters. and some sellers seem to be getting it.

noobinsf 

I think you're right that this is a Grand Record, probably from 1975-ish. This Flickr user has a couple of Moto catalogs available, and you can see that the 75 GR has the Nervex lugs, the three-arm TA crank, and the matching seat tube and head tube Moto branding.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/strong...57602014094812

The 1978 catalog from the same Flickr user (go to "Albums List") shows a Grand Jubile with the same color scheme, but the lugs are plain, the seat tube logo does not match, and the seat stay caps are black instead of red.

Charles Wahl

I can't see any top tube model logo, nor any legible tubing decals; if you're going to be choosy about whether the bike has Vitus (as seller states in the description) or Reynolds, then I wouldn't get involved with it. It looks like a nice frameset, on the whole, though hardly anything on it is original equipment, except perhaps the Stronglight headset; whether it's worth $350 in NYC (where I am too) well . . . there's always negotiation. BTW, we have one 1977 Grand Jubilée here (spouse's), Vitus tubeset, and it's quite light, lighter I daresay than it would be in R531.

rando_couche

The frame looks just like the mid-70's GR I used to own, so that's what I'd say it is. GJs of the same vintage were silver w/red. Too bad about the original graphics - they were paint, not decals. In this part of the world, $350 for an all-original GR is a better-than-fair price, but with the non-original derailleurs and cosmetic damage, it'd be an OK but not great price.

Roypercy

Thanks for the replies, all. As far as I can tell the brakes and derailleurs look pretty undistinguished, the TA cranks are original minus the decals, and there's no telling what wheels are on it. I notice the bike shop invoice mentions trading the original Campagnolo pedals for those janky-looking Lyotard rattraps that are mounted now, I wonder if the bike shop "graciously" relieved him of any other original equipment?

It's true, $350 seems to be the default price for pretty much everything in Brooklyn right now, but in my mind that's a lot for a cosmetically-challenged bike-hard to tell from the pics, but I think I can see some other rust spots here and there- plus the added cost of bringing the components up to par. For $200 I'd take it on as a project, but even if the guy went down to $300 I'd want a prettier example.

Roypercy

My previous bike was a full Vitus 172 GJ from 1981, and it was a great ride and very light; the frame ultimately developed a stress fracture on the seat tube but only after I'd put thousands of miles on it. I like Vitus tubing a lot.