70's Gitane
 

Hello All

Got a 70's Gitane today, for $100
Don't know what year in the 70's
it is. Are Gitane's hard to find parts
for? I have never owned one.
Will brakes, cranks, wheels, from
other bikes fit? How about freewheels
are french threads, hard to find.
Was thinking, of making a fixie, out of
it. With the Schwinn Prelude, and this
bike, I'll be busy this summer. The Gitane
is the blue one in front.

Peace

With no chrome forks or stays, probably along the lines of a Gran Sport Deluxe. Visit http://www.gitaneusa.com/ and look through the catalogues.

Doubt that the freewheel is french thread, the US imports were BSC. Headset (fork), handlebars and BB are probably french, however.

Gitanes are a little tricky to get parts for. No trickier than other french bikes. I'll say that your bike is better suited to keeping as is and/or selling as is. you can get a bike MUCH, MUCH better for "fixing". Parts: crank thread, the parts it has are do-able, not ideal. From what I can see in the photo, it's a nicer model Gitane. Folkes pay well for those. If it's a "Tour De France", in good shape,it can fetch $200 or more. In the early '70s, a very cool bike to own, they rode well too, better than most French bikes in their price range. They were light compared to most bikes and rode and were finished well. Get a rat-bike to fix, don't blow away a full-packege. A sound bike with bad shifters and such is a better choice

I'll put my money on Gran Sport, seeing as it has cottered steel cranks.

Hello All

Pick-up the Gitane. My brother, said it was 100.00
Got there,and the owner said the frt. del. was bent in
storage, and the chain wouldn't go around big
crank ring and big freewheel. So he knocked it down to
50.00. And yes it is a grand Sports, with, cottered crank.
I'll switch that out with a better crank(cotter-less).And
maybe make a fixie, out of it to, ride to work.Thanks to all
for the input. Does that sound like a good buy?
Peace

If the paint's in reasonable shape and the BB and headset turn freely then it's worth $50. It'll make a fine FG/SS.

Easy enough to do the fixie bit, just save the bottom bracket cups, change the crank axle to whatever arms you're planning on using. You'll find it's a nice frame. I assume you've caught all the wonderful things said about Peugeot's on this forum. Well, the Gitane's every bit as good, although it never gets the same credit.

On the good side, that usually means a comparable Gitane sells a bit cheaper than the Peugeot. I remember those Gran Sports were about the best bottom line bikes during the 70's bike boom, even if they did sell for $129, while a Raleigh Record went for $100 and a Gran Prix went for $125.

I agree that ride well, in fact I prefer my TdF to my PX10, but I don't agree that they're finished well!