yeah j,
I love my French bikes. I have a Red, a Green, an Orange, and now a Purple Gitane! The stem on the Peugeot is snapped at the head nut.

Here's the Super LeTour frame I picked up Tuesday evening. $70, and another $87 in bottom bracket, cables, hoods, etc. It sucks being a civilian now(non bike shop employee). One major cool thing came out of it though. I FINALLY found a frame to put my Arabesque group on, after it sat 3-4 years in a Skechers box. I think it fits the bike quite nicely! Not too low end, yet not overdoing it. Definitely pretty, and I have decided to leave the patina alone. Not going to touch up the scratches.,,,,BD


http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...psa5b5df76.jpg

Nice find!

That's a nice bike you found, and I too think the Arabesque (600) group would go good with that bike since the original components were not that great, the Altus was simply the Shimano 500 which had a poor reputation for shifting performance, but the Arabesque was a totally different animal and it looks really artistic, not to mention a bit lighter. Isn't that a 79 Super Le Tour II? The II series was about a pound or 2 lighter than the Super Le Tour of the same year.

Anyway congrats on finding a nice bike.

Actually the Altus shared a design with all other Shimano offerings, even the Crane derailleurs made before the 11.8-12.2 era. This is the first I have ever heard of a bad rep. for Altus shifting. It's kind of a moot point anyway, since the SLT came with a slightly earlier version of 600.

My youngest outgrew her 24 inch wheeled mtb and I was looking for a 26 inch wheeled replacement and as luck would have it, a 16 inch framed Nishiki rigid ATB rolled into the co-op a few minutes before I arrived to drop off a parts donation.

The measurements are just right for her and it will be a great trail bike.

I will of course perform some daddy magic to improve a few things on it... the grip shifters have to go and I have some LX brifters and canti brakes that will fit up nicely and replace the Altus cantis (which are crap).

This one was free...leaning towards co-op donation

http://i1266.photobucket.com/albums/...pssm6jemso.jpg

http://i1266.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0emymidn.jpg

However I could do this...

http://i1266.photobucket.com/albums/...pspvl8ixa9.jpg

I thought the 79 Super Le Tour II came with just the Altus derailleurs, is this not true?

http://i.imgur.com/l3g7INbl.jpg

Classic example of a horrible craigslist ad. Not the best price listed, but it certainly wouldn't have sat for a week or more if the pic showed the levers.

http://i.imgur.com/oTnQYtal.png

at that price it wouldn't have lasted 8 days here even without the brifters.. nice score

All the SLT's I've ever seen came with a 600 rear, and a "60" front, with those big rubber capped Shimano ratcheting shifters. The Voyageurs all came with Altus if I am not mistaken, and mine shifted fine.,,,,BD

Altus was always in the bottom third of Shimano line. I may be wrong because it's been some years, but I was alive and riding bikes back then and I think I remember people having issues with those derailleurs staying in adjustment, once adjusted it worked ok, not as good as Suntour but then nothing worked as good as Suntour in the late 70's to the mid 80's. Fortunately the older stuff was far easier to adjust then todays modern stuff so having a derail go out of adjustment wasn't a big deal just a bit of a hassle

Nice score! That bike is a single speed conversion waiting to happen, just a simple ghetto eccentric conversion away...

I just bought a Super Le Tour recently as well. Also with Arabesque derailleurs. Campy hubs and shifters. Still cleaning it up. Needs a bit of TLC.

This one weighed in today at 23 pounds, and 15 ounces. Not heavy by any means. That would make it a Super Le Tour 10.8, haha.,,,,BD

nice saves. the fork on that Gitane looks a bit bent, no?

picked these up for less than retail in the co-op tool bin last week. haven't seen those closed end CBW wrenches before ... assuming they're an older model?

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=381368

Nope! Bad phone camera angle! I have actually ridden a bike with a bent fork like this looks, and was blown away with how it "quickened" the steering! Curiosity is a dangerous thing my friend!

My daughter's new trail rig... it came with grip shifters (crap), Altus cantis (absolute crap), an Altus rear d which was ok, and some really heavy Kenda tyres.

Now...

Deore 7 speed thumbies and Deore V brake levers... from my tickle trunk.

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikep...hiki%20(4).JPG

Tektro V brakes I got from the gear swap for $5.00...

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikep...hiki%20(3).JPG

Deore rear d I got at the gear swap for $5.00...

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikep...hiki%20(6).JPG

Lock on grips from the tickle trunk...

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikep...hiki%20(5).JPG

Also fitted Tioga folding XC tyres...

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikep...hiki%20(2).JPG

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikep...hiki%20(1).JPG

She gave away both of her 24 inch wheeled mountain bikes to younger cousins since she has outgrown them... and they were pretty tricked out since nothing is too good for a mechanic's daughter.

I think she will really like the new rig when she sees it and am sure I have a Terry leather saddle stashed away somewhere for her... :)

I will have to find my WWI camp stove and send a picture. It was really shiny and almost looked like chrome if I remember correctly. I haven't looked at it for probably 15 years.

Did you offer $150 :p

Once I ascertained the stem and post weren't stuck, I handed him the 9 20's and got the hell out of there.

I haven't been back on this thread for a while for good reason....it's too enticing after seeing so many great catches and saves. It makes you want to go shopping.
:)
I fell off the wagon today when I spotted an old mtb frameset I read about here. A ~1984 Raleigh Tamarack Mountain Tour with 650B wheels. The paint looked pretty good and it was my size.
Seller wanted $50 for the remains of the bike. But his (ex) wife sold it to me for a lot less!
It's missing a bunch of parts, and some are non standard like the stem and cantilevers. 22.2mm quill won't fit, and the brake bosses have the spring anchor hole at the 'wrong' side.
Not sure how I will build up this one. The angles are so slack and chainstays so long, more like a cruiser. But with the popularity of 27.5" mtbs, at least premium rubber and wheels will be plentiful.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5273/...9acb4a97_b.jpg
Raleigh Tamarack-001 par WNG555, sur Flickr
The Raleigh engraved SR-made touring triple, that resembles an Ofmega Mistral.
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2895/...4ccd6097_b.jpg
Raleigh Tamarack-003 par WNG555, sur Flickr
Raleigh-branded sealed bearing high flange hubs. Front is very smooth, but rear is rough from loose cones. (Update) Stripped it down to find cones are OK and axle true. A lot of moly grease must have protected the hub cones and cups. Joy Yu (Joytech) hubs revealed under the Raleigh sticker.
Raleigh branded Araya 650B x 1.5" rims.
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2932/...fea99249_b.jpg
Raleigh Tamarack-002 par WNG555, sur Flickr
Old style brake bosses, and brake hanger which require some missing hardware I will need to source. Nice panto-ed seat stay caps.
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5561/...3561de54_b.jpg
Raleigh Tamarack-012 par WNG555, sur Flickr
Raleigh 502 MT cro-moly tubing sticker.
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5518/...ab113a49_b.jpg
Raleigh Tamarack-009 par WNG555, sur Flickr

That's a nice bike! Ahead of it's time too now that everything in the MTB world is going 650b.

I pulled 3 bikes from a dumpster after a neighbor had vacated. None remotely valuable, but two yielded some low-end decent parts, and one had an interesting Shimano rear disk brake.

The head badge states MASA, and downtube decals state MASA12, which I believe is a post-England Raleigh brand.

The frame seems to be high tensile steel, so it must have been a bike sold by a department store, the disk brake being a "premium" feature. I checked the rear disk, and at first look it seems to be true. It has Suntour friction stem shifters, and a Suntour VGT rear derailler. The front derailler is a Suntour Spirt.

I'm really busy at this time, but ill post pix on the weekend (of the disk brake).

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=382369http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=382370