Alright, I'm not quite sure what I'm getting myself into here. I bought an old bike tonight (not sure it's classic or vintage). My intention is to strip it down and build it up as a single speed. I know that might be like fingernails across a blackboard to vintage bike lovers. Bare with me.

Here's what I got:



(I forgot to take a picture before stripping it down.)

As you can see, it's a Gitane Gypsy Sport. That's basically about what I know about it. I wouldn't be surprised if this is worth almost exactly the same as the steel it's made of. I don't have high expectations. I bought it because it was the right size, and I liked the color and the lugging.



Anyway, the reason I'm posting here is that my first step after taking this thing apart was to go browse around on Sheldon Brown's site, and his page on French bicycles has me worried. Is this thing going to have a weird bottom bracket?

Near as I can tell, this is one of the entry level "made for America" bike, so I was hoping it would have a more normal bottom bracket, but I'm bracing myself for the worst. I don't even have the tools to take it apart at this point, but the thing barely moves, so I don't have a lot of hope for its future.

So, any advice?

The whole French threading thing is blown out of proportion. Yes they are harder to find, but they can be found. This one MAY not have French threading, depending on when it was produced. Could be Swiss, but more likely English if not French. Not sure Gitane went through the Swiss stage like Motobecane. The only thing to do is dive in and see.

Without looking at gitaneusa.com, I believe those are 70's decals, so more than likely French threading. Just make sure you match the crankset you want to use to the available BB spindle lengths before you go spending money.

The Sugino 110mm French BBs were available for <$20 on eBay a few years ago. They may still be around. That spindle length will give you a good chainline with many SS/fixie cranks.

Is there any way to figure out which type of bottom bracket it has apart from removing it? The thing that has me worried is, if I don't know which way to turn it, it might be a bad idea to try to take it off. Some of the parts to this point have needed a good bit of force, and I don't want to really lean into it if I'm tightening and not loosening.

Incidentally, it has a SunTour crank. A bit of additional research this morning has convinced me that it's a 1977 model.

Best bet is to take it to your nearest bike shop. They should be able to remove it for you for a few dollars.

Suntour crank is a nice plus.

Don't throw anything away on the bike, no matter how worn it might appear. French bikes had their own sizing for handlebar stems, headsets, bottom brackets and seat posts. Even if in mediocre condition, many of these parts can be salvaged and reused. Most bikes, even old ones, were not ridden that much. So once you clean up the parts, you will likely find they show very little wear.

I was able to reuse all of those parts on my 1975 Peugeot (all French).

Are there any markings on the cups?

I haven't done a complete excavation below the caked on grime (I've diverted my attention to the seemingly simpler task of trying to convince the stem to come loose). I didn't notice any markings, but I'll take a closer look tonight. Is there anything in particular that I should be looking for?

If it's French, it may be marked 35X1.

I suspect it is probably French thread, but it appears you already have a bottom bracket installed, so what's the worry? Just get a new spindle (if needed) and go on with your life.

It looks like the one in the '77 catalog, which makes it almost certainly French. I'd definitely turn the fixed cup counterclockwise if I had to remove it.

The tubes are high tensile steel, but it does have nice looking lugs. They appear to be much more neatly done than the lugs on my Tour de France. What's up with that?

John is right and you may even be able to use the headset.

OK, so if I want to use the existing bottom bracket, I just remove the left cup, pull everything out, clean it up, drop in some new ball bears and some grease?

I guess this is probably the way to go, but I will be learning as I do it. How can I tell if the cups are still good/usable? Where do I get a new spindle?

Yep, that's all there is to it. Once it's apart, check the cups and the spindle races for pitting. The surfaces should be smooth since if they are pitted, the bearing won't roll smoothly. How smooth they need to be depends on how much you care about smoothness. My guess is that the grease is dried up and a thorough cleaning and re-greasing will be sufficient. As long as you have it apart, you might as well replace the bearings as they are cheap. They'll probably be in a retainer so just push the old ones out and push new ones in.

You should be able to find new bearings at your LBS or on-line. If you need to replace the spindle you can ask around your LBS to see if they have a box full of old ones. If that doesn't work I'd try looking for one here at BF. Hopefully you can just clean it up and re-grease it and go.

If the fixed cup is bronze or gold colored, it is left-threaded (Swiss).

I have never heard of a Gitane with a Swiss BB.

Hmmm. It is bronze (or possibly brown). I'll try to post a picture tomorrow.

Thanks for the help.

I'm with DD, it's not Swiss.
Whatever you do, save the lockring! Even if the cups are bad French lockrings are hard to find. I had to buy a complete French BB just to get one.

Good advice! I have a NOS French NR cupset that is useless to me because I don't have the lockring.

So here's what I found when I opened it up.



I think you can see where the bearings have worn a ring around the spindle. The cup has some unevenness, but I think I might just need to clean it better.

I can't tell if the spindle is pitted. It looks like a pretty generic spindle so it should be easy to replace if it is. It is very unusual for the cups to get damaged to the point of needing replacement. Unless there are obvious pits in the surface, I'd reuse them (actually, I'd reuse them anyway -- at least until I could locate French threaded replacement cups).