I got a bike off Craigslist for free a few weeks ago. He told me it was an early 80's or late 70's Gitane. I've looked around and I can't find anything about it. Any help you can give would be awesome. There isn't a serial number on the bottom bracket. It's got Shimano 600 downtube shifters, cranks, derailleurs, hubs, brakes, headset, fork and cassette. The seat was destroyed so that i couldn't even tell you. The rims are Mavic MA 40. It's got a Cinelli handlebar and stem combo. Nameless brake levers that are newer, maybe Dia Compe. I'm not sure. Here's a few pics, but they were taken with my cellphone camera. Not the best quality.

I'm thinking it's a 1970 or 1971 Gitane Gran Sport. I know the parts are newer but I'm not sure when shimano 600's were popular. Please help.

definitely not the right headbadge/fork for a GS '70-'71. You need to see if it looks like anything @ www.gitaneusa.com

I have two 79-80 or thereabouts Gitanes, both full Shimano 600 Arabesque equipped. The tubing is Super Vitus 971 and there are top tube cable braze-ons. They don't have aero brake levers and your frame has top tube cable clamps. Some better focused pictures with close-ups of the existing braze-ons and decals--if there are any left on the frame and a full shot of the head badge might help. It looks like the derailleur cable guide is clamp-on rather than braze-on so I'd think the frame itself might predate the components by several years.

The head "badge" is a Van's sticker. I did look on there and the 1970 Gran Sport looks exactly like mine. Same color and same drop outs. I also looked at a 1970 on ebay and it was too close not to be it. If you'd like to see a specific shot let me know. I just need to know what you might be looking for. I'm actually doing this as a big project and it'd be nice to know what frame it is. Thanks, guys.

If you're really doing this as a big project then the first thing to determine is if it has the French details, like french BB threading, french headset, stem diameter, stem clamp size, even the tubing diameter. If you don't have digital calipers this may be the time to spend $10 and get some.

Those rear dropouts look too nice for an early '70's Gran Sport. If memory holds, the GS had stamped dropouts, admittedly fairly nice ones, but still stamped. These look forged.