What is this Chrome Gitane?
 

Weirdest road bike I have ever seen. It has phil wood hubs and is a misture of suntour and shimano parts. Look at the stem it is super reach and it even has a quick release for the bars. The rear drop outs are very weird and the seat tube meets the down tube before the bottem bracket. Any Idea what it is? I can get more pics. Would it be better to sell whole or in peices? What might it be worth. Thanks, Matt

i have no idea, but it's pretty amazing. more pictures?

Fugly GSD

Except I didn't know the GSD came with the Huret honeycomb dropouts

Edit: see later post

How good was a fugly GSD? Any idea what year it might be? Yes those are cool dropouts thanks for putting a name on them. Did you byuy this bike as a frame set or how did it come set up? Thanks, Matt

The dropouts look like the Huret "honeycomb" dropouts. They look pretty cool, but really only like Huret derailleurs. Whoever built the bike might have modified them for the SunTour derailleur.

Not sure on the value, but there is certainly some French funkiness going on there that may well hold some appeal for some people.

The GranSportDeluxe was the lowest model in Gitane's line-up. I thought Gitane quit using foil decals in 1973, and the honeycomb dropouts started in 1974, but obviously my memory ain't jivin' wit' your frame.

Look here for some catalogs. The GSD sold for probably $115-$140 back in the early 70's.

Edit 1:Looking at the '74 french catalog it may be the traveler n.1300 with earlier decals. Edit2: Found it - '73 French catalog Traveler n.1301 pg10

No wonder it has that stem - just look at that top tube length.

I also notice the BB is behind the seatpost - abnormally wide too.

EDIT: I see the catalog photo. "Traveler?" Some French idea about the way a touring bike should be set up, I gather.

EDIT #2: Wild looking thing in a large size: http://www.velocult.com/index.php/st...ver_road_bike/ - site says it was supposedly a manner of designing a machine that would be rather compact in length for shipping on airplanes, etc.

-Kurt

Thanks for all the help. So if I read you guys right you think it is a late 73 model? Now another question would you sell the bike without the wheels since they are phil wood hubs or would you sell the whole bike together at a higher price because of the wheels? The wheels are not stock anyway judging form the pics on this page. Matt

You'd have to ask this question in the Valuations forum.

-Kurt