Great vocabulary word! I haven't heard it in many years. Do you remember the eschew Obfuscation bumper sticker?

"You've got enamel."

Indeed I do remember that confounding bumper sticker, one of my faves.

So does that make mine a 'Champignon du Monde'? How mush room is there in the spec for different models with the same spec?

That would seem likely, I think. Mine's a 'trois tubes' model, which would make it a Tour de France, I believe.

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...it got donated to the Bike co-op here, and had obviously been left out in someone's shed or back yard for a lot of years. But it had enough of the original stickers and paint to indicate it was a TdF, and it's my size, so it ended up in the "projects that will take a couple of weeks free" pile.

I know that every other Gitane TdF I've seen had some version of Simplex dropouts on the frame, but this one got brazed up with something less, with no integral derailleur hanger.


Anyway, it's kinda going OK, and if I get another couple of days free, I can finish cabling, bar tape, and tweaking it. I bought one of those sticker packets from Cyclomondo down under, and I must say they are very pretty stickers. I sincerely hope the adhesive bond is aggressive enough to stay on the powdercoated surface. I've never done any work with powdercoated frames before, and it has been a little slower, taking time to clean up various threadings and the crown race seat. Very shiny, though.

Greg's graphics work fine on powdercoated Gitanes:









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...thanks, I was hoping that was the case. I did a wet application, and I guess it will take some time for them to dry out and firm up. Gonna let it sit for a day or two.

I did the wet application with my decals and the down tube decals lifted on the edges. I even cleaned the surface with rubbing alcohol. Not sure how to get them to attic now that they've ridden 50+ miles in the dust.

I did mine dry.....five years ago. Still no problems.

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I used Greg's decals and followed his instructions on a wet application after washing the frame thoroughly with Dawn dish liquid and then using the same for applying. Turned out very nice. I applied the set during summer so the drying was helped by our summer sun. Edges are stuck pretty good. For me, a very nerve wracking but rewarding experience. Had it not been on my dream bike ('77 Colnago) I would have enjoyed the applying a bit more.

Very nice work.

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...thanks. This is about my fourteenth French bike overhaul/restoration, and the first one where I felt somewhat in control. (Even though the 1 1/8" Paselas I originally wanted to use were just a skosh too fat. )

Just a suggestion, 3alarmer. After I did my Gitane TdF stickers, I sealed the edges with one of those sign maker's edge sealing pens.
Used by sign makers, etc., to seal the edges of their vinyl films. Worked great.
I too was worried about the edges lifting eventually. Did my stickers wet, and so far, so good. But the bike doesn't see a lot of use.

Amazon.com: Pro Application Tool - Edge Seal-It Pen: Automotive

...thank you.

+1, [MENTION=29368]rootboy[/MENTION]

Me and my Super Corsa, 1974.

What a fantastic picture! Makes me nostalgic for every long ride I ever took. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, yes it makes me wonder what I'm doing sitting here. BTW I took it somewhere east of Toronto.


Many nice Gitane's here, mine was pretty beat up.

Awesome. I've ridden east many times from Toronto. My last ride to Cobourg took me through a lot of beautiful countryside like in your picture.

Gitane Kilo

Love the Kilo, Sloar! That's one for my bucket list.

Took the day off for my birthday today and decided I had to finish building up the Gitane Olympic. As with a lot of older bikes the best laid plans don't always come to fruition. A shout out to [MENTION=384627]MiloFrance[/MENTION] for making this frame available. It was another to check off my list of bikes to obtain.

The build was going to be a mix of parts (again) on hand because I still have too many kids at home. In another couple of years I'll start accumulating parts to do it right - either Campagnolo or Suntour Superbe.

The Shimano 600 Arabesque brakes I had for the bike looked great until I realized sometime in the past year I had lost one of the anchor bolts and small bracket that goes with it. A perusal of the parts drawer and I found a couple of Weinmann calipers but they were both for the front. Nothing for the rear. This morning I was sitting in my chair in the man cave and I glanced pver at the beater Nishiki on the indoor trainer and the light bulb went off. The Nishikia had Superbe brakes - so those were stripped off and put on the Gitane.

The rear derailleur is a Simplex SX610 and the shifters are also Simplex from my dad's old '84 Peugeot PSV10. Front derailleur was going to be a Simplex SJA102 but the one on my other Gitane was stubborn and not going to work. For now there's a Suntour Cyclone on the bike.

Crankset is a Shimano 600 Arabesque (52-39) temporarily. I have a Stronlight 103 (anodizing was bad and is being stripped). I'll eventually have it set up with 52-38 gearing.

Rear freewheel was a 6 spd 13-24 Sachs Aris. Unfortunately, two of the cogs are worn out so I'll need to put a different freewheel on it. The 7 spd Aris I have is just too wide.

Pedals are Forte Look style with titanium spindles.

Wheels - front Mavic GEL280 with Suntour Superbe Pro hub. Rear is Mavic GP4 with a Mavic hub. I have a GP4 for the front - just needs to be cleaned up and a new tubular glued on.

Overall the bike rides fantastic! I had about an 8 mile shake down ride and it feels nimble and responsive. I look forward to getting it out for some longer trips next spring.

Your Gitane presents the first beautiful "snowflake" in that autumn scene!

Scozim: beautiful frame, beautiful build and beautiful shots. Very nicely done indeed.

Fabulous. Glad I could help!