Gitane TdF, early 70's?
02-20-11 | 02:05 PM
#26
Chrome Freak
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 3,208
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From: Kuna, ID
Bikes: 71 Chrome Paramount P13-9, 73 Opaque Blue Paramount P15, 74 Blue Mink Raleigh Pro, 91 Waterford Paramount, Holland Titanium x2
Were those Interclubs the old ones with the foil decals or the newer models with the yellow or green plastic film decals that came out in 1974? The newer 1974 Interclubs came with clinchers instead of the sewups found on the earlier models.
In 1974 Gitane switched from Mel Pinto Imports their long time importer/distributor located in Virgina to Gitane Pacific in Hawthorn, CA. I don't know that Mel Pinto ever received any of the 1974 models???
I guess the folks at Gitane Pacific were hoping to make a killing but the Bike Boom came to a screeching halt about mid 1974. Before before then shops couldn't assemble sub $100 bikes fast enough.
After the bike boom ended there were still a lot of bikes sold but many US customers started looking for better quality models. Either they were upgrading from and entry level bike or they'd become more sophisticated buyers through exposure to the many bike related books and magazines that were available in the mid 70s and later.
Gitane Pacific missed the mark completely by focusing on entry level bikes including the bottom of the line French made Gitane Gypsy models.
https://www.gitaneusa.com/images/catalog/1975_pg1.jpg
They also tried bringing in some 38-40 Lb. made in Taiwan clunkers like the Gypsy Sport.
https://www.gitaneusa.com/images/catalog/1976_pg3.jpg
The 1974 Interclubs got 27" alloy clincher rims and the Huret honeycomb rear dropouts. They still came with Simplex Prestige derailleurs, MAFAC Racer brakes, Pivo bars and stems plus Sugino Maxi cast aluminum cranks. Some came with Huret Challenger derailleurs instead of the plastic Simplex ones.
The Tour de France models were hard to get. They changed the frames from all Reynolds 531 to only the 3 main tubes plus they used the hideous looking Huret honeycomb rear dropouts. The wheels were also switched from sewups to 27" alloy rimmed clinchers. They were also priced out of the market vs. the Peugeot PX10, Raleigh Competition and Motobecane Grand Jubilee, especially since many still used plastic Simplex Criterium derailleurs (a few had Huret Challenger derailleurs).
Gitane Pacific must had a quantity of older model Interclubs and TdFs in stock. In talking with a LBS owner here in the Bay Area who sold Gitanes back about that time, he told me that he had to take 1 sewup tired bike for every 5 entry level clincher tired Gran Sport models!
Chas. verktyg
In 1974 Gitane switched from Mel Pinto Imports their long time importer/distributor located in Virgina to Gitane Pacific in Hawthorn, CA. I don't know that Mel Pinto ever received any of the 1974 models???
I guess the folks at Gitane Pacific were hoping to make a killing but the Bike Boom came to a screeching halt about mid 1974. Before before then shops couldn't assemble sub $100 bikes fast enough.
After the bike boom ended there were still a lot of bikes sold but many US customers started looking for better quality models. Either they were upgrading from and entry level bike or they'd become more sophisticated buyers through exposure to the many bike related books and magazines that were available in the mid 70s and later.
Gitane Pacific missed the mark completely by focusing on entry level bikes including the bottom of the line French made Gitane Gypsy models.
https://www.gitaneusa.com/images/catalog/1975_pg1.jpg
They also tried bringing in some 38-40 Lb. made in Taiwan clunkers like the Gypsy Sport.
https://www.gitaneusa.com/images/catalog/1976_pg3.jpg
The 1974 Interclubs got 27" alloy clincher rims and the Huret honeycomb rear dropouts. They still came with Simplex Prestige derailleurs, MAFAC Racer brakes, Pivo bars and stems plus Sugino Maxi cast aluminum cranks. Some came with Huret Challenger derailleurs instead of the plastic Simplex ones.
The Tour de France models were hard to get. They changed the frames from all Reynolds 531 to only the 3 main tubes plus they used the hideous looking Huret honeycomb rear dropouts. The wheels were also switched from sewups to 27" alloy rimmed clinchers. They were also priced out of the market vs. the Peugeot PX10, Raleigh Competition and Motobecane Grand Jubilee, especially since many still used plastic Simplex Criterium derailleurs (a few had Huret Challenger derailleurs).
Gitane Pacific must had a quantity of older model Interclubs and TdFs in stock. In talking with a LBS owner here in the Bay Area who sold Gitanes back about that time, he told me that he had to take 1 sewup tired bike for every 5 entry level clincher tired Gran Sport models!
Chas. verktyg
Our stock was only the foil decal variety, unlike the catalog they had Sugino Maxy cranksets. By mid 74, the owner was in severe financial trouble and could not get any more bikes from his supplier, most likely Mel Pinto. For a while we had nothing to sell, I recall he had me create an Interclub out of a Gran Sport because he had a buyer and no bike to sell. I pointed out that the Interclub had chrome fork tips and the Gran Sport did not, much to his chagrin.
He was finally able to get financing, and a new supplier. The new line was Maserati. I left the shop just prior to the first shipment of the Maserati bikes, the shop lasted for a few months beyond that. I bet it was interesting doing repairs there after that as all that shop had previously sold were Follis and then Gitane, threading issues must have been a real pain.
I never really developed an interest in the post foil decal Gitanes as I never had any exposure to them. I had never seen a honeycomb dropout until someone posted a picture here.
__________________
1971 Paramount P-13 Chrome
1973 Paramount P-15 Opaque Blue
1974 Raleigh Professional Blue Mink
1991 Waterford Paramount
Holland Titanium Dura Ace Group
Holland Titanium Ultegra Triple Group
1971 Paramount P-13 Chrome
1973 Paramount P-15 Opaque Blue
1974 Raleigh Professional Blue Mink
1991 Waterford Paramount
Holland Titanium Dura Ace Group
Holland Titanium Ultegra Triple Group
02-24-11 | 01:29 AM
#27
verktyg
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 4,034
Likes: 1,271
From: SF Bay Area
Bikes: Current favorites: 1988 Peugeot Birraritz, 1984 Gitane Super Corsa, 1980s DeRosa, 1981 Bianchi Campione Del Mondo, 1992 Paramount OS, 1988 Colnago Technos, 1985 RalieghUSA SBDU Team Pro
Huret Honeycomb Rear Dropouts
Not everyone shares your opinion that the "honeycomb" Huret dropouts are hideous. People seem to get all worked up over them here whenever a picture is posted here. Personally, I don't find them especially attractive but they're unusual and that's a good thing to my mind. I like the way they have stops for both Huret and Campy-style derailers.
In 1974, rear dropouts with integral derailleur hangers were pretty much limited to Campagnolo, Suntour, Zeus (used on some British bikes) plus the proprietary Simplex and Huret models.
An integral derailleur hanger was a measure of a better quality frame. When a bike came in for service, that was one of the first things we looked for to determine who would work on the bike. Eventually bikes of all quality levels started using them.
We found that many customers, even first time buyers were turned off by the appearance of the Huret honeycomb dropouts. They just looked TOO different. Maybe they were prepped by other shops while they were looking at bikes???
Mechanically it's a great idea because you can use all 3 style derailleur mounts: Campagnolo which quickly became the de facto standard when Suntour and Shimano adopted it, proprietary Huret and even Simplex.
I added a 1974 Gitane Tour de France to the collection just to have a bike with those dropouts.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/2826722...7623536286985/
BTW, I've seen them used on some mid 70s Velo Solex bikes plus I saw one Dawes bike with those dropouts.
The Huret dropouts were investment cast steel. Someone who worked for Trek back then said that they had a few sets for evaluation.
Chas. verktyg
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