If those lugs aren't Nervex Super Legere, they sure are similar to them.

https://www.classicrendezvous.com/Fra...rvx_L_Lugs.htm

Also, as far as the dropouts, remember that some of the seventies TdF models were sans derailleur hanger, and those were not low end models.

TdF ? Not? I care not. That is one cool bike.

I was wrong. I find seat and seatpost in '63 Ron Kitching catalog .

Yup, saw that when he posted the new pics

Thanks dbakl! Can you post a link to that Catalog? Sounding more and more like a 62'-63' I appreciate all the feedback and will probably have to accept that I'm not gonna ID this thing.

No link, its a paper catalog repro I bought from Velo-Retro. I could scan the page and post. Great source for catalogs and Tshirts from a fellow collector:

www.velo-retro.com/

Not sure an ID is that important. Its a top tier Gitane from the 60s, much nicer than the later TdF! Compare to the new PX10 posting.

Crankarms are Stronglight but rings are TA "Professional". Used an adapter so larger rings could be changed without removing the pedal.

I'd be very curious to see it. No doubt there was something similar to the Tahei that RonKit imported in '63 (I'd bet from France), but I'll be gobsmacked if that company (Tahei Saddle) was even in business and making seatposts back then. The saddle I'm not skeptical of.
And those lugs are similar to the Nervex Super Legere, but they are not. The same lugs also were used on several other French makes, it will be interesting to learn who made them...if we ever do, I bet it will be from somebody like Norris Lockley, who has encyclopedic knowledge of French bicycle lore.

Hmm, I thought they were the Unica/Unicanitor I saw in the Kitching catalog. Wrong again!

I don't know from Gitanes, but it's a beautiful bike. The details (checkerboard pattern, stay cap treatment, hand lining on the chainstays) are really special.

I agree that the non-forged dropouts don't necessarily indicate a low-level frame. Even in the 70s many of the mid level 531 Raleighs had stamped dropouts, for example.

Cool bike. My '72 Nishiki has that Tahei seat post. And yes, there are plenty of 531 bikes with stamped dropouts. And assuming the wheels are original, I'm not sure low end bikes ever had tubulars either.

Again, regarding the lugs, attached is a pic of a fifties vintage Schwinn Paramount built for Frank Schwinn by Oscar Wastyn which appears to me to have the same lugs as this Gitane. My point is that the lugs do not neccesarily denote this bike to be low end.

Has the bike in question been scaled at 24 pounds? If so, then the dropouts sure would have fooled me, because a 24 pound bike for the early 70's was pretty darn light. And the tires (though the pic is not clear enough to determine) appears to have 27" tires with Schrader tubes, they were using presta valves back then on mid to high end bikes. I saw a a early 70's Gitane Inter Club that was using Presta and that was considered a low mid level maybe mid level bike, and it had nicer fork lugs and Simplex dropouts.

Lots of 60s and even 70s French bikes didn't have RD hangers... even mid-range Reynolds 531 models. My 1972 Jeunet 630 is all Reynolds 531 DB (including stays and fork) but has the cheaper Simplex (non-forged) dropouts, without the RD hanger, and was equipped with mid-range Simplex comps. The bike weighed 23lb in original form. Cheap dropouts do not a low-end bike make.

Definitely not Schraders as shown in the photos. Tubulars with Presta valves. Sprint "Tourer" on the front with a Pirelli on the back. Both hubs Campy high flange, not sure if Record or not, not a Campy expert. Matching Mavic rims.

As for the weight, I mentioned early in the thread that my crude scale method read 24 LBs. even, after 3 consecutive attempts and clearing the scale. Yes it's a bathroom scale, but one of those good digital ones.

Thanks again. Still waiting for someone from the Gitane forum to comment.

Looks like a frankenbike cobbled together with different parts from different countries.(that is neither bad or good just an observation) No pattern to the parts. Are those the tire savers made by a BF member? Shouldn't the foil head tube decal help with dating somewhat?

Wasn't hard to hit 22 pounds with sewups in the 70s...

Record hubs are easy to identify by the oil ports and black cover clips.

It's hard to believe that rekmeyata is commenting on the same bike that the rest of us are looking at.

Please give us some closeups of the checkered decals!

I don't know about anyone else but old decals do it for me.

The '62 catalog has the same font as the bike decal. But I'm not bilingual so that is all I can add.

https://www.gitaneusa.com/catalogues01.asp

I still think there's clues to be had from the '64 catalog, but not great clues (like: what's a "chromed saddle bar sleeve"?) There are 2 bikes in there that had tubulars and either "Nervex" or similarly ornate style lugs, and seem to have Durifort fork blade decals. These both have later (maybe foil sticker) graphics, but there are strong similarities to the OP's...and have 3-main-tubes 531. I think the OP's might be a "102" which had Campy hubs, or a "De Luxe", that had Campy derailleurs...but neither had alloy cranks. And, since I'm guessing, I'd say it's a '63...perhaps the last year Gitane used the old graphic down tube logo. All just guesses, but that's my best.

Look at the components list on the '62 "102." You might be right on both the model and the year.

Sorry not a Gitane owner, but anyway, by the sounds of it then it may not be a low end bike, probably middle grade, probably even bit higher. Most bikes made in those years were tanks, 30 pounds plus, to find a bike like that one that weighs around 23 to 24 pounds back then is a significant factor in the quality of the frame. Even the Gitane Inter Club (a mid level bike) I saw probably weighed around 26 to 28, which wasn't bad for back in those days.

Hubs are definitely Record. I would guess "No Record" based on the date and the rest of the bike.

Chas has been incognito on that board for a week. As I stated there I think the frame may be from the early 60's. The catalog scans are in French for the early 60's on the GitaneUSA site and the 102 does look like a good option in the 62 catalog.