Jenny is complete!
 

Thought I would throw this up there, although I'm not sure it will be to everyone's taste here. Some of you may remember my personal weight loss challenge a while back. I used this Alan-built Gitane as inspiration to get from 178lb (my weight at the time) to under 150. Anyhow in a moment of hilarity I decided that I was "light enough" at 170 to ride it and my Falstaffian girth cracked the fork steerer. It took me more than a year to find a replacement Alan fork (this time with a steel steerer) which then had to be re-threaded and re-sized. In any case I am now 140 so well under the weight limit for the frame and also for the Topline cranks, which I believe is 150.

Without further ado, here she is, "Jenny Craig":

http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/...n/IMG_1310.jpg

http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/...n/IMG_1312.jpg

http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/...n/IMG_1313.jpg

very pretty!

so it had an aluminum fork steerer? good lord i wouldn't trust that over 110 lbs.

that is one sexy crank set.
CLB brakes are way under rated
sweet frog!

Wow, at 140 on that bike, you must be a rocket!

I haven't seen 140 since my freshman year - of high school! I'd love to get down to 175 myself. I think it would help my cycling, but I seem to have found my comfort level at 185 or so.

Great looking Gitane. Very racy looking. The bar tape and seat look great together. Those aluminum forks were nicknamed "death forks", weren't they? Well, glad you lived through it!

Thanks all! To be honest I think I over-tightened the headset and that was more to blame than anything, but I was amazed at how unsubstantial the remains of the steerer were when I examined it. It is a pretty early Alan/Gitane frame, my understanding is that they switched to a steel steerer soon afterward. I love the CLB brakes, they are way more powerful than they look!

Don't worry about the crank. I'm a 195-200# guy and have a set on one bike. I do flex it some, though. But congrats on the bike, and esp the weight loss

Wow, that bike is super minimized! Do you have tubs on it? If not, why not go the whole way?
Quite surprised when I was building my Alan Carbonio earlier this year and decided to compare my spare Vitus 979 fork to the one from the Carbonio and I did not know what to think when I found out it was aluminum....which explains why the 979 fork felt heavier in my hand. Just never saw such on any of the bikes I owned or worked on. So far, it's holding up but should I buy a spare Alan fork too then??:twitchy: Maybe I shouldn't bother as it will most likely asplode like a death fork and kill me anyway....:rolleyes:
Curious now, do aluminum bikes from Cannondale, Trek, Schwinn...etc... have steel steerer tubes on their aluminum forks too?

Chombi

Nice bike but congrats on the weight loss! 38lbs is a lot of mass to lose, good for you.

+1

I've lost a little over 25 pounds this year and I feel fantastic.

38 pounds though is much more impressive.

Way to go.

867-5309

Congrats on reaching a personal goal. So...How much does the bike weigh? It's beautiful by the way. The CLB brakes are very sexy and match the feel of the bike nicely. Very well done.

The bike turned out great! I'm really intrigued by these ALANs which get great reviews from their owners.

How does the ALAN-built Gitane differ from other bonded aluminum ALAN frames?

What is that do-dad strapped to the down tube?

Also, what does the bike weigh? If weight-weenie-ism was a consideration, why not use tubulars?

Btw, my doctor ordered me to cut out carbs & high-fat foods from my diet on October 22. Since then, I've lost 15-pounds. I hope to be below 200-lbs. by the end of the year; I haven't been under 200-lbs. since I was in my 20s (almost a decade ago).

jenny is hot! how much does she weight?

Doodad looks to be one of those tail lights with silicone holder with bands that stretches around the tube to secure it.
Alan usually just re-branded their frames to sell to other makers as their own without too much modifications. In fact, some of them actually retain some Alan pantographing (Like the CF ones they made for Nishiki) combined with the other maker's graphics and labels. Only one that was a bit different from the standard Alans was the CF/Aluminum bike they made for Guerciotti. It had CF main tubes and and aluminum rear triangle and forks. I haven't really seen any Alan sold bikes having the same combination of materisl in a frame. They were usually either all aluminum or all CF tubed. They must have done it per request of Guerciotti.

Chombi

Wow, great looking bike. Is that a Cooks Quality Products crankset? And that spider, is that OEM or drilled/milled to shave some weight? Speaking of weight, congrats on getting down to 140!

That's a Topline crankset from maybe the very late 80's to early 90's. It's the way it came from the manufacturer so no extra milling on this one, but I think this one has a slightly different spider piece than other Topline road cranks. Most of them have a different shape opening where they are nearest the drive crank arm.....
IIRC, Topline road cranks was more related to Grafton road cranksets and you can see very close similarities between them if you look at pics at sites like Velobase.

Chombi

Thanks for the kind words everyone! I actually may have pushed it a little far with 140, I am thinking I need to gain 5 pounds. I was going for Bruce Lee but I think I ended up with something less impressive, more like the kid from the ad in the comics that gets sand kicked in his face. Jenny is a beautiful ride, super smooth even when I was running 20mm tires, the geometry and small gauge aluminum seem to really soak up the bumps.

Jenny is branded on the BB as Gitane and French threaded, but other than that she is an Alan, with the regular Alan engravings on the rest of the frame. As to her weight, I haven't asked! I was going for French style rather than weight. I'll put her on a scale as soon as one presents itself.

Oh yeah, one of the things I was happiest about with this build are the way the cables turned out. You can't see too well in the pics but the housings are chromed. I got them from an ebay seller called porkchop BMX and he's got every kind of housing you could imagine - some really cool stuff in hard to find colours. He even sends you your choice of anodized cable end crimps with each order!

lol

Performance bike sold an Alan built CF/aluminum lugged frame. Salmagundi. Nice build devinfan

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...r/DSC00986.jpg

Congratulations on attaining your personal goal, and then some! Some choice weight weenie parts you have there. I think I might need some more rides on my own ALAN to lose some of the culinary debris I picked up here in Indonesia :)

Very, very pretty. Can a bike get any more spare and elegant than that?

I was thinking Forrest Gump, but now that song will stay in my head all day.

I like the CLB brakes, very sleek.