I haven't dealt with this issue in a while. I salvaged a 70's Motobecane Mirage frame, These bikes make me paranoid sometimes (because I also have an 80's Super Mirage which turned out to be *Swiss thread*, but the headset was okay, thank god. )

So I don't know if this new Mirage swiss or french, if it's 70's or 80"s. I know they tooled with Swiss for like three years, then went to BSA.

Is there a way to tell? I don't remember seeing any serial number charts like the one for Raleighs.

I think Tange makes replacements. Anybody got a good link for a source, or if anybody has a used one for sale, PM me.

Thanks.

VeloOrange makes a French-thread headset. (I just put on a project Motobecane. It's a nice unit.)

I just used a Velo Orange one a customer's PX-10. Quality is good, price reasonable, it worked fine. Bought a second to keep in stock at the shop.

I've never heard mention of Swiss threading in anything other than bottom brackets. Swiss threads are nothing more than French threading with a left handed thread on the fixed cup. Don't think it would affect the headset.

There are no Swiss thread headsets.

yup.

you won't want to go the following route for a mirage, but for my grand record, i bought the two separate french threaded campy record headset pieces (on ebay) swapping them for the bsa pieces in a standard headset. saved about $100 that way, 'cause french campy headsets are $200 plus.

also had to mill the fork crown down to fit a standard crown race, but no biggie.

for a mirage, i'd look into the donor bike route. lots of mirages and nomads out there...

i wonder if it's possible to re-tap a french steerer to english thread?

Velo-Orange or ebay.

Probably smaller diameter, since the stems are. No problem using an English (or Italian) fork and headset.

^ the internal diameter of the french steerer just depends on the bike. you usually don't know until you just try a different quill stem. my '76 moto, for example, has a french threaded steerer of standard diameter.

what i don't know is how english and french threads differ. you can probably re-tap in one direction (english to french or vice versa), but not the other.

I did an ebay search for "french campagnolo" and found several reasonably priced headsets. Now reasonable to me is like $60-$80 for a VGC vintage campy. Seems nuovo record headsets are commanding $100+ for good examples but there were some nice gran sports on there.

The Velo Orange headset may not work for your bicycle. It has a stack height of 41mm. I measured my Peugeot UO10 and discovered I had 37mm sticking out of the head tube. And also had to fit the centerpull brake thingy.

From a photo by verktyg:



Read this.

Technically it would be cutting a new thread with a die. A tap threads a hole.

I just got a Velo ORange one, looks nice. I wish they would use ground races, instead of stamped ones.

I have one or two French headsets I'm not using. Send me email. It will take a couple of weeks to find them. They're up in the country.

Are you sure about that? I only found the one from Spain, it has been there a while, and it looks a little suspect (especially the crown race).

Too bad VO didn't make their French thread headsets less than 41 stack height. They could've sold a whole lot more of them.
Not many French bikes from the 70s came with a 41 mm headset.

Both the diameter and the thread are different: English is 1" (25.4mm) x 24tpi (0.95mm); French is 25mm (0.98") x 1mm.

^ i guess that means an english steerer could be cut to accommodate french threads, but not the other way around. and, in practice, that sounds like an absurd thing to do.

@IknowURider: you never really said what was wrong with your old headset. Is it gone ?

Personally, I would not invest a whole lot of money in a salvaged Mirage. Just not worth the hassles.
Look for a junked Peugeot...I'm pretty sure that will work. The standard fix is to swap the fork for
something with standard threading.

I have some pieces of a Stronglight P3 if that'll help. They were kindly sent to me by Whatwolf and there are some I can't use. Yours if you need them.

no I didn't pay close attention. So I looked again. You're right the crown race does look a little suspect.. there are also these, but I think the stack is too high.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Shimano-Arab...item5d46f3ad12

https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-CAMP...item2ecba4bc9a

https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-CAMP...item2c77bab124

The headset that was on there was indexed on the bottom cup, and jury-rigged at the top. The fork that's on there appears to have been an original stock Tange Hi Ten. - They had full chrome on the Mirages- But who knows, maybe it was swapped for a standard fork. Interestingly, I might have 41MM of steer tube thread so a VO might be ok. Noglider, thanks, I might take you up on that.

...I have personally never seen a Tange fork that was French threaded,
but if there were such things, a Motobecane is where you'd find one.

I would definitely try out a standard threaded top race on that to see if
maybe you don't really need a French thread at all.

I was going to post a pic of the headset that was on there, it will make you cringe a little. But I brought the wrong thumb drive to the coffeeshop. Stay tuned. Thanks to all, yeah this french stuff is always confusing as hell, I've read all the Sheldon and I still get messed up.

While this is obviously not a Grand Jubillee, I am dealing with this because it's become my civic duty. I have a grail bike, a Tomassini, but I want a french bike for combat use, because this is the first one I've salvaged that's actually in my size. I've been through a couple Peugeots, they are great , but a little wierd in fitting me. I think this one will fit perfectly.

What's cool is this bike actually had some miles put on it , probably commuting, as far as cost goes, I got the bike for free so I'm already way ahead of the game. This is what happens when you are "that guy on his bike" that locals see every day , riding, rain or shine. So they know it will get worked on. I am also a huge fan of gaspipe frames for "getting stuff done", saves the better frames for the sunny days in the mountains.

I absolutely LOVE my 62 CM 83 (I think) Super Mirage. I can do 12 hours in the saddle on that thing and feel no neck or shoulder pain the next day. Amazing.