Turning an old gitane into a fixie...
07-25-06 | 03:57 PM
#1
Thread Starter
damn
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 42
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Turning an old gitane into a fixie...
and i have some questions about the bottom bracket.
so far while searching the internet, i have found that old french road bikes have a 35 x 1mm size bottom bracket, i was just wondering if anyone could confirm this for the Grand De Sport, and if anyone has any suggestions as to where i could find a new one or make the old one work.
this is my first fixed and so far it has been a blast making this thing, but the bottom bracket has gotten me into a tight spot.
thank you all in advance.
so far while searching the internet, i have found that old french road bikes have a 35 x 1mm size bottom bracket, i was just wondering if anyone could confirm this for the Grand De Sport, and if anyone has any suggestions as to where i could find a new one or make the old one work.
this is my first fixed and so far it has been a blast making this thing, but the bottom bracket has gotten me into a tight spot.
thank you all in advance.
07-25-06 | 04:02 PM
#2
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 60
Likes: 0
From: Ohio
Bikes: 2004 Lemond Zurich, 1983 Trek 720, 2005 Gary Fisher Wahoo
What year is your Gitane. I built up an 85 Gitane and it had standard English Threads. If it is a Swiss threaded Bottom Bracket then Harris Cyclery may have bottom brackets that fit.
07-25-06 | 09:17 PM
#3
Slowpoach
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 1,091
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From: Melbourne, AU
Bikes: Cannondale T800, Northwood tandem, 1970s Gitane fixxed 45x16
Hi! No definite answer for you, but I understand these can be rethreaded, and that some BBs work OK - look up "velos" or "french bicycles" on www.sheldonbrown.com. I recently had a 70s Gitane built up as a road fixie, goes great, but the only new parts are the wheels and a cog - I was lucky enough to have everything else work just fine. Good luck!
07-26-06 | 12:03 AM
#4
Geek Extraordinaire
Joined: Feb 2006
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From: Long Beach, CA
Bikes: Bianchi Advantage Fixed Conversion; Specialized Stumpjumper FS Hardtail
I think, and I very possibly could be wrong, that the only company making decent french threaded bbs now is phil woods. So if you do get a new one, you'll get a really, really nice one.
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07-26-06 | 09:39 AM
#6
roll'em high
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 2,391
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From: columbus, ohio
i love the **** out of french bikes. i have a 1974 gitane super pista track bike and a 1977 tour de france conversion, both of which have french threaded bottom brackets.
i have fielded questions about french bottom brackets a few times here. this discussion assumes that you want to run a bottom bracket with track cranks to achieve a standard 42-43.5mm chainline. this requires that you have bottom brackets with spindle lengths that, generally speaking, are sub-110mm. most road bottom brackets won't fit the bill.
your best options are these:
1) phil wood rings with phil wood cartridge. absolutely the best way to go, but, obviously, the most expensive. this is how my super pista is setup.
2) phil wood rings with shimano un-72 cartidge. first, un-72 is not the same as the currently produced un-73. un-72s are no longer produced but can easily be found on ebay and, sometimes, in backstocked bike shops. with the un-72 you can remove both of the cups so that only the cartridge is remaining. this will interface perfectly with the phil wood french threaded rings. the un-73 has threads on the cartridge body, so you cannot do this. this is the setup that i now run on my gitane conversion (which is my everyday commuter and bike for long rides). i highly recommend this.
3) track down some sugino french threaded bottom bracket cups and buy a sugino 75 spindle (assuming that you're going to be using track cranks that require a 109mm spindle). aebike.com, if i recall correctly, still sells the sugino spindle as an individual part (you don't have to buy the whole bottom bracket). it's not easy to find the sugino cups these days, though. unfortunately, you cannot use most older french threaded cups, because they are thinner-walled and don't interface well with the japanese spindles. this is a great setup and is what i used on the gitane conversion until it became and all-weather bike.
i have fielded questions about french bottom brackets a few times here. this discussion assumes that you want to run a bottom bracket with track cranks to achieve a standard 42-43.5mm chainline. this requires that you have bottom brackets with spindle lengths that, generally speaking, are sub-110mm. most road bottom brackets won't fit the bill.
your best options are these:
1) phil wood rings with phil wood cartridge. absolutely the best way to go, but, obviously, the most expensive. this is how my super pista is setup.
2) phil wood rings with shimano un-72 cartidge. first, un-72 is not the same as the currently produced un-73. un-72s are no longer produced but can easily be found on ebay and, sometimes, in backstocked bike shops. with the un-72 you can remove both of the cups so that only the cartridge is remaining. this will interface perfectly with the phil wood french threaded rings. the un-73 has threads on the cartridge body, so you cannot do this. this is the setup that i now run on my gitane conversion (which is my everyday commuter and bike for long rides). i highly recommend this.
3) track down some sugino french threaded bottom bracket cups and buy a sugino 75 spindle (assuming that you're going to be using track cranks that require a 109mm spindle). aebike.com, if i recall correctly, still sells the sugino spindle as an individual part (you don't have to buy the whole bottom bracket). it's not easy to find the sugino cups these days, though. unfortunately, you cannot use most older french threaded cups, because they are thinner-walled and don't interface well with the japanese spindles. this is a great setup and is what i used on the gitane conversion until it became and all-weather bike.
07-26-06 | 10:59 AM
#7
brain damaged bovine
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 625
Likes: 0
From: back on the dental floss ranch, wielding zircon encrusted tweezers
Bikes: Schwinn wrecked ol' Probe 1x2, 84 Bianchi Limited,Raleigh 20 folder,,Redline Conquest Pro,71-73 Gitane TdF,Gitane Grand Sport de Luxe,78 Raleigh Super Course
Originally Posted by shants
3) track down some sugino french threaded bottom bracket cups and buy a sugino 75 spindle (assuming that you're going to be using track cranks that require a 109mm spindle). aebike.com, if i recall correctly, still sells the sugino spindle as an individual part (you don't have to buy the whole bottom bracket). it's not easy to find the sugino cups these days, though. unfortunately, you cannot use most older french threaded cups, because they are thinner-walled and don't interface well with the japanese spindles. this is a great setup and is what i used on the gitane conversion until it became and all-weather bike.
