Originally Posted by
jonwvara
Well, the crudely pinched-off ends of the seat stays where they're brazed to the seat lug are a little bit of a kludge, too, especially compared the the nice willow-leaf caps on the earlier models. But that's part of their charm, I guess. As everyone else has noted, they sure ride nicely.
I always find myself passing on the Gitanes with the swagged seat stay ends, nothing functionally wrong with them but when compared with the much more elegant seat stay caps seen previously, whether they are the earlier fitted cap (seemingly always tri-color) or the Carre-style willow leaf that followed, the swagging just looks expedient and cheap.
