chico81 

Hi!

I have an early 1970’s Gitane Professional Tour de France frame, Reynolds 531 tubing and Reynolds forks. It also has a strong light crank and headset. The paint has lots of patina and surface scratches. However, it is rust-free, straight, and the chrome is in great condition! Serial # is pictured on the dropout, it looks like 02221. Sorry about it being dirty, I just quickly cleaned it with a mild biodegradable cleaner, and it can definitely use some more elbow grease to get the job done.

I would like like this to go to another member, so I don’t care about highest eBay prices, what is a reasonable value on this? What would YOU be willing to pay in its condition?

Thanks!!

rootboy 

No response to this yet?
It's a tough question. Unfortunately these don't seem to command much money.
I have a purple one but the thought of getting rid of it for the price these seem to
go for discourages me from even try it.
The green ones are cool. I'd try to remove the remnants of that black lettering on the top
tube and maybe try to bring the paint up a bit with some light rubbing compound.
The crank, BB and headset ought to be worth 75 bucks, I would think. The frame?
Maybe $175-200 ? That could be optimistic in these times.

bikemig 

I've been keeping my eye on TdFs a bit since I'd like to find one in my size one day. The most recent one I saw on eBay went for $140 I believe with a headset, bottom bracket, seatpost, and stem. There is one currently at $250 that hasn't budged. I've seen complete TdFs going for between $300-$400. So I think $150 is a reasonable deal on this given that it has a nice crank.

I would have bought this bike by now if it were my size,

big chainring 

I looked at one just like this in Chicago a couple months ago. Are you in Chicago by chance? Thing is, by the time you get all the parts together to build it into a bike you have $400 into it. And really fully built originals can be found in the $200 range. So I think value, even with the crank included, is $100-125.

bikemig 

I agree that's the problem with buying a frame which is that it's nearly always better to start with a complete bicycle. I also agree that it is very possible to find complete bicycles with a full Reynolds frame tubing for right around $200. I bought a Libertas recently with a odd assortment of parts but mainly period correct (other than the wheels) for $200 from eBay where prices tend to be higher than CL. This is the bike as found in the "wild."

chico81 

Thanks for the appraisal! Spot on for what I was going to ask to break even. The bike came with a lot of very worn mismatched aftermarket parts, Shimano Acera derailleurs (trash), beat up Araya wheels and cheap Shimano hubs, a seatpost that was too small, a beat up seat, and beat up exage brake levers and a front brake caliper. It does have the original rear Mafac center pull that I would include in the sale. It did come with Cinelli bars and stem, but I am going to use these on another project (lowered price a bit to reflect this). I will go ahead and post it on the C&V sales forum and see if I get any feedback. Not trying to make money on this, just break even or an even trade.

Thanks again everyone!!