rustystrings61 

One of the most useful tools you can own in the vintage bike world is a set of digital calipers. I bought mine for a whopping $10 from Harbor Freight and words cannot express how much they have improved the experience of messing around with old bikes. When you get the chance, go score yourself a set of them.

roadbikeChris

Should I still be excited about this bike?

noglider 

zhee TAHN

roadbikeChris

Went back to shop and seat post is 25.8mm so there it is. I could make out the lower case letters of Gitane on the frame and the logo on the front....so it appears I have a bike somewhat cobbled together....

rustystrings61 

25.8 mm seat post in a metric gauge frame means about 1.0 mm tubing wall, 'cause there's gonna be about .1 mm of slack to allow movement, typically. So comparable to plain gauge 531, or the nameless plain gauge stuff in my lovely old Liberia. So someone went to the trouble to fit a nicer crankset and wheels to it, which leads me to suspect it will be yet another exhibit in the long chain of items proving "The French have a way with gaspipe."

DMC707

yes. Its a real track bike, not a converted road bike

Even the lower line track bikes have cachet and are scarce

roadbikeChris

Whats with the gears on both sides of the rear hub, one is larger....

DMC707

Just a flip flop hub to give you different ratios for different workouts without having to breakout the chainwhip every single time

roadbikeChris

Oh OK it was on the smaller of the two when I removed the chain.

verktyg 

Give the man a cigar!

In 1973 I went to work part time at the shop where I bought my first Gitane. The manager had a masters in French and forced us all to learn the proper pronunciations of cycling names and words.

@rustystrings61 - you're steeling all my thunder!

I have some tubes from a crashed Gitane Gran Sport that I dissected years ago. They measure 1.5mm wall thickness but they're probably top and down tubes so 1.0mm would be correct for a seat tube that takes a 25.8mm seatpost.

Very few French bikes were made with straight gauge Reynolds 531 main tubes. It was produced in 0.7mm, 0.8mm and 0.9mm wall thicknesses and mostly found on lower end Brit bikes.

@DMC707 - "yes. Its a real track bike, not a converted road bike. Even the lower line track bikes have cachet and are scarce"

By the end of the 1950's the popularity of bicycle track racing had died out in the US. There were only a handful of tracks left around the country by the 1970's so the sales of REAL track bikes was limited.

When the fixie fad took off, fixie fools were paying insane prices for entry level 10 speed frames and bikes to drew and convert to FG bikes. REAL track bike sold for crazier prices - they still do on eBay!

Gitane Track Standard bikes cost us about $50 wholesale plus $9 motor freight from Mel Pinto Imports.

@roadbikeChris - BF members are more than happy to spoon feed new folks but I suggest that you also do some Google searches for BF threads for some of your questions. The results will go back 10+ years.

For example I just did a quick Google search for "bike forums gitane track standard" and came up with dozens of links to older threads that you can glean a lot of information from.

"Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you've fed him for a lifetime."

verktyg

roadbikeChris

Thank you. I have been doing some searches as I have very little knowledge about bikes period. Everyone has been very generous in providing this rank amateur some good information!

hobbs1951

Best thing about the bicycle is the chainset.

John.

roadbikeChris

Well that's something anyway! At least it's a good bike though the sum of its parts are diverse.

roadbikeChris

So my take is that with the upgraded chainset and wheels that makes it a pretty good bike! I am very happy with the $50 I spent.

TugaDude

I'm the guy that suggested you post the bike here on C&V. You can see I wasn't wrong.

The bike is not high end, but the cranks are awesome and the wheelset is above average. The hubs and rims are great. Make sure they are cleaned and lubed properly and trued up. They should last you like, forever if you maintain them.

Good luck with the rebuild. I suggest upright bars over drops. Drops look better to many people, but those of us over 50 like to sit up a little straighter.

roadbikeChris

Yes! I am 59 but I will try it as is and then make a judgement.

roadbikeChris

Yes you were right thanks!

TugaDude

The other reason to do so is for visibility. It is much easier to see what is going on when not looking down. Unless your neck is more flexible than mine!

roadbikeChris

Right! I am there with you, flexibility is an issue!

merziac

I would have stopped right there, any shop that "needs" a tool likely doesn't know how to be sure they get the right one or make sure they use it correctly now days on C+V.

You need to take this on, we will help and walk you through if you can commit.

It can be challenging but the skills can be priceless and very rewarding.

roadbikeChris

Actually the tool needed was owned by a tech who had used it multiple times and charged his shop for its use. I am guessing due to the vintage nature of the bike they don't deal with such bikes often. They are a well know bike shop here.
I did youtube how to get the chain off : ) I appreciate the extension of a willingness to help me do the work. I do need that!

verktyg 

Slightly of topic but I just made an offer on a ~1968 Gitane Professional Super Piste track bike with a Reynolds 531 frame and Campy components.

I'll probably pick it up this afternoon (Friday the 13th )

verktyg Pictures at 11:00....

roadbikeChris

Cant wait to see it!