Narhay

Not sure on model and year but possibly a Gitane Interclub.



Mine



What is probably closer to original.

Looks like the brake levers were turned horizontal but a standard stem seems to fit. Suntour cyclone derailleurs, Shimano dt shifters. 27" wheels to replace original tubulars? No tubing sticker.

ollo_ollo

Seen in the wild? Or bought?

ollo_ollo

Sorry, Missed the "mine"

Narhay

I can't resist an orange French bike screaming for my help.

jdawginsc 

Was it an Interclub after all? Find out what year?

juvela

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thanks very much for the text information

from the photo there was something about the proportions that made me suspect it might be smaller than standard - as coming with 600A wheels

probably the massive saddle threw off me eye

you'll have lots of good fun with this


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devinfan

Wow, another one! Also looks shockingly similar to my 1975 Tour De L’Avenir. Pretty distinctive bike and I think that’s what you’ve got.

devinfan

From the catalogue:

verktyg 

You guys are getting good... Don't need me for Gitane answers anymore...

How to tell 1974-75 Gitanes from 1976 bikes: Head tube stickers (Your Millage May Vary)



All the bikes pictured in the messages above appear to be 1974-75 European Tour de L'Avenir bikes. Here's why - Based of the info from the 1974 Gitane catalog pictured below, the French market Interclubs had steel cranks and 700c clinchers with alloy rims whereas the Tour de L'Avenir came with sewups and Sugino MAXI cotterless cranks.




Both models could have come with either Simplex Prestige or Huret Svelto derailleurs. Svelto derailleurs were popular in France back then.

They probably used the same frames. The 3 main tubes could have been butted Durifort, Straight gauge Durifort also known as Rubis 888, some light gauge carbon steel tubing or standard Gitane gas pipe tubes with a 1.5mm wall thickness.

How to tell (guess) - butted Durifort used 26.2mm seatposts. Gitane "tuyau de gaz" used 25.8mm seatposts. A 26.0mm seatpost would be something between those two.

Here's a better view of the 1975 Tour de L'Avenir from a French wall poster that devinfan pictured above.



les spécifications sont sujettes à modification sans préavis - Spec subject to change yada yada yada!

Most or all of the French bike makers used to offer amateur racing models. They usually had slightly lighter frames with racing geometry plus sewups. The Interclub was Gitane's version. Peugeot made the PA10 and so on.

Interclub in the 1970-73 US Gitane catalog. I had several of these that I built up from bare frames to use as beaters/trainers in 1974-75.



Besides cheap sewups they came with alloy bars. The frames had stamped steel dropouts. In late 1972, early 1973 Interclubs started coming with the first generation Sugino MAXI cranks. They were terrible cranks!

The area where the chain rings were swagged onto the cast aluminum crank arms was too wimpy and would spin loose with the slightest amount of effort. I spun one out on an Interclub that I'd just assembled taking it for a test ride around the block!

We pulled crank arms off of new bikes to replace the defective ones. They sat around for months waiting to get replacements from Gitane.

In 1974 Gitane switched from their long time importer/distributor Mel Pinto Imports in Virginia to Gitane Pacific in Southern Cal.

Gitane switched from Mylar foil stickers that they'd been using since 1967-68 to clear plastic ones in yellow or green with a new logo. They also improved the paint on their frames and offered new colors.

The problem with Gitane Pacific was they didn't have a clue about the US bike market! In 1974 the US Bike Boom Fad was coming to a screeching halt along with the market for $100 gas pipe entry level models.

Gitane Pacific offered a slew of entry level models from the 40 lb. made in Taiwan Gypsy Sport clunker to some Japanese made models plus several entry level French made bikes.

At the same time they dropped the higher end models that Mel Pinto establish the Gitane reputation with.

They only offered two "performance" models: the spruced up Interclub and the dumbed down Tour de France with only the 3 main tubes Reynolds 531. They were both priced way out of the market by at least 20%.... We ended up selling the 1974-75 Gitanes at under cost to get rid of them!

Both of the models came with Huret "honeycomb" or "spider web" rear dropouts. They were sooo weird looking! WTF? Even novice customers were turned off by them.

In 1976 Gitane went back to "all Reynolds 531" tubing and upgraded the components on the TdFs. By that time they were moving away from the Huret rear dropouts too. A few Interclubs came into the US with what I suspect was the Reynolds 531 3 TUBES RENFORCES frames that had been used on the 1974-75 TdFs.

1976 Interclub




Hope this helps a little...

verktyg

jdawginsc 

verktyg

What do you think the yellow Gitane from the other thread is, Interclub or lower model?

Narhay

I ended up tidying this one up. It needed a lot of work but I disassembled down to the frame and rebuilt it piece by piece.

I changed out the French threaded crankset for another maxy type I had. Drop bars, stem and levers for the front.





Borrowed the cyclone derailleurs for another project. They along with the fact I can't let a French bike wither away in misery are the reasons I purchased the bike. Cleaned up another one I had while I was at it.



The front rim had a strange flat spot that cut across across bead for about 3". It was perfectly straight and looked almost intentional but the rear rim didn't have it. A new wheel sorted that out and this one went into the recycling bin.

verktyg 

DOH! what other thread???

1974-76(77?) was what I call the Gitane clear plastic decal era that came with yellow or green text. It was also when Gitane Pacific took over importation and distributions from Mel Pinto Imports.



Gitane's 1970-73 US catalog listed 6 different drop bar, derailleur models plus several others that weren't mentioned.

The 1974 French Gitane catalog listed over 16 different models of "light weight" road bikes. The 1975 French flyer listed about the same number of models.

Gitane Pacific's 1974-75 flyer listed only 2 French models - the entry level Gypsy and the Grand Sport De Luxe. They sent out a few single sheet flyers to dealers showing the specs for the dumbed down Tour de France and the Interclub. Both of those models had Huret honeycomb dropouts.

Bikes like the Tour de L'Avenir were European market models that I never knew existed until maybe 15 years ago.

In 1975 and again in 1976 we brought in a few Interclub and Tour de France bikes. They were so overpriced compared equivalent models from Peugeot, Raleigh and the Japanese brands that we ended selling them at cost just to get rid of them.

Gitane Pacific was hard to deal with, they didn't have a clue plus where headed Titanic by the end of 1976.

One way to check on the 1974-75 (76?) Interclubs is to check out the fork crowns and lugs. Most of them came with these Nervex Pattern 7 fork crowns plus Bocoma Professional medium point lugs.





TdF's from that era had either style of these Nervex crowns plus several different styles of long point lugs.



As with anything bike related, "les spécifications sont sujettes à modification sans préavis"...

Don't know if that answers your question???


What brand of rim was that?

It looks as if the sidewall was flared out a little from hitting something and maybe someone filed it flat plus filed down the lip at the top of the sidewall ???

Could have also been a manufacturing defect???

verktyg

jdawginsc 

verktyg I love the stories!

So based on this, it looks like I bought myself a Euro market Tour d’Avenir?