UnD3R0aTh

Any idea what model / specs / worth this Gitane is?!

Pcampeau

It’s a good one! Gitane Tour de France 1971 or slightly earlier. Willow leaf seat stays make it earlier than my 72 model.

UnD3R0aTh

thx, I googled the tour de france 1970, it comes with simpelex deraileur not a suntour arx, I also hope this one doesn't have a stronglight crank, these are impossible to service here in Vancouver, i'm still searching for a place that has the right crank puller for my atala competqzione's stronglight, lastly, are the rims tubular on this one?! I hope not, i'm thinking of buying it

oneclick 

That's not a Stronglight, it's a Sugino, looks like a Super Mighty Competition with plain rings. Your rear mech is a Suntour VGT, front I cannot tell. Hubs look like Shimano, the rear has that split c-clip to cover the oil port. Rims don't look like sew-ups, think they have eyelets, too square for Rigida, do they have a label/stamping?

Gitane was an early adopter of far-east equipment, and those bits are certainly period correct if not original. They are also about as good as it got at that time for quality for those manufacturers.

It's a long time since I was in Van but there ought to be a shop/somebdy with the 23.35 crank puller. Look for a shop that brags about being old, or beg on the craigslist/kijiji pages.

Buy that bike.

And right away take the crank off (normal puller) and the bb axle out and check for this manufacturing flaw. When they sized the BB shell for the chainstay they may have left a ridge:



Behind which water will pool and eventually rust through your chainstay:



So what you do then is take a dremel-type tool and grind away the ridge:



And if your bb shell does NOT have a drain-hole it needs one, this is the time to do that.

ehcoplex 

Cool Gitane!

J S Stein makes a puller for the Stronglight cranks. Kinda pricey, but worth having. IMO, Stronglight cranks are things of real beauty!

Schreck83 

Likely built up from a bare (and desirable) frame. The headset, stem and perhaps bars are the only original components. Because of that, the rims are probably clinchers. That said, all of the components are fine and the frame has willow leaf seatstay caps, so you need to buy this!

jonwvara 

Nice. I'm guessing that the Simplex hanger was butchered to fit the Suntour rear derailleur, but that's not the end of the world. No one can blame you for being the butcher, and now you can use any derailleur you want.

52telecaster

And you could do way worse than a suntour Vx. Let me also say get the stronglight puller for when you need it. Stronglight cranks are worth it. I have one that does stronglight on one end and T.A. on the other. It's wonderful. Also let me say that is a grail bike.

Slowride79

Here is a s SL removal tool https://www.ebay.com/itm/22232587832...mis&media=COPY
I have it and works great. bonus it has TA other side!
That bike has been for sale for a long time. Seller should be willing to negotiate.

52telecaster

Looks exactly like mine. Excellent tool!

VintageRide

I happen to have the proper crank puller as I own bikes that have both an early Stronglight as well as the TA Cyclotourist and I live in the Vancouver area. Both require unique tools to remove. Have to love the lack of standards back then.

UnD3R0aTh

I live on UBC campus, you don't think I can borrow it from you for a few days would ya?!

oneclick 

The original poster's bike (the Gitane) DOES NOT NEED a special puller - it has a Sugino, not a Stronglight crank.

unworthy1

^ true but this OP will need to borrow a bunch of other tools (I bet) plus benefit from some experienced guidance.

I wouldn't call tapping the Simplex DO to accept the VX (or dozens of other RDs) a "butchering": you could still mount a Simplex RD to the threaded hanger if you had one, and had to use it. But why?

The call to Dremel out water traps in the BB shell is new info to me, but good to know and better to take care of before it is terminal!
This is "drewing" with a purpose!

VintageRide

Yes, but he has another bike, an Atala, that does have a Stronglight crankset.

roadcrankr

Good frameset from '71. Very similar to my Super Corsa from the same year, except for the Simplex dropouts.
Like somebody else pointed out, nearly all the original components got swapped out.
I find that a bit of a shame, especially for the incredible Stronglight crankset.
The French threaded bottom bracket and fork might limit choices.

Sierra

At some point I think that Gitane transitioned to the Sugino crankset on the TdF.
I have two of them that I believe came with the Sugino as original equipment.
I've since put Stronglight 93's on both of them as it's only right and proper. ;-)

tiger1964 

Hmm, never seen an Atala w/Stronglight. Hmm, opportunity to do a crankset swap? Stronglight on the Gitane, and the (Campy-looking) Sugino on the Atala?

rustystrings61 

Sugino Mighty Comp was substitute standard for the TdF when Gitane couldn't get Stronglight 93s; so, for that matter, were Campagnolo Tipo large flange hubs when they couldn't get Normandy Luxe Competitions. To my knowledge, those were the only FACTORY parts substitutions for the TdF, apart from different dropouts used depending on what they had on hand.

This one looks to be a 60 cm or so, which I have always found to be a magic size for me. I foolishly parted with a couple of them, but the beat c. '71 fixed-gear conversion I have now is NEVER leaving.

Are you sure the cranks on the Atala are Stronglights? I know Atala built some bikes with the equally French Nervar cranks - but the beauty of Nervar is they take a standard 22.0 mm puller.

UnD3R0aTh

just look up Atala competizione, the ad with specs will come up, there's also adetailed spec sheet for Atala somewhere

VintageRide

I am assuming the owner of the Atala knows what he has, should verify what exactly it is before possibly riding a fair distance to help him out, if it happens in the near future.