# anyone know of Gitane road bike?



## JM01 (Mar 29, 2005)

Just picked up a vintage Gitane 10 spd road bike...Reynolds 531 cromally frame, competition drive train (52/39), deraileurs, brakes, 700x25 aluminum quick release wheels, brooks saddle

has the cigarette makers badge, am told that it may have been a contest prize during a Tour de France promotion,may 20 years ago(?), could have been made by Peugot

am i the only one?


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## ssmike (Jan 21, 2004)

Gitane is a French maker who was also a sponsor of Greg Lemond's. What do you want to know? Post a pic. There's plenty of info available on Gitane if you do a google search. Here's a quick link Classic Rendesvouz


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## JM01 (Mar 29, 2005)

ssmike said:


> Gitane is a French maker who was also a sponsor of Greg Lemond's. What do you want to know? Post a pic. There's plenty of info available on Gitane if you do a google search. Here's a quick link Classic Rendesvouz


thanks for starting me on my journey...it's an odd bike, must have been really something in its day

cheers


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## Dave504 (Apr 4, 2005)

JM01 said:


> thanks for starting me on my journey...it's an odd bike, must have been really something in its day
> 
> cheers


i worked for a bicycle shop as a kid, in 1976 to 1980. we sold Raliegh and Gitane. Gitane was a premier bike in it's day. It was one of the better mass manufactured bikes that i remember. i also remeber us having a Gitane tandem bike for sale as well.....


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## ~martini~ (Dec 20, 2003)

I had a gitane cross bike a few years back. Biggest piece of crap I've owned. It was now where near being straight, and consequently tracked like crap, especailly off road. Certainly left a bad taste in my mouth for them.


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## JM01 (Mar 29, 2005)

Dave504 said:


> i worked for a bicycle shop as a kid, in 1976 to 1980. we sold Raliegh and Gitane. Gitane was a premier bike in it's day. It was one of the better mass manufactured bikes that i remember. i also remeber us having a Gitane tandem bike for sale as well.....


thanks...this one's a little odd. The original drive train, derailleurs, brakes have been replaced by what appears to be high end competition gear, the front derailleur operates on a slide piston, and although it is the "Tour de France" model, it is covered by factory decals of the flags of countries that participated. nice light bike, very quick and was told that it may have been a prize in a contest...i will have the serial number next week and will see if it can be traced...the journey continues


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## Dave504 (Apr 4, 2005)

JM01 said:


> thanks...this one's a little odd. The original drive train, derailleurs, brakes have been replaced by what appears to be high end competition gear,...


we sold Ross bikes as well....... if i remember corectly, the Gitanes we sold came standard with mostly SunTour equipment on them. some might have been Shimano-600 equipt, which was good stuff back then. (still not bad by today's standards) i'm not up on road bikes anymore, but i love the old stuff. i used to ride a 25" Sutter frame, (English made) with mostly Campy equipment, and Mavic rims. i bought most of the stuff used to build it but it was sweet........ that was over 25 years ago..............!!


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## JM01 (Mar 29, 2005)

Dave504 said:


> we sold Ross bikes as well....... if i remember corectly, the Gitanes we sold came standard with mostly SunTour equipment on them. some might have been Shimano-600 equipt, which was good stuff back then. (still not bad by today's standards) i'm not up on road bikes anymore, but i love the old stuff. i used to ride a 25" Sutter frame, (English made) with mostly Campy equipment, and Mavic rims. i bought most of the stuff used to build it but it was sweet........ that was over 25 years ago..............!!


i have an old peugot sport with 27" x 1.25 steel wheels and simplex derailleur that seems to be the same vintage, but the gitane has 700 x 25 aluminum rims and the drive train is stamped "shugamo (?) competion"...also, the bike is green and am told that that 1980's editions were blue...however, it appears to be worth the C$15 i paid at auction, especially with the brooks saddle

the bike is in the kid's basement and i will take a better look on saturday

who knows?


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## JM01 (Mar 29, 2005)

Dave504 said:


> we sold Ross bikes as well....... if i remember corectly, the Gitanes we sold came standard with mostly SunTour equipment on them. some might have been Shimano-600 equipt, which was good stuff back then. (still not bad by today's standards) i'm not up on road bikes anymore, but i love the old stuff. i used to ride a 25" Sutter frame, (English made) with mostly Campy equipment, and Mavic rims. i bought most of the stuff used to build it but it was sweet........ that was over 25 years ago..............!!


thanks for the interest, but a wall i hit..the bike is a "professional tour de france" model, has no serial #, but is stamped "3" (or "B") on the bottom bracket

also unlike the other gitanes i'm now seeing, the badges and stickers appear to be applied after the fact...using metalic stick-on badges and id's on the frame. not painted or factory decals

the search ends

thanks


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## moschika (Jan 12, 2004)

JM01 said:


> thanks for the interest, but a wall i hit..the bike is a "professional tour de france" model, has no serial #, but is stamped "3" (or "B") on the bottom bracket
> 
> also unlike the other gitanes i'm now seeing, the badges and stickers appear to be applied after the fact...using metalic stick-on badges and id's on the frame. not painted or factory decals
> 
> ...


post this with pics on the retro section of RBR. http://forums.roadbikereview.com/ 
some folks there could give you much info. the metallic stickers might actually be the factory decals. some of the gitanes like yours i've seen had those kinds of decals. i don't know much about gitanes, but your model does come up at may even be somewhat collectable.


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