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Gitane Super Corsa (completed for my Wife) 
PostPosted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 4:26 pm Reply with quote
Kinst VonSterga
Joined: 26 May 2008
Posts: 153
Location: Hillsboro, Oregon USA
The frame finally came back from the painters a couple of weeks ago and I am now just finishing its assembly. The Gitane Super Corsa is a present to my beautiful wife. Luckily, she's 5'11" (thanks to her Dutch heritage), so it made it easier for me configure/adjust it as I'm just a inch taller. The theme was blue & yellow/gold with a little hint of 1970's Randonneur thrown in Wink




Frame/Parts Breakdown:

Gitane 72 Super Corsa 60cm c-t-t
Campy NR Headset, Crankset (52/42), Brakeset, Seatpost, front Derailleur
Campy Rally Rear Derailleur
Campy Tipo Hubs 36h
Mavic MA2s 700c - DT dbl butted spokes
3TTT Adjustable Road Stem (26.4x22.0)
Ambrosia 13 46cm Handlebar
Regina Oro 14-31
Regina Oro Drilled Chain
Honjo Fenders/Rear Porter
Brooks B17 Imperial
Silca Chrome Pump
Electra Randonneur Pedals w/SPD clip
Phil Wood Titanium BB
Amber glass eye/lens reflector - for brake-bridge mount (pending)
Vredenstein Volante Gumwall 23/700cs
Handmade light weight kickstand (swivel up or slide off to remove entirely).


Last edited by Kinst VonSterga on Fri Aug 20, 2010 4:41 pm; edited 3 times in total
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Finee! 
PostPosted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 4:47 pm Reply with quote
verktyg
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 2814
Location: SF Bay Area
Looks great! Wink

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Chas.
SF Bay Area, CA USA
==============
1984 Criterium
1969 TdF
1971 TdF
1974 TdF
1984 TdF x 2 Bikes
1970 SC
1971 SC
1972 SC
1984 SC
1984 Team Pro
1985 Professional
1990s Team Replica
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 5:13 pm Reply with quote
smilingroadrunner
Joined: 10 Aug 2007
Posts: 278
Location: Salina, Ks.
WOW !!!!, again I forgot how great that Candy Apple Gold paint scheme looks.

Wonderful work of Art and functionality !!

I like Steel !!!
______________

C.A.
Salina, Ks.
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 5:37 pm Reply with quote
scozim
Joined: 26 Sep 2008
Posts: 629
Location: Ellensburg, WA
Absolutely stunning!!!

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1984 Gitane Sprint
1984 Gitane Tour de France
mid-1970's Gitane Olympic
Plus many more
http://eburgcycling.blogspot.com
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 1:25 am Reply with quote
Gtane
Joined: 14 Sep 2007
Posts: 681
Location: UK
Kinst,

That's a fabulous looking bike.

Great job.

Tim

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PostPosted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 5:41 am Reply with quote
LeicaLad
Joined: 12 Jun 2010
Posts: 142
Location: Northern Virginia
Wow! My jaw has been on the floor as I've gone thru these photos!

Makes the rebuild of my 71 SC feel so... pedestrian.

The repaint job is fabulous. Did you have the chrome bits redone? It's hard to believe that's the original chrome. While the refinish work took forever, I'd really, really like to know more details of what that sort of thing costs?

If it's a bit too... whatever... to ask, please send me a PM. I'm really thinking hard of having my old TdF refinished. Maybe your guy or not, doesn't matter. But it would help me get an idea of basic costs and preparations.

Much appreciated.

Again, stunningly beautiful!
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 5:57 am Reply with quote
vanhelmont
Joined: 11 Dec 2007
Posts: 242
Location: Florida
Kinst,

That's really beautiful.

Dave
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 8:27 am Reply with quote
trailrunner
Joined: 21 Jul 2010
Posts: 20
Location: Fort Worth, TX
Wow. What a gorgeous bike! Great restoration job.

Dave
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 8:29 am Reply with quote
sandranian
Site Admin
Joined: 27 Feb 2006
Posts: 2701
Location: Southern California
Ditto to all of the compliments here. Really nice job!

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Stephan Andranian
Costa Mesa, CA
www.gitaneusa.com
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 11:41 am Reply with quote
greyhundguy
Joined: 09 Apr 2008
Posts: 678
Location: South-Central VIRGINIA
This gets my vote for the 2010 GUSA Award for "Best Restoration and Period Interpretation".

It appears you have a great eye for the details. Perfect execution Kinst!

Jay

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PostPosted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 7:08 pm Reply with quote
scozim
Joined: 26 Sep 2008
Posts: 629
Location: Ellensburg, WA
Kinst - in photo #8 of the crankset there appears to be some lettering on the chainstay. Am I just seeing things or is there actually something there?

_________________
1984 Gitane Sprint
1984 Gitane Tour de France
mid-1970's Gitane Olympic
Plus many more
http://eburgcycling.blogspot.com
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 7:21 pm Reply with quote
LeicaLad
Joined: 12 Jun 2010
Posts: 142
Location: Northern Virginia
Well, my chain stay has something in French, but I'll be darned if I can figure out exactly what that says...
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 10:18 pm Reply with quote
verktyg
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 2814
Location: SF Bay Area
LeicaLad wrote:
Well, my chain stay has something in French, but I'll be darned if I can figure out exactly what that says...

It says: "Emailuxepolymerize" (Your email is luxury polymerized Laughing )



It means "Luxury Polymer Enamel"

During the Foil Decal era of the late 60s to 1974, Gitane put these decals on the chainstays: right side, left side, both sides or not at all!

We used to peel them of on the first service or sometimes even during assembly because they were easily damaged or started to come off on their own and looked ratty. Besides they violated the Truth In Advertising statutes! Rolling Eyes

_________________
Chas.
SF Bay Area, CA USA
==============
1984 Criterium
1969 TdF
1971 TdF
1974 TdF
1984 TdF x 2 Bikes
1970 SC
1971 SC
1972 SC
1984 SC
1984 Team Pro
1985 Professional
1990s Team Replica
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Restoration notes (edited with more details) 
PostPosted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 11:09 pm Reply with quote
Kinst VonSterga
Joined: 26 May 2008
Posts: 153
Location: Hillsboro, Oregon USA
LeicaLad wrote:
Did you have the chrome bits redone? It's hard to believe that's the original chrome.


Restoration notes:

The yellow/gold is semi-translucent, with very subtle flecking that is only visible in direct sunlight/bright light. In lower light levels, the paint almost looks to be a harvest gold/brown color.

The fork and rear stays were rechromed to better compliment the new paint and foil decals. Gitane foiled decals were provided by CycloMondo and I received an original Prugnant lug sticker from the owner of strawberry bicycles here in Portland. The other non Gitane stickers are original old stock from the early seventies.

Most of the parts that you see came with the original frame which cleaned up well after decades of grease and dirt were removed. Replaced the nuovo record rear dérailleur with a campy rally to accommodate 31T cog, as I wanted my wife to have some better gear range for hill riding.

Adjustable 70's 3TTT stem makes an easy job to fine tune the frame fitting and definitely gives it a more "raw/unrefined" look to balance out some of the newer components. Imperial Brooks is simply the best saddle for long tours (IMHO).

Pedals are great for cleated riders, as they have a slight Lyotard look to them. Only disappointment is that I could not install the Mafac competition brakes as the brake pads would not line up to the 700c rims without filing the mounting holes a bit, which I may do later ... so the campy record brakes were used. I kept the rear brake bridge as I think some of the gitane purists would hunt me down if I cut the bridge off the frame (similar to the fixie riders cutting the derailleur mount off the rear dropouts). Without the mafac brakes installed, the brake bridge makes for a great perch for a glass lens button reflector.

Last preference was to use the best bottom bracket for real-world riding, opting for a new Phil Wood BB sealed bearing titanium spindle in keeping with the Super Corsa pizazz.

The final touch was to protect the brake levers with some true 70's glitter lever-covers that have been sitting in the parts bin forever.

Hope this helps those looking at restoring their Gitane.

Cheers

Ps. The most involved part of this project was installing the fenders. The rear took almost 4 hrs to get just right with the rack stabilizer mounts cut by hand ... now I appreciate nicely configured fenders on vintage bicycles as the fender is super rock solid.


Last edited by Kinst VonSterga on Sat Jun 18, 2011 10:42 am; edited 1 time in total
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 3:22 am Reply with quote
Gtane
Joined: 14 Sep 2007
Posts: 681
Location: UK
Kinst,

Well the machine is definitely a head turner, very much so.

I particularly like the gold jockey wheels, block and valves, that attention to detail really sets this bike off, not to mention those stunning mudguards. The Rally changer is a great choice for looks and usage. I remember they were reasonably rare even when they were being produced.

Tim

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Gitane Super Corsa (completed for my Wife) 
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