gitaneusa.com :: View topic - Please Help ID 12-spd Gitane

akowalczk

Hey all, I bought this Gitane for $120 off craigslist two years ago, and have been meaning to post on here for a while.

Could you help ID? It has all original Campagnolo components, original (im pretty sure) headbadge, and original seat. Most likely original tires too.

Let me know what you think for year and build!

scozim

Wow - really cool. If I had to guess (and I'm not the expert here) but I'd say that could be from the 60's just looking at the decals and head badge.

lofter

late 50's early 60's

gmany

1. Since Chase hasen't chimed in yet I'll save him a bit of typing by saying the stem is waayyyyy too high. Even when lowered the stem is (from what I've read) prone to failure. If you plan to ride, consider replacing.

2. 6-speed is not original. The rear hub may still be original, maybe not

I'll leave the heavy info to those in the know.

verktyg

Looks similar to the DeLuxe model in this 1964 catalog except for the metal head tube badge.

http://www.gitaneusa.com/images/catalog/1964/Page_04.jpg

The 3 main tubes are Reynolds 531. The forks and rear stays are probably Durifort tubing.

Millions of the so called cast aluminum "death stems" were used from the 1950s until the mid 70s.

From what I've seen it was mainly some of the cast stems produced during the bike boom era of the early 70s that were very poor quality.

Note the poor quality of this cast stem. The metric quill should have been 21.9mm to 22.0mm. This stem was 20.0mm in places.

Close up of crack developing expansion split. the crack can spread until the bottom of the stem breaks off and them the fun begins. Shocked

If you have one of these cast stems you should inspect it regularly for cracks. If the casting is poor quality then find a better stem.

If you weigh under 150 Lbs or so and you are using the bike for casual use on smooth roads then these stems should be safe???

One other thing, drill a small hole at the top of the expansion splits. This will help prevent cracks from developing in any stem with expansion splits.

akowalczk

Hey guys, thanks for the replies so far. As for the stem, it's help up to a couple hundred miles of riding so far... And I'm around #225.

A faded sticker on it says "Gitane....Champions du Monde... Recordman de l'heure"

MAFAC brakes front and rear.
Campagnolo derailleurs
Strong light crankset
Simplex front rings (52 and 45)
Ideale 49 saddle
Normandy front hub
Campagnolo rear hub
Rear rim has a sticker that says "RigidA"

Hope this helps more!

ftwelder

verktyg

There are several reasons why stems need to be inserted at least 70mm (3") into the steerer.

One of them is the length of the threads on the steering tube. This steerer shows a crack that formed at the bottom of the threaded portion.

This was probably caused by the expansion wedge part of the stem being expanded in the threaded area from not being inserted deep enough.

The outside of a metric steerer is 25mm the inside is 22mm. The wall thickness of the steerer tube is 1.5mm.

The wall thickness of the steerer in the threaded area is less than 1mm which is thinner than a US dime ($0.10).

Here's another example of a crack in a British or Italian fork.

Until around the 1980s Gitane used steerers made of carbon steel which was between 1/3 to 2/3 as strong as Reynolds 531 alloy steel tubing (Peugeot and Motobecane too).

Back in the mid 70s I had a steerer break off at the top while riding. I was holding the bars and stem with the headset attached. Luckily I was able to stick the stem back into the the broken steerer and stop the bike.

It was one of my beater bikes and suddenly failed without warning.

I also had 3 stems break of while I was riding. Two of them were on customer's bike that I was road testing around the block.

This is a Milremo stem probably made by Belleri. I had it on my 1973 Super Corsa. It broke off while riding in 1974.

BTW, We changed out cast Pivo stems with forged Cinelli or 3TTT stems for a lot of our customers with TdFs and SC bikes.

sandranian · Site Admin

Wow. I am jealous.

Does the sticker say "RecordMAN" or "RecordWOMAN"? I have a similar era bike, with I think the same decal, and it is the latter. That's a reference to Elsy Jacobs, who set the hour record for women on a Gitane in 1958...

akowalczk

The sticker definitley says "recordMAN de l'heure".

Thanks for the stem info, if I plan on riding the bike much next summer ill look into changing it out over the winter. I had thought about selling the bike because im moving soon, but it might be fun to attempt to restore it more.

I dont know much about road biking (more of a MTB and Fat tire rider) so I would most likely just clean up everything on the bike and keep it as is.

I think there is a frame number stamped near the rear derailleur, if that would help in any identification. "54200". Maybe that is the alloy?

sandranian · Site Admin

Interesting. I am going to look into the date for that bike...and see when the hour record was set by a man on a Gitane!

sandranian · Site Admin

1956 - Anquetil. He raced for Helyett from 1956-1958, but when Gitane bought the brand, they started claiming all of Helyett's "victories" for their own....

Roger Riviere set the record as well in 1957 and 1959...but I am not sure he ever rode Gitane.

bdbiker1

Definitely a 50's bike, no doubt