What's a 50 year old bike worth? Bike check on my 1971 Gitane Tour De France
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- Опубликовано: 23 июн 2024
- Let's take a deep dive into my 1971 Gitane Tour De France bike. In this video, we'll discuss the history of this bicycle as it relates to the bike boom of the 1970s.
I have also such a bike, agree, very beautiful bike, has a soul.
What a nice bike !
I would love to have a bike like that with modern campagnolo groupset
That is a nice bike, but it's not a race bike. Those would have had tubular tires (always called sew-ups then in the midwest). Another 531 sticker on the fork would indicate that the forks and stays were also double butted 531.
Most of the clinchers were 27" at pressures around 70 psi. Higher pressure clincher tires and rims came a little later, and were used in racing. It's interesting we've returned to lower pressures today. 700c clinchers were desirable because they allowed swapping with sew-up wheels without readjusting brakes except for width.
I couldn't see too well as the camera moved around, but the down tube shifters look like Suntour to me. On my bike I bought in the early '70s, I took off Campagnolo shifters to replace them with Suntour. They were not cool, but worked better for friction shifting than anything else. I had the exact same white Silca pump, that yellowed over the decades.
Of the French bikes in the US then, Peugeot were most common, but Gitane, Lejune, Motobecane and a few others were around.
This bike has a Reynolds 531fork. The sticker is placed on the left side of the fork. The sticker that is visible in the video is an outline of France with two arrows on either side and Tour De France written above. As far as the wheels are concerned are you sure those are not Magic tubular rims?
In Holland such bike costs 120-250 Euro. In average 150 euro.
Your Gitane appears to be pretty stock to me. Due to the component shortage in the early 70s Gitane had to source Sugino cranksets. The TDF model was one step down from their Pro model that utilized the same frameset, but was equipped with Campagnoo Nouvo Record components. Why wouldn't you take that bike on a long ride? It is certainly capable of the task provided you tune it up and and install fresh tires. As far as the standards are concerned these are French standards. Campagnolo produced. English, French, Italian and Swiss bottom brackets and headsets, seatposts were never standardized at 27.2 mm. Diameter was determined by the manufacturer and tubing selection. The chrome looks to be in very good condition should you choose to polish it be gentle as you don't want to rub it off. Good luck with your bike and go take in on a long ride!
Did you inspect this bike or play it on Tv?
@@JeffreyWilliams-dr7qe Are you asking me whether or not I actually inspected this bike in person? My comments are based solely upon review of the video and actual experience with this model Gitane.
@@jamesnarlesky4622 OK X ray vision. Thought it was that. Thanks!