Seems to me that $250 is quite a lot for a classic bike. I paid less that that, admittedly about 3 years ago, when I purchased a substantially original Gitane Tour de France. I think this was a model peculiar to the US (I haven't seen one in Europe anyway) with 531 butted throughout, Simplex dropouts, chrome ends, Mafac Competition brakes, Simplex plastic gears (the less bad ones), Stronglight pentagram chainset and Mavic tubular rims on, surprisingly, Campy Nuovo Tipo hubs. The foregoing shows that this bike was absolutely nothing like the Gitanes raced in the Tour de France, with the possible exception of the frame tubes. This bike rode really nicely unless I took my hands off the bars, in which case I had to lean it over about 20 degrees to keep it running in a straight line. Turns out the problem was a bent steerer. Getting that fixed probably put the cost over $250, but it is now one of the best-riding bikes I have. This bike is similar spec to a lot of PX-10's but doesn't seem to be so well appreciated.
Hugh Thornton