OH! A PSC! Those are my VERY favorite Gitanes. I had a 62cm frameset I got from our illustrious Ted Williams a couple of years ago that had a dented downtube, lotsa rust and other fun stuff that was one of the very best handling bikes I've ever owned. In all seriousness, the only other bike I've ever had I liked, handling-wise, as much, is my new Rivendell.
Looking at it, it appears to have the flat braze-on for a centerpull cable hanger on the seat stays. Those bikes came stock with full drivetrains and Mafac brakes at least through 1972 or so - I had a big white one that was a basket case with the derailleurs marked for that year. Apparently, someone replaced the calipers but left the original levers.
I'm not sure when they changed the brakes to Campagnolo on those - the 1975 Peterson's Guide to the Bicycle shows Campy sidepulls, and I think different graphics, too, but it's hard to tell.
Russ Fitzgerald
Greenwood SC
rfitzger@emeraldis.com
http://www.emeraldis.com/
-----Original Message----- From: Bingham, Wayne <WBINGHAM@imf.org> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Date: Monday, March 26, 2001 1:24 PM Subject: RE: [CR]Mystery Gitane
>Phantom CR list member Marty Walsh brought his newly acquired 1970(?)
Gitane
>over to my house last week, so I shot a few pics. Don't really know too
>much about it yet. Marty claims to remember lusting after one of these
>"back then" in Mel Pinto's shop in Georgetown, so he may have more
knowledge
>about other models as well. Claims this one is completely original. Take
a
>look at:
>
>http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=1304152&a=12288257&f=0
>
>Might add to the collective Gitane wisdom, since that marque has surfaced
>recently in a couple posts.
>
>Wayne Bingham
>Washington DC - the new "windy city"
>(Why did I have to ride into a headwind on the way out AND the way home
>yesterday?)
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: KCTOMMY [mailto:KCTOMMY@email.msn.com]
>Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2001 4:04 PM
>To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>Subject: [CR]Mystery Gitane
>
>
>Say, it's a pretty nice frame on eBay that I know nothing about! Time to
>put the CR Suerte on the job. Anyone with info on the Gitane Service
>Course? The only thing I deduce from the picture are all Reynolds 531 db,
>smooth point lugs, probably had centerpulls originally.
>
>Questions I'd like to answer would be: probable year of manufacture
(seller
>says 70's), was the frame used by pros, and if so who (assuming Masi didn't
>build the pro team bikes:>), likely original componentry, probable BB
>threading, and any riding impressions of these frames. The only thing I
can
>tell is that it doesn't look like Greg Lemond's Gitane. Thanks for the
>help, Inspector.
>
>The URL is one of those stupendous tutorial ones that doesn't fit in
emails,
>but item number is Item #1127131624.
>
>Tom Adams in chilly Kansas City