RE: [CR]Tour de France age question - Redux

(Example: Framebuilders:Doug Fattic)

From: "R.S. Broderick" <rsb000@hotmail.com>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: RE: [CR]Tour de France age question - Redux
Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2008 08:58:58 -0600
In-Reply-To: <000801c87d31$d8dbeba0$6400a8c0@OFFICE1>
References: <000801c87d31$d8dbeba0$6400a8c0@OFFICE1>


I apologize to all for the last garbled posting (...and now you know why I have tempered my "ON LIST" participation as I cannot seem to figure out how to prevent this type of mangled message from occuring ever since having ch anged my primary computer)....

----------------------------------------------------------------------> Ed,

You would be correct in your assessment that this is either a 1975 (...Euro pean market) or 1976 (...American market - we got the Huret honeycomb rear dropout treatment one year later) Gitane TdF. The "73" markings that you se e stamped into the head tube lug are the original angles of the respective lug receptacles (...something that is not visible on all bikes as these mar kings are often filed off in the finishing process). It also might be worth noting that said number does not necessarily mean that those very two angl es are, indeed, 73 degrees on your particular bike, as lugs of a given spec ification were often "massaged" to a more appropriate angle as production c ircumstance required.

Regards,

Robert "numerically challenged" Broderick ...the "Frozen Flatlands" of South Dakota Sioux Falls, USA

P.S. And for whatever it might be worth, 1973 Gitane TdF models did have ex posed chrome plating on the lower / rear one-third of their front and rear dropouts and stays, albeit the vast majority of those dropouts would have been Simplex and not Huret, with the occasional Campagnolo bit borrowed fro m the Super Corsa in cases where the bicycle in question was sold as a "Sup er TdF", or as used o n the front fork only when paired with a Huret set in the rear.

---------------------------------------------------------------------->> Fr
om: ehbusch@bellsouth.net> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Date: Mon, 3
Mar 2008 08:24:01 -0500> Subject: [CR]Tour de France age question> > Hi Al
l> > Recently purchased what I believed to be a 1976 Tour de France, for my
> next re-paint. It is chromed part way up the forks and has chromed > hon
ey comb vertical droup outs, which looks just like the 76's shown in > the
Gitane web site. What has me puzzeled is there is a tiny 73 stamped > at th
e top of the head tube and at the top of the seat tube. Would this > be the
head tube and seat tube angles, or did the 73's have chrome drop > outs, a
nd is this in fact a 1973 Tour de france? > > Any info and or any detailed
photos of decals, and their position would > be appreciated..> > Thanks> >
Ed Busch> Vonore Tennessee USA> > --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME pa
rts ---> multipart/alternative> text/plain (text body -- kept)> text/html>
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