The "honeycomb" dropouts were made by Huret and many if not all of them had stops for use with both Campy style and Huret derailleurs.
They first appeared here in the US in 1974 on mid range Gitane Interclub and Tour de France models.
In mid 1974 Gitane switched from the Mylar foil decals they'd been using since 1968 to new plastic film decals which came in either yellow or green depending on the frame color.
Gitane changed their US distribution that year too and with it came model changes and a reduction in models offered. They changed the Tour de France frames from all Reynolds 531 to only 3 main tubes butted Reynolds 531 plus they dropped the chrome plating on the rear triangles.
Gitane used the Huret honeycomb dropouts on most of their mid range to top of the line models in Europe between 1974 and 1976.
The dropouts appear to be made of cast steel and have some odd features that I've never figured out what function if any they served.
I've seen these dropouts used on a mid 70s British Dawes bike and also on a few French Velo-Solex bikes.
There's lots of information on Gitanes including old catalogs on the gitaneUSA.com website.
Chas. Colerich Oakland, CA USA
Lane Wilkinson wrote:
> Does anyone have information on the "honeycomb" style rear drop outs
> that are used on some of the 70's era Gitanes? Who made these drop
> outs? Were they used on specific models?
> Thanks,
> Lane Wilkinson
> Seattle, WA