David and Jerome are right on in their ID of these two framesets. I must be old fashioned, but I always think of a frame and fork as a frameset, and a frame w/o fork as a frame. So, I always have to look twice. Here's a few anecdotes re: these brands. The Gitane company sponsored our racing club, South Bay Wheelmen. The club headquarterd out of my old shop and during '73 and '74 Gitane was most supportive of cycling. Gitane was located in Hawthorne, CA. and they actually assembled the bikes at the warehouse. They brought all the parts over in containers, and had set up an assembly line, built wheels, and shipped all over. It was a real european style set-up and flourished for several years untill overhead and cheaper imports made it too costly.They tried hard and finally shut down and went back to France. We referred to the Huret dropout model as sort of a sport / touring bike. Several dropouts did break, but Gitane replaced the frames. Our riders enjoyed their Campy/Reynolds pro models, comfortable and responsive. What more could you want in the '70's? The Frejus looks as if it has a myriad of vintages hung on the frame. Venturing a guess, the brakes could be original? Maybe the barset, depending on year of frameset. Chuck Schmidt has a somewhat later date on the144 bolt pattern in his Campy timeline. Even tho the '67 catalogue doesn't have the 144 listed, they were available all thru mid '66. I was the USCF coach and manager for the '66 World Championship Team in Frankfurt, Germany. My European contacts were still quite good and at the World's all the U.S. road riders got free powertrains on their bikes! All with144 bolt patterns. Later that year and from then on all The Rickerts I imported came with 144 patterns and 151 was history. This is why the Frejus is difficult to date, even the serial# timeline isn't consistent enuf. Frejus used a lot of Reynolds 531 three main tube construction because Reynolds was a little tougher than Columbus, absorbed shock better, and lasted longer before getting thrashed. Many other Italian Co's did the same but put a different tubing decal on the finished product. A matter of honor, you know. A lot of European framebuilders did the same, but used the Columbus fork and chainstays to put the stiffness where they wanted it for pro performance.Time to coast downhill.
Ted Ernst.
> http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/
>
> there's a link to pictures of two frames I would like some help
> identifying. The first has mix of parts but what's interesting are the
> rear dropouts which are built out of squares. I've never seen this before,
> other than this the frame isn't that intriguing.
>
> The second frame is what I'm really interested in. A friend is offering it
> to me in a trade or for cash but I'd like some idea of what it is before I
> make a descision. No headbadge, no decals, no idea what the tubing is, the
> only decals on it are from three local shops here in the chicago area,
> including one from wastyn cycles of paramount fame. did they ever sell
> bikes under their house name? has campy derailleurs, campy bar end
> shifters, campy dropouts and cranks. Balilla center pull brakes and look
> at that great leather wrapping on the bars. I forgot to check the
> threading, which I realize would offer a clue to the country of origin but
> I figured I'd see if any of you guys recognized something. I'd like to
> come up with a fair price on this frame as well, I don't want to under pay
> a friend.
>
> The same friend wants to clear out some space so he is thinking about
> selling some of his bikes, most of which are onlist, some slightly off,
> like a beautiful super clean cannondale with all shimano 105 parts.
> Nothing rare or spectacular but alot of nice bikes. Let me know if you're
> interested, I can give you better idea of what he has and I have some pics
> as well.
>
> marc garcia
> chicago IL