Robert,
Great story, and although there is only one photo, its obvious that the bike has been lovingly cared for.
Galen Poole
Jackson, MS
> Marty,
>
> Hope you enjoyed yourself at Cirque. I wish that I could have attended,
> but the prospect of setting aside my 24th wedding anniversary so as to
> spend time with a gaggle of bike geeks (...casting no aspersions here, but
> rather, that being said with the utmost reverence) would not have found
> much sympathy with my wife. Perhaps next year, depending upon whether the
> gala 10th event falls over the date of June 10th once again.
>
> You are absolutely correct in pointing out from the circa 1970-1974 Cycles
> Gitane catalog that both the Super Corsa and Tour de France models from
> this era were equipped with MAVIC Monthlery 700c tubular rims as standard,
> and that their tertiary road / race model, the Interclub, would have
> normally come fitted with MAVIC Dural Sport 700c tubular rims. However, I
> would also hasten to point out that you could, indeed, custom order a
> brand new one of these bikes fitted with clincher rims instead of
> tubulars - and that is exactly what the first owner of my 1971 Gitane
> Super Corsa did (...what I am referring to here is decidedly different
> from having your LBS simply swap wheelsets around on some floor model,
> although that too did occur with some degree of regularity).
>
> Back in 1971, my very best friend to this day and former riding buddy
> Steve and I jointly helped his father select the make, model, and
> specifications for the new bicycle Dr. "S" was going to purchase. Now
> whereas my friend and I had not yet set aside enough lunch money or
> delivered enough papers or collected enough recyclable bottles from around
> the neighborhood so as to be able to afford anything beyond a near 40
> pound Schwinn Varsity (...try pushing one of those around Council Crest
> and the West Hills of Portland, Oregon when you only weigh two and a half
> times as much as the bike itself), the dear doctor was in a much better
> position to obtain a true European lightweight. Of course, as budding
> enthusiasts, Steve and I were only too eager to offer our opinions on just
> how he should spend his hard earned monies. And while Dr. "S" followed
> our counsel almost to the letter, the one glaring exception was his
> insistence that his new ride be equipped with clinchers because he could
> not abide "...messing around with that damn glue". Ultimately, we
> narrowed his purchasing decision down to either a Gitane Super Corsa with
> the ultra rare for this bike optional Campagnolo Record side pull brake
> set or a Raleigh Professional Mark II which just so happened to come
> standard with those same Campy brakes. Due to demand based backlogs in
> those early bike-boom days, a down payment was made and BOTH of these
> bicycles were placed on order during the Spring of 1971 with the
> understanding that Dr. "S" would complete purchase of which ever one
> arrived first and the LBS would then sell the other one off from their
> showroom floor. The Gitane was the first to be delivered in October of
> 1971 and per his request for "...suitable clincher rims" (...the LBS had
> told him that he would not be allowed to specify a particular make or
> model in this regard) it came fitted with a set of 700c Rigida 1320 double
> wall Rigi-ALU polished aluminum rims having a 20 mm section and a hooked
> bead rim profile. Now, whether that wheelset was actually shipped from
> the Machecoul factory or was subsequently paired with this bike by the
> U.S. distributor prior to being sent on to the LBS, I simply cannot say
> with absolute certainty. However, inasmuch as the 700c sizing for
> clincher rims was prevalent at that time on the European continent and
> France in particular, I strongly suspect that it was the former rather
> than the latter. And while I did not really pay much attention to it at
> the time, in retrospect, it does strike me as being worthy of passing
> mention that this bike was fitted with 700c rims and tires while every
> other contemporary model of Gitane that was offered with clincher rims as
> standard and sold here stateside used a 27" x 1 1/4" sizing.
>
> I subsequently had the opportunity to purchase this fine bike from Dr. "S"
> in 1978 when he opted for a replacement De Rosa (.which he still has to
> this day but no longer rides at age 80 or thereabouts - and yes, by then
> he was comfortable enough to purchase a bike with honest to goodness
> tubies). Having just recently finished a thorough refurbishing of my
> trusty Super Corsa, I now need to set about the task of updating my Wool
> Jersey album with new photographs (...too many projects, too little time).
> For those who have not already done so and who may yet be interested in
> viewing a preliminary picture of this bike, one may be found, along with
> an excruciatingly detailed description of its various fitment of
> components, by following this link:
>
> http://www.wooljersey.com/
>
> Regards,
>
> Robert "waxing nostalgic" Broderick
> ...the "Frozen Flatlands" of South Dakota
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>>From: "Martin Walsh" <mowalsh@verizon.net>
>>To: "CR List" <ClassicRendezvous@bikelist.org>
>>Subject: [CR]27" and Tubular rims
>>Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 19:40:21 -0400
>>
>>Hi CR list and David,
>>The early 1970's Gitane catalog that I now have thanks to John Barron
>>(Velo Stuf),from Cirque 2006 states that the GITANE,model Tour de France
>>came originally equipped circa 1971 with:DURAL MAVIC MONTHLERY rims,
>>which would be aluminum tubular (sew ups) rims.The only other Gitane
>>using this same model rim circa 1971,would have been the Gitane "Super
>>Corsa,the top road racing Gitane at the time.
>>The third tier Gitane road racing bicycle was the Gitane "Interclub" and
>>it used the tubular rim, DURAL MAVIC SPORT (aluminum tubular).
>>The top tier touring Gitane,GRAN TOURISME, used the DURAL MAVIC CLINCHER
>>27" X 1 1/4".
>>Yours truly,
>>Marty Walsh in Vienna,Va.