Gitane Tour De France - Finis

Frame + Parts

As I said back in July when I purchased this bike for $80 my plan all along was to part it out and see if I might profit from selling the bike that way.

I disassembled the bike right after I got it and paid $15 to have the cranks pulled since the Stonglight cranks require a special tool that I do not have so that brought my total investment in the bike to $95.  After that the bike sat, in pieces until I finally got going this month to start listing its Frame on Craigslist and the parts on eBay.

The first thing to go was the wheel-set.  I had someone inquire about the frame on CL and I mentioned that I also had a wheel-set which I had not listed yet.  While he wasn't interested in the frame he wanted the wheel-set at $20.  When he came and picked the wheels up he liked them so much he threw in some more $$ so I ended up with $24 for the wheel-set.  I should mention that I didn't do much with any of the parts before listing them, no scrubbing, polishing, rebuilding or lubing.  I was upfront in all my listings that the parts needed a good clean and lube but I was interested to see what I could get with a minimum amount of effort.

Mafac Competition

The next thing to go was the Frame but we'll leave that for later.  My first  ebay sale was the Mafac Competition brake set.  It had plenty of views and multiple bids.  I started the auction at $19.99 and it ended up selling for $29.28, so now I am up to $53.28.

Next up on eBay was the Huret Jubilee shifters and cable guides. This set also got a healthy number of views and multiple bids, again I started the auction at $19.99 and it went for $26.00.  That brought my total up to $79.28.

After the shifters was the Stonglight crankset, I had high hopes for this one as it even had the bolt caps which I have heard are hard to find.  I was somewhat disappointed to only get $26.00 as a final bid.  This is a listing that probably could have benefited from my doing some clean and polish and perhaps I should have started the bidding at 29.99.  Now I was up to 105.28 and was officially in the black on this deal, clearing $10.

This is where the story starts to get interesting, the next listing was the Huret Jubilee rear derailleur which I read good things about on the web.  This auction was going great, with about 30 minutes left I had 101 views, 16 watchers, 9 bids and the auction was up to $42 with about 30 minutes left! And then I noticed I had an unanswered question on the auction.   The question was "why are you falsely claiming this item is in good condition when the frame adjustment housing and screw are sheared off?"  What!

b screw

In the photo above you can see what the assembly should look like a screw to adjust the tension of the RD against the frame, known as the B-screw.  You can also see that in the illustration below (Credit Zinn and the art of Road Bike Maintenance)

I scramble to my derailleur to check it out and DAMN! he was right I can see where the housing should be there is a broken spot on the derailleur body - the photo below is a bit blurry sorry- look to the left of the big nut.  How did I miss that!!!

dude wheres my housing?

With the auction closing in on 20 minutes to go I was too late to cancel it but I added a note with the new info to the listing and reached out to the high bidder with the new info and telling them not to pay me.  After the auction was over I cancelled the order listing damaged item as a reason.  What a fiasco, I should have caught this on the day I bought the bike but didn't check carefully enough and I should have noticed it before the listing but I am just glad someone pointed it out so I didn't mistakenly sell this as a "good" derailleur.  I am trying not to think of what could have been, in good condition these derailleurs are in demand...sigh.

So I relisted this derailleur as "parts only" with an opening bid of $9.99 and it sold yesterday for $21.50 which brings my total up to $126.78.

The frame, oh the frame, was listed on Craigslist for $50 and I got one query in the first go around but no real interest.  When I relisted it I had someone from California ping me about it, I ended up selling it and he had a local friend in Seattle come get it.  Included with the frame was the French headset, seat-post, stem and bottom bracket as these are pieces that make building a French frame up tricky, due to unique sizing and threading.  As a person I follow on Facebook said recently "there are lots of old French bicycles  out there but oddly not many old French parts".  All was well until I received a text from the local guy who had paid me for the frame,  it arrived in California and the buyer said it was cracked and he wanted a refund.  What!!! after taking a few moments to process I asked if he would send me a photo of the issue.  I couldn't really tell from the photo if it was a crack, a scratch in the paint or a dent.  The affected area was in the seat tube cluster.

A number of things went through my mind, how did I miss this?, was it a scam? etc, but I quickly settled on sending the full refund.  There were no winners in this deal, I was out the $$ and the frame and parts, the buyer was out shipping and didn't get the frame he was searching for.   In retrospect I could have inspected the frame more carefully to being with, and I could have documented all the parts of the frame before selling it so if there was a claim of cracks I could show that it was in good shape before the sale and the issue would have had to have occurred during shipping, but that is all 20/20 hindsight.

My classroom on parting out bikes

So to sum up, I think my instincts were right on that this bike was a good candidate for parting out, for a $95 investment I could have received about $200 in return had things gone better with the rear derailleur and frame  As it was I still cleared $31.78 on my investment of $95 and some time in disassembling the bike and I learned the lessons to check twice or thrice before buying, and before listing the parts.  Had I found the derailleur and frame issue I could have lowered the initial price and still sold the French seatpost, stem, bb and headset.  Hopefully you can benefit from my experience and missteps.  Even after the fiascos  my ROI (return on investment ) for this deal was 33%, which is better than I would get at the bank ;-).  And I  still have useful things leftover like the; rear rack, bottle cage & clamps, pedals & toe clips, replacement handlebars and front derailleur the seller provided,  which I can sell or use on a build.

As always Ride.Smile.Repeat.

Passage Refit Part II down to the frame

Today my plan is to get down to the frame on the Passage but first things first, its Sunday and that means the Farmers market.  Before I could leave, I needed to search for a tool that I had not used in seemingly months...

Oh yeah baby its Sunny! Even as a native of the great Pacific North West I have found this winter to be dreary, going weeks without a sun sighting.  Not today!

We've missed ya Sun!

Even the Handsome Devil seemed to enjoy soaking up the rays.

I decided in March I would try to break out of my IPA box for the one beer I have every week.  I love IPAs , double IPAs and Imperial IPAs but sometimes change is good.  Went with my German side and had a nice Pilsner by the Commons.

I ducked into the local Italian deli thinking about something sweet but was seduced by the garlic knots.  Have I mentioned how blessed I am to live where I do?

I did find my sweet fix at the market Pie stand,  what is "Irish Apple?" I asked "it has apples, Bushmills, and Irish cheddar" they said.  They had me at Bushmills.

Ok, I got my sun fix and now its time to work on the bike.  You will recall I got some big stuff off last time like; wheels, cockpit, pedals etc. but still had a ways to go.  So I started with the cranks.

I am looking forward to putting the new chain rings on this crank and giving myself a wider and lower gear range.  I really like that this crank has an original Sakae crank bolt cap, unfortunately the bike only had one so I will put a generic one on the non-drive side.

one is the loneliest number..

Last week I didn't really need any special tools but that changed this week, my crank puller got some exercise.

Now its down to the bottom bracket and getting the kickstand off.

The drive side bb cup tends to be a bit of a bear to remove, fortunately I have the correct tool and I picked up a trick that just requires some hardware store parts and makes this job soooo much easier.

It was recommended on a blog I read that if you had a lag bolt, nut and two washers it will allow you to snug the bb cup tool in place - the cup is has a very thin interface where the tool goes and without this hack the tool tends to slip off.  Another thing to remember it that the drive side cup is reverse threaded so you loosen it clockwise.  With the bottom bracket out my suspicions that this bike was just a superficial rebuild, before going on CL where I found it, are confirmed.  There is grease on the bearings but it is neither new nor abundant.

I can also see this on the Canti posts after I removed the brakes

You don't do a complete tear down and leave rusty canti posts...also I noticed something interesting, modern canti bikes have posts with three holes for the spring, the Passage has only one.  That should make fine tuning it interesting.  On to the headset and now I have a nice collection of parts laid out; the headset, shifters and the baggies have the brakes in them, front and back.

Speaking of shifters I have a decision to make.  The bike came with the original spec Huret rachet down tube shifters.  I'm not sure I am crazy about the look, its ok but I'm not gaga.

One year when I had purchased many parts at Rivendell I used my yearly dividend to pay for most of a set of Silver shifters.  Still in the box just waiting. I like them and have heard good reviews.

And finally I went out of my way about a year ago to get some Dia-compe ENE down-tube shifters that I LOVE the look of.

my pair

 

spiffy marketing shot

So after working through the remaining stuff, even the headset cups, I arrived at the bare frame.

I was fortunate not to encounter any stuck parts so now its down to the real work; cleaning, polishing, and reassembly.  I was hoping to have a Gitane TdF update today but that story has taken some twists and turns.  I think I will have the full story next weekend for you.  Until next time.

Ride.Smile.Repeat

Passage Refit Part I start of disassemby

I was going to spend part of my weekend tearing down the 1986 Schwinn Passage but I didn't end up getting to it then.  I did, however,  get to the farmers market.  I saw a cool old Raleigh 3 speed.

Although not much produce is in season right now the cool thing about a pastry is that its never out of season so I picked up a cream puff from the Czech bakery's stand.

And of course I had to stop for a beer, in my continuing quest to break of the IPA box I had a Pfriem mosaic pale ale - tasty.

 

This evening I did finally put in some time on the Passage.  I had thought about rebuilding back to front or front to back but ditched that in favor of just tearing it all down to the frame.  Now its a work day and I am usually ready for some down time at the end of the 9 to 5 so I had no illusions about doing a complete tear down but I figured I could make a start.

starting point

Since the saddle and cockpit were only on the bike as a mock up they came off easily as did the wheels.  Although the front wheel is going to need some extra work to de-lawyer it, I do in fact know how to use a quick release.

bracket is coming off the axle

bolt coming out of the fork

Ok that was the easy stuff lets see if the pedals are stuck,  I want to replace them anyway with some MKS Sneakers.

Yeah not stuck

If the chain had a master-link I would have probably saved it,  but it didn't and the only thing I want to do with pin connect chains is break them and toss them so here we go.

bye bye chain

I remembered the other day that I had a brand new spare rear derailleur in the parts bin so I decided the non - stock but period Shimano light action could come off.

out with the old

 It came off with no issues.

Rear Drops

When I am ready to put it all back together the new RD will be one of my favorites, a Shimano Deore LX  M581 RD, its about 5 years out of production but you can still find them on eBay.  Its got a long cage for a really wide gear range, and I love the CNC machined base relief LX symbol -so much cooler than a sticker.  And they are only about $40 bucks. 

Since the rear derailleur came off I might as well take off the front - a vintage Suntour XC sport that needs a good clean, polish and lube.

And with that I am out of steam,  I have lots more to do; shifters, brakes, kick stand, crank and BB, the fork and headset, but not a bad start.  I got to here.

getting there

By Sunday I am hoping to have a update on the 1975 Gitane Tour de France experiment as the last eBay listing should be done by then.

Until next time.

Ride. Smile. Repeat.