Help in identifying Reynolds bikes

[GaryF]

Thanx for pointing that out Gary. Another thing mate, we were talking about the Gitane frame being Italian with a BB of 70mm. Is it also posible that Gitane also put their name on Aussie/American "Reynolds" frames with the 68mm BB? The reason I ask is cause the other black frame I have is slightly older with the rear brake cable runing thru the 3 brazed-on loops on the top tube. This one doesn't have the heart lugs, but it also has the 68mm BB.

Gitane's are French and most probably built with a 68mm British threaded BB. Measuring your BB and finding that it was not 70mm ruled out it being an Italian frame. I have never seen a 70 mm BB on anything other than an Italian bike. I think Gitane, being French, used Reynolds tubes in preference to Columbus tubes as Columbus is an Italian company and the French / Italian rivalry is strong.

Your black frame sounds like many bikes built in the 60's, 70's and 80's with the brake cable housing guides brazed to the top of the top tube. Have a look through the first (top) thread on the Retro page and see the other forum members bikes. Most of those bikes will have the brake cable housing guides in the same place on top of the top tube. Many of their bikes will also have plain lugs without cutouts like your black frame.

Munga's Gazelle really looks great and does have a similar appearance to your red frame. It is a great guide as to how to set-up your bike. Some really nice features of Munga's bike is the seat stay caps with the Gazelle logo, the Campagnolo Chorus groupset with the fantastic sidepull brakes and the curved crank arms and the Rolls saddle that matches the leather bar wrap, a very nice touch. A bike to be proud of.

[jr_nadel]

Hi all,

I was hoping for a little help gathering some info about where this frame may have come from and who may have built it. I live in Sydney, Australia and found this bike at a garage sale. It was pretty beat up but had a full campy record groupset, araya rims (on shimano hubs), 3ttt stem and cinelli hangers. There were no identifiable decals on the frame when i bought it as it had been spray painted. The forks however had 'reynolds' pantographed on them, and so too the vertical dropouts but nothing on the seat stays. aside from that there were no other stand out features. the serial on the bottom reads '71', and from my mind the frame looks to be mid 80's - early 90's (but i am NO expert).

I had to get the bottom bar repaired and just recently got it back from getting resprayed. I have attached some photos below.

Any ideas or thoughts would be helpful.

Thanks!

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.ph ... -531-frame

(sorry i dont know how to attach images to this post...so ive left a link to my bikeforums.net post)

[Saro28]

I can't see the pics on the other forum- not registered so.....

this will guide you on this forum >

http://www.bicycles.net.au/forums/viewt ... =6&t=23303

[funnybike]

Thanx for pointing that out Gary. Another thing mate, we were talking about the Gitane frame being Italian with a BB of 70mm. Is it also posible that Gitane also put their name on Aussie/American "Reynolds" frames with the 68mm BB? The reason I ask is cause the other black frame I have is slightly older with the rear brake cable runing thru the 3 brazed-on loops on the top tube. This one doesn't have the heart lugs, but it also has the 68mm BB.

Gitane's are French and most probably built with a 68mm British threaded BB. Measuring your BB and finding that it was not 70mm ruled out it being an Italian frame. I have never seen a 70 mm BB on anything other than an Italian bike. I think Gitane, being French, used Reynolds tubes in preference to Columbus tubes as Columbus is an Italian company and the French / Italian rivalry is strong.

Your black frame sounds like many bikes built in the 60's, 70's and 80's with the brake cable housing guides brazed to the top of the top tube. Have a look through the first (top) thread on the Retro page and see the other forum members bikes. Most of those bikes will have the brake cable housing guides in the same place on top of the top tube. Many of their bikes will also have plain lugs without cutouts like your black frame.

Munga's Gazelle really looks great and does have a similar appearance to your red frame. It is a great guide as to how to set-up your bike. Some really nice features of Munga's bike is the seat stay caps with the Gazelle logo, the Campagnolo Chorus groupset with the fantastic sidepull brakes and the curved crank arms and the Rolls saddle that matches the leather bar wrap, a very nice touch. A bike to be proud of.

Gitane definitely use Reynolds, Columbus and Vitus (steel) tubing as their mainstays throughout the 70s - 90s. Really early Gitanes (<1960s) may have had french BB and head set threads, but by the mid 70's (at least) had moved to the British standard. They certainly never used Italian threaded BBs. The hassle with identifying Gitanes is that they were a budget bike producer and thus used the cheapest inputs they could get at the time. Hence, the use of Columbus tubes one year and Reynolds another year. Similarly, the parts used were often different to what was spec'd in their catalogue. One of the tell-tales for a 70s gitane it the seat stay tops. If you need more info head over to GitaneUSA.com, it's a great resource.