Gitane

Over the past weekend and this week a lot of work has gone into tuning up my Dad's 1970's Gitane road bike for daily use. Big thanks to L. for all the work he put into everything! Megan's bike too. All of the "New" parts below are from his marvelous parts bin minus the rubber. We also discovered that the wheels that say they are standard 27"/700 cc are really the "French" measurement which is more like 705 cc so my new tires wouldn't work. Solution? New wheels! Since the bike came out of the shed it has gotten:

• New tires and tubes
• New wheels
  
• New handlebars and tape
• New brake levers
  
• Removed the oddly low center gear and center derailer and made it a 5 speed

Now it feels just great! The new wheels and tires have much better stick in the corners and over loose objects than the old ones who's side walls had turned to stone a while ago, and they spin with much lower resistance than before. The handle bars are a little wider too which adds to wind resistance but I like the control it gives me.




I have run into a problem though, on Monday when I was adjusting the derailer my chain fell of into the spokes and I slammed on the brakes and flew forward and then back, hitting my tail bone on either the seat tip or the cross bar. Very painful. But I didn't think too much about it and it didn't really bother me until Megan and I were riding on Tuesday and it simply tapped it against the seat while crossing the street and felt just like I slammed down it it again. It is hard to describe, but it was a very clear wake up call that said "don't touch me!" So now that I have a great bike I have to stay off it for a little while.