Gitane RMO Team

Ok so I've been cycling in London a couple of years now, going from a Scott Hybrid last year (which got nicked), to a cheapo 70s Falcon tourer (see thread: http://www.lfgss.com/thread104346.html).

I realised it probably isn't worth spending much doing up my shitty Falcon. Ended up winning this Gitane frame cheap on eBay the other week. Vitus GTI triple butted tubing, Campagnolo dropouts.

I've been doing a fair bit of maintenance on the Falcon and learning as much as I can on that, but this will be my first full build.

Going to go for some fixed/free wheels from Varno come payday. Probably Miche Primato hubs on DP18 or Mach1 rims, can't decide which, any suggestions?

I'm thinking all silver components. Was considering a respray as I was drawn to this frame due to the price, not the colour scheme. But I'm starting to like it more - perhaps I'll just touch up the rusty bits for now.

Nice, can't wait for the finished product. Subbed. Tbh I am quite plain and simple, so i would just go for all matte black components. (Nice find on ebay.)

Cheers. Yup, I was the only bidder - the seller was very specific about make/model/specs in the listing title but forgot to include the words "bike" and "frame". SEO fail!

Seems like you got a brilliant deal. Pretty excited to see what this build looks like completed. (Btw if you don't feel like building it up, you know where i am, i would HAPPILY pick it up off your hands)

ahh i was also going to bid on this exact frame i think but it ended while i was at work! good luck with the build cant wait to see how it goes!

No way HPx93! Well, I hope I can do it justice for you.

I can't wait to start buying parts for this. Hopefully soon!

im glad someone on here got it dude! it was going to be my winter 'beater' i was even tempted to raw it down haha! (would have been fixed too)

good luck! cant wait to see the results.

i would suggest novatec hubs wiht mavic cxp22 rims. a good and strong 'midrange' weelset.
cheers

novatec hubs with mavic cxp22 rims

I'm open to suggestions on wheel sets. Is there any particular reason why that setup would be an improvement on these? (with a Miche hub)?

Also, where can I find those Novatec wheels? I'm not in a position to build them myself unfortunately.

V-Sprint offer radial lacing on the front wheel, something I haven't seen elsewhere at this price. Plus they're hand built, and have gotten a lot of rave reviews on here.

here

This site is only in german, sorry for that.
But they speak english.

Ok so finally I've had some progress!

Wheels arrived from V-Sprint a couple of weeks back (Great service and price, thanks Varno). Miche Primato hubs on silver Omega Mach 1s. Fitted with some Schwalbe Luganos with beige sidewall:

I tidied up the frame a bit - removed some rust and touched up the paint. It looks ok from a distance, not too great up close mind!. Headset was fitted at Brixton Cycles. It's an FSA Duron (about £30 from Planet X) - design looked pretty much identical to a Chris King to me:

Stronglight cranks and BB bought on the forum for cheaps, never seen a chain so basically new.

Next up, Soma Highway 1 bars - the only silver 26mm bars available in a compact shape apart from some expensive Nitto ones. And a Zenith stem.

I'd been gathering the above parts for the last few weeks, and on Saturday, this arrived...

And this was the result. Really happy with this, just need to get a black saddle for it:

Ok, a quick update. Pretty soon after completing the build I added some BigXTop straps and later on a reissued Turbo saddle:

Turbo was on offer from Planet X. Thought it was going to be the suede version but ended up being the vegan vinyl type. Only been using it a couple of months and yesterday the "Turbo" writing on the drive side got rubbed off by my leg in the rain. Hrmph. It also has a very annoying crease down the right side of it, which only becomes visible after riding. Either I've got a oddly shaped posterior or maybe these on-offer Turbos are factory seconds or something.

Looks 10x better with the turbo saddle, nice job

Thanks James. Ok so now the thread is up to speed - plans.

Looking to put some gears on this for summer riding out in the countryside, so I've procured a track frame to take over city fixed duties (will start another thread for that at some point).

I picked up a Shimano RX100 8 spd group from Tommmmmmm a couple of months ago, so next step is to find some wheels. I nearly purchased some silver Mavic Cosmics (example below) which would have been perfect (as far as I'm aware the RMO team were pretty much exclusively kitted out with Mavic stuff) but the rear rim was cracked and so I had to abort that one.

On a similar tip, I'm very tempted by these:
http://www.lfgss.com/thread89763.html

However they are Campag 8 spd. Supposedly I could just try with a campag cassette and if shifting isn't optimal re-space the cassette for Shimano indexing? They look like seriously nice wheels, but I'm wondering if they're a bit too nice for this frame/groupset and might cause me more trouble than they're worth being campag? Maybe I should go for something more modest/sensible for my first fully geared build?

Then again they are NOS and should last a while - I could hang on to them and upgrade frame/group to something more special later. Really not sure. Opinions please!

The pure fact that they have the word "Tecno" written on them is almost enough to sway me. Which is a bit worrying as I probably need to be thinking a little more rationally about this.

thats a good looking build. The bars and seat seem to be in good proportion

Cheers. It actually feels a touch too long in the top tube for me when riding on the hoods. Fine on the tops and drops though. Frame is 56x58.

The reach on the STI shifters I'll be fitting is about 1cm less than the SS levers currently on there, so hopefully that will help a tiny bit. Hope so as aesthetically speaking, I'd rather not use a shorter stem.

Decided against the Gipiemmes, turned out they would be a no go if I ever decided to move up to 9/10 speed Shimano in the future.

Finally got round to rebuilding with a geared setup last week. Here's a pic from the weekend ride:

Pretty happy with it, and shifting is smooth enough for the most part. A bit of difficulty shifting in the middle of the cassette sometimes though.

The wheels came with the group and are pretty decent, but I'll be donating them to a build I'm putting together for my partner, so I'm still on the lookout for a new set.

Made some changes recently. Planet X AL30 wheelset, Ultegra 6500 cranks and 6600 mechs. The previous kit was all good but it was needed on a build for the GF, hence the upgrade.

Wheels came from Ebay and unfortunately the brake tracks seem pretty worn. The front one feels distinctly concave. Pretty gutted as they are quite light and quick. Is there a sure fire way to tell when they'll need replacing?

Good improvement - looks nice!