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Cycles Gitane S.A. MICMO, 44270 Machecoul, France Cycles Gitane is located in Machecoul, a small town 40 kilometers south of Nantes in Brittany. Machecoul is somewhat isolated as there is no train service to Machecoul. From Nantes there is a commuter bus that leaves at around five o'clock in the afternoon. The same is true on the return trip, except that the bus leaves Machecoul early in the morning. The Gitane factory has an overall production capacity of 750 to 800 bicycles per day. Total production for 1977 was one hundred-seventy thousand with an estimated two hundred thousand for 1978. This makes Gitane the third largest bicycle manufacturer in France. Cycles Gitane employs about 525 people in the plant and around 80 in the offices. It is almost completely owned by Renault (98 percent), and its history is sketchy as a result of inadequate records and several changes of ownership. Still, Gitane's reputation for building quality bicycles remains. Originally, Gitane was a small agricultural machinery shop which started assembling bicycles in 1920. The first frames were manufactured in 1925. Top-line Reynolds frames were made before World War II, but not until the 1950s were they made systematically on a large scale. Today, all the Reynolds frames are brazed by hand-held torches. The people at Gitane feel that it is the best method to use. Since the control of the temperature is critical, the Gitane builders use hand-held torches rather than an automatic brazing oven. The design of the top-line Gitane bicycles is relegated to a separate engineering department consisting of seven people. This department has the responsibility for designing and testing prototypes and engineering them for production. Components that are found on Gitane bicycles are also tested here. Input required in the final design of a Gitane frame comes from various places. It may come from an individual engineer or from someone in the commercial department who knows what the dealers will buy. The majority of the changes come as suggestions from the man ager of Gitane's professional team as well as the individual team members. Gitane considers their racing line to be very similar to their professional line. Response from the team is highly regarded by the Gitane engineers who feel the professional riders are sensitive to the problems with any Gitane product. The racing professionals are living so close to their bicycle that they can sense insignificant subtleties in a frame which would go unnoticed by the average cyclist. According to Paul Chenevier at S.A. MICMO, production Gitanes are engineered as a compromise, just like a suit which has to be adjusted to each individual person. The engineers choose various compromises between the height and the length of the frame that are sometimes dictated by bicycle "fashion trends." One good example is the present trend to build frames with shorter top tubes. Gitane did not change their design since they have been consistently building frames with short top tubes since 1972. Mr. Chenevier claims that it is important to remember that many of the differences between builders are only based on habit or the builder who says "I know how to do it," but is unable to explain why. While the cycling fashions change, these changes usually do not affect the fundamental characteristics of the frame. At Gitane they believe that technically, most frame building is generally based on habits which have never been questioned or reinforced by fundamental studies made by medical people. Chenevier believes that Gitane is leading the large manufacturers in a new approach--an ergonomic analysis of bicycle frame design. In the spring of 1977 Gitane began an analysis of the current practice of custom frame design. To date, Gitane does not know what kind of results will be forthcoming or if there will even be any significant changes, but since very little research has been done in this area, Gitane feels confident that their results will be helpful with future bicycle designs. Only one frame builder, who has been specifically trained as a brazing specialist, is allowed to build the custom Gitane frames. As of now, Gitane does not have a specific department that builds custom frames. Their production of custom frames is limited to the demands of their team riders. Gitane is, however, planning to develop a department which would be able to build custom frames on a regular basis for all their customers. Gitane believes that the success of a frame depends on how well it is brazed. Mr. Chenevier says that 90 percent of the success of a frame, from the technical point of view, is the brazing. The Gitanes are all brazed with a product called BTOX, the French equivalent of bronze, or the English Sifbronze. The frames are brazed together on jigs and the tubes are held together initially with pins. Some of the lower end frames are spot-tacked, but this operation, even on the lower end frames, is being replaced with pinning. Seventy-five percent of the Gitane bicycles are pinned. All the lugs are made of stamped steel. However, Gitane has switched to a new semi-sloping cast fork crown. Gitane uses only Reynolds tubing, although they are planning on expanding their line by producing a model with Super Vitus tubing. Mr. Lory, a Gitane technician, says that Gitane had thought about using Columbus but dropped the idea because of added costs created by what Mr. Lory called "added expenditure on component parts inherent only with Columbus tubing." Gitane is hopeful that it will soon be able to offer frames with Reynolds 753 tubing. Although Gitane does not build custom frames for the average consumer, they offer a product that fills the need of the short person. The Tour de France and Super Corsa models in the past have always offered a well-made Reynolds 531 frame in the 19.5-inch size. Combined with the short top tube, these bikes provide a good alternative to a custom-made frame for those persons who cannot fit many other production framesets. |
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