Gitane Vitus XO Cyclocross

Todays dedication goes to my old Gitane crossbike. I had seen and ad in some obscure pricesheet that we got in the shop in the early 90's. It read "60cm gitane Cyclocross orange" price was 199.99 dollars U.S.
There was no specs for seatangle, headtube angle, top tube,standover, Virtual, Reality, Assumed, No diagrams with a million lines, Numbers, absolutely nothing.
At that price I just thought why not buy the damn thing and check it out. Apart from the frame and fork I ordered two sets, one bikes worth, of mafac cantilevers (complete with cables, hangers and all) at 4 dollars a pair.
I received the bike and as ups dropped it off it was already glowing out of the box. This damn thing was bright. I assembled with much haste, Mafacs, suntour barends, 105 crank, un72bb, crap wheels, 6 speed freewheel, old 600 shimano rear der, simplex front, sakae post, crap saddle, crap bars, crap stem, stronglight headset, look moab pedals, yes the real big ones.
The bike was incredible, the geometry dead on. I could plow through mud and snow like nothing. It was light, the brakes worked fantastic. I rode the crap out of this bike for almost 15 years. Under penalty of law I will swear that I never had a mechanical on this bike. Under penalty of law I swear I never had a flat on this bike. I always marveled at how well it rode and how much fun I had on it.
I did many cross races on it and at some point I switched the fork to a Guerciotti cross fork. It made the bike ride even better.
I finally decided to pass it on to someone else and I dissasembled the bike. Once I took the parts off I gave its last breathe. It was just tired of hauling my ass around.
I cleaned it, sprayed the inside, took the stickers off and sold it on ebay for about the same money I bought it.
I am currently looking at a Salsa Chili con Crosso. Scandium. The supplier that had made the carbon forks for these bikes had a huge fire and lost all the forks. It seems to me that this bike is my next cross bike. I am too ashamed to look at the geometry, so when I order it I will just ask for a 60cm.


Ride hard,
Ari