Gitane finished

mostly.

I had to replace the original steel wheels which were warped.

but 55cm diameter rims are hard to find.

the more common size is 52cm, which is the 24" mountain bike standard.

so I had to find some extra-long reach (i.e. 100mm) brake calipers.

these Taiwanese steel jobbies from Ephraim in Brunswick were just the ticket.

I miss the white-wall tyres the bike came with, and the grey wheelchair tyres which were their replacement

(MTB don't do girly tyres)

but this is outweighed by having alloy wheels

that are straight.

these Dia-Compe red dot rip-offs are by Cherry Japan and are, of course, NOS!

sparkly handgrips help to offset the macho black tyres.

here's the final look. 

compare it to a slightly more original version of the same bike

here at the little bike blog.